An unusual scent, as of burning fungus, is apparent to anyone approaching the western door. A haze of smoke with a pungent but not entirely unpleasant scent emanates from a large copper cauldron atop a bed of coals on a dais to the east. A metal rack over the basin holds several brown and purple eggs, each about the size of a human head, cooking in the smoke. The walls are painted with sweeping lines and whorls.
Six pale humanoids swathed in dark rags kneel here in prayer and meditation. When they notice you, though, they angrily rise to attack!
“Eek! What is that? Those?” Akkaboo doesn’t bother waiting for an answer before hooting loudly and clapping her hands with manic energy. A cloud of monkeys materialize in response, shrieking with glee and attempting to steal everything they can get their little monkey hands on.
Zin moves inot the room, trying to catch as many as he can in a spray of stars as bright tiny explosions burst from his fingertips.
AC 25 (26 w/ shield); Curse Stage: Minor
HP 62/86 | Resistance Physical 5; Harm 5 |
Hero Points 0/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 2/3 | (2) 3/3 | (3) 0/3 | (4) 0/3
Wand of Heal (1st) 0/1 | (2nd) 0/1
Ring of the Ram 0/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 5
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Moderate- (Enfeebled 2; -3 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Falxi slips into his fighting stance and calls up a screen of force around himself before advancing to stand back-to-back with Zin.
When the team heads back to Otari for the evening, Wan quickly peels off from the party and rejoins his secure nest with Wrin. The team sees little of him until the next morning.
Upon returning to the dungeons, Wan clucks brightly at the room full of hostiles.
"It's like I engineered this situation to test Aggro's capabilities!" the tengu sings happily, racing past Falxi and Zin to enter the room.
Akkaboo recognizes these creatures as calignis. Sometimes referred to as "dark folk," the calignis are descendants of humans who, millennia ago, fled underground to escape a devastating cataclysm and begged malevolent, shadowy demigods known only as the Forsaken for salvation. The Forsaken warped the refugees into tough survivors, but at a price: every caligni that dies combusts in a burst of energy that provides a scrap of soul energy to the Forsaken.
The monkey spirits Akkaboo conjures grab one of the calignis' short swords, keeping it away from the flustered foe. Zin sprays flames over four of the enemies, then Wan moves into their midst and triggers an explosion from Aggro! Most of the calignis are very badly injured, but they are all on their feet.
The six foes all encircle Wan, lashing out with their twin swords. The one caligni whose sword was stolen by the monkeys is only able to attack with one sword. Still, all six of the enemies quickly overwhelm the tengu, finding gaps in his armor to stab him at various vulnerable points. Wan goes down!
Falxi tries to cut his way to the side of the fallen Wan.
for
for
Zin pours every bit of energy he has left into Wan. "We just got some rest Wan, what are you doing?"
AC 25 (26 w/ shield); Curse Stage: Minor
HP 62/86 | Resistance Physical 5; Harm 5 |
Hero Points 0/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 3/3 | (2) 3/3 | (3) 3/3 | (4) 2/3
Wand of Heal (1st) 1/1 | (2nd) 1/1
Ring of the Ram 1/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 5
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Moderate- (Enfeebled 2; -3 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Akkaboo grimly keeps her monkeys moving and tries to clear a path for Wan to retreat with two handfuls of sparks.
Falxi moves in and slices through one of the calignis. As it dies, its body combusts in white-hot flames, burning the elf and the other calignis. Akkaboo's electric arc slays another one, whose death burst sets off a series of chain reactions as the fiery explosion causes another caligni to explode, and another and another until all of them have gone up in fireballs!
7
10
13
0
21
0
Falxi shields his eyes from the bright explosions and comes away pretty singed.
Wan, you should be more careful!" Falxi could stand to take some of his own advice, as he was mightily burned by the explosions.
"Should we try this door first?" The elf points to the door in the southeast.
Zin nods his head "Sounds as good as any. Keep an eye out for any secret passages. This place has been full of them."
This long chamber features roughly carved stairs leading upward. Its sides are dotted with nooks, two of which contain stone basins filled with muddy water.
Two creatures float here, glowing with dim, grayish light. They resemble will-o'-wisps, but the skulls inside their glowing mass have huge tusks and a more sinister mien. "Turn back. No living creatures may pass this way," one says in a menacing whisper.
