"Back in action, boys! She scuttles into the room and looks for an opening, then launches her wee trident at one of the ants .
Elsir strides in, uttering mystic phrases and arcane motions, sending a jet of electric energy at the troop!
It's a weird angle , but two are considerably more jolted than the others!
Jadren takes a mighty swing, separating Yellow's head from its thorax! It collapses, still twitching from the lightning bolt!
Kaako's blow, skewering the giant ant with a spectacular thrust through all three of its segments, is less clean but no less effective, finishing Cyan off!
Lavanna is inspired by her companions, but not enough to succeed in her attack! Somewhere, a sad trombone is heard, harmonized by her trident clattering to the ground but not promoting tooth decay.
Mindlessly infuriated, as vermin are wont to be (but not in this edition, where they are animals instead), the remaining two last out at Jadren, who is within easy reach!
And the giant ant, struggling with the bulk of a grabbed Jadren, nevertheless tries to haul him away!
Black, its meal taken away by its companion, moves in to try some tengu meat!
The Rogue deftly moves aside, avoiding the attacks!
M 10
K 10
Round 2
Jadren -- GO
Kaako -- GO
Lavanna -- GO
Elsir -- GO
antz -- TBD
Elsir immediately summons forth his birthright and casts Genie's Veil on him.
Elsir then levels a thin finger at the close ant and a ray of frost shoots forth:
for
Jadren will block the attack with his shield. He will always block the first attack that hits him.
Jadren swings at the ant who is grappling him.
If it is not dead: he swings again.
If it is dead: he moves back to the group.
Either way, he raises his shield as his third action.
"Jadren! Come back! I was only kidding about the Inheritor taking all of your gold!"
Kaako repeatedly thrusts his rapier into the black ant!
Lavanna lets loose a series of oaths and moves to pick up her fighty fork. Once she finds it, she picks it up and stabs at the nearest aunt.
Jadren is mystified by Elsir's bending of reality, and responds to the frustrated ant with a slash for the ages. It's not a critical hit, and it requires a follow-up to finish Magenta off, but finish it off Jadren does!
Meanwhile, Kaako stabs -- and sticks -- Black once!
Lavanna flings her fork again, but it sails just over its head with Jadren in her way. She glares at the human in her inimitable way, though he misses it entirely with his shield up and back to her.
Round 2
Jadren -- GO went
Kaako -- GO went
Lavanna -- GO went
Elsir -- GO
antz -- TBD
"Let's end this. I'm tired." With a lackadaisical cadence to his voice, Elsir levels another frosty finger at the remaining ant for
Elsir launches another spell, this one targeted, and it strikes Black, freezing its naughty bits and nearly bringing it down!
But not quite.
In desperation, it lashes at