"We don't mean to pass through, just speak." Zin tries to parlay with the strange will-o-wisps as he sheathes his weapon. "What is going on down here. Do you think we would have made it this far down if we weren't allowed?"
“Also, you’re living creatures yourself,” Akkaboo points out helpfully. “So you’re not allowed there either, right?”
Akkaboo recognizes these creatures as dread wisps. Will-o'-wisps native to the Darklands are more ominous and malevolent than those that bob about in the lonely marshes and surfaces of the upper world. These dread wisps instill terror with eerie shifts of light and consume the fear they create, drawing life energy from their victims in the process.
Dread wisps are healed by negative energy, but they are weak to positive energy. They are immune to all magic spells except for faerie fire, magic missile, maze, searing light, and spells with the positive trait.
"Enough questions! You were warned," the other wisp replies as both begin to advance menacingly!
The wisps swoop in and attack Falxi and Wan. Fortunately, both of them are able to avoid their attacks. Their grayish light washes over you, instilling dread in your minds!
"Blasted wisps. They are all over down here."
Falxi casts faerie fire on the creatures, then begins performing.
“Eeek!” Akkaboo shrieks, digging furiously in her pockets for her favorite stick. With it, she traces a circle in the air around Wan, faster and faster with each repetition.
By the time she finishes, her hands are shaking.
Zin moves in on the dreaded wisp and begins to hack into the mass. "Thanks, Falxi! They were a bit hard to see."
AC 25 (26 w/ shield); Curse Stage: Minor
HP 86/86 | Resistance Physical 5; Harm 5 |
Hero Points 0/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 3/3 | (2) 3/3 | (3) 3/3 | (4) 2/3
Wand of Heal (1st) 1/1 | (2nd) 1/1
Ring of the Ram 1/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 5
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Moderate- (Enfeebled 2; -3 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
"Squawk! Rude..." Wan quips as Falxi makes them visible and Akkaboo boosts his speed.
"Thank you, sweet'ums...."
"Stupid little blighters..."
Falxi's faerie fire negates the wisps' concealment. The wisps dodge Zin's attacks, but Wan delivers a powerful strike to one of them.
The creatures shift their focus to the tengu, both trying to drain him with their fell touches. His experimental armor keeps him safe! The wisp that Wan hit also feeds on Akkaboo's despair, drawing on her life force to restore some of its own.
Falxi's confidence is shaken, but he stands fast and fights against the wisps.
for
for
Akkaboo shakes her stick at the wisp, conjuring a flurry of bolts to harry it. “Die die die!”
"They will need to do better than that!!" Wan crows. His form, blurred in speed by Akkaboo's enchantment, swings rapidly at the injured dread wisp.
"SQUAWWWRK! Time to extinguish!" Wan's quip seems to make little sense despite the enthusiasm with which it is offered.
Zin quickly shields himself as he continues striking back at the dreaded wisps.
AC 25 (26 w/ shield); Curse Stage: Minor
HP 86/86 | Resistance Physical 5; Harm 5 |
Hero Points 0/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 3/3 | (2) 3/3 | (3) 3/3 | (4) 2/3
Wand of Heal (1st) 1/1 | (2nd) 1/1
Ring of the Ram 1/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 5
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Moderate- (Enfeebled 2; -3 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Akkaboo's magic missiles slam into one of the wisps. The rest of you engage them in melee, but only Wan manages to land a good hit with his second strike.
The wisps continue to try to drain Wan. This time, one hit gets through the tengu's armor.
With few other options, Akkaboo shakes her stick again.
The stick splinters, releasing another flurry of glowing missiles into the air to assault the wounded wisp. Akkaboo looks down in shock, red eyes widening with worry.
Hang in there, Akkaboo! These things enjoy your fear!"
for
for
for
"Let me know if you need some healing!" Zin calls out as he continues his attack, trying to avid the dreaded tendrils.
AC 25 (26 w/ shield); Curse Stage: Minor
HP 86/86 | Resistance Physical 5; Harm 5 |
Hero Points 0/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 3/3 | (2) 3/3 | (3) 3/3 | (4) 2/3
Wand of Heal (1st) 1/1 | (2nd) 1/1
Ring of the Ram 1/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 5
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Moderate- (Enfeebled 2; -3 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
As one of the wisps gets by Aggro's defences, the tengu chirps, "OK, that was a better effort. Time to turn the lights out!"
Wan seems to be test-driving catch phrases as his weapon-arm ratchets into position in a familiar noise.
The shockwave from Wan's blow whistles through the fray.
A wreath of flame erupts around the bird and a high-pitched whistle emits from inside the armoured form.
"Wow! That was a hot one."
"Eggshells..." mutters the tengu in an uncharacteristic pessimistic tone.
Akkaboo blasts the wounded wisp with magic missiles, breaking her wand in the process. Wan delivers a devastating megaton strike that causes the wisp to explode into greasy chunks that quickly burn away into nothingness. He misses with his follow-up attack, though, and both Falxi and Zin miss the second wisp as well.
The remaining dread wisp continues to assault Wan, howling with fury.
Akkaboo carefully puts the broken wand away and pulls out another like it. “Eek!” she shrieks belatedly. “What is that!?”
With everyone wounded Zin draws a thin wand and sends a sall bit of healing at Falxi. "Hang in there, we got this."
AC 25 (26 w/ shield); Curse Stage: Minor
HP 86/86 | Resistance Physical 5; Harm 5 |
Hero Points 0/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 3/3 | (2) 3/3 | (3) 3/3 | (4) 2/3
Wand of Heal (1st) 1/1 | (2nd) 0/1
Ring of the Ram 1/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 5
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Moderate- (Enfeebled 2; -3 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Falxi continues his battle dance and moves to attack the remaining wisp.
for
for
Wan seems buoyed (somewhat) at the eruption of the first dreadwisp.
”Half way there!” he chirps out.
Unfortunately, you don't make any progress towards ending the fight, as the wisp dodges all of your attacks. It drains Wan with its fell touch!
Zin drops the expended wand and draws a second wand as he sends some of his own magic in the opposing direction towards Wan. "This can't go on much longer!"
AC 25 (26 w/ shield); Curse Stage: Minor
HP 86/86 | Resistance Physical 5; Harm 5 |
Hero Points 0/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 3/3 | (2) 3/3 | (3) 2/3 | (4) 2/3
Wand of Heal (1st) 1/1 | (2nd) 0/1
Ring of the Ram 1/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 5
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Moderate- (Enfeebled 2; -3 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Falxi slashes hopefully at the creature.
for
for
for
”Yowzer! DOUBLE YOWZER!!” Wan chirps and then squawks as he’s damaged and then healed in short order. ”I feel like a wooden toy that goes up and down on a string! That sounds like a good idea; I’ll invent that as soon as we’re done here.”
Wan then continues to take batting practice.
Akkaboo shakes the stick in her hand, sending a much-sparser storm of missiles at the wisp. “Die die die!”
Wan's attacks miss, but Falxi lands a critical blow that leaves the wisp reeling! Akkaboo blasts it with more magic missiles.
Falxi's hit seems to have thrown off the wisp's aim, as it fails to strike anybody this time!
Again with the attacking!
for
for
for
Zin leaps over the fallen wand and slashes his blade at one of the wisps. "Do we retreat?"
[ooc]◆ Stride
◆◆ Strike
↺ Nimble Dodge (If attacked +2 to AC)
AC 25 (26 w/ shield); Curse Stage: Minor
HP 86/86 | Resistance Physical 5; Harm 5 |
Hero Points 0/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 3/3 | (2) 3/3 | (3) 2/3 | (4) 2/3
Wand of Heal (1st) 1/1 | (2nd) 0/1
Ring of the Ram 1/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 5
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Moderate- (Enfeebled 2; -3 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
“No!” Akkaboo answers defiantly, pulling out her sling and putting a rock in it. Awkwardly she gives it a whirl, then releases one end to send the stone flying.
”What does Akkaboo say - OH YES!!! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE
DIE!!!!!”
Falxi lands another stunning blow, but everybody else misses. Fortunately, the wisp misses again, too!
"This wisp is more resiliant than most!"
for
for
for
"Seriously, y'all, I feel like I need some remedial practice or something..."
Zin continues to hack and slash at the wisps. "They seem to be slowing down!"
AC 25 (26 w/ shield); Curse Stage: Minor
HP 86/86 | Resistance Physical 5; Harm 5 |
Hero Points 0/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 3/3 | (2) 3/3 | (3) 2/3 | (4) 2/3
Wand of Heal (1st) 1/1 | (2nd) 0/1
Ring of the Ram 1/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 5
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Moderate- (Enfeebled 2; -3 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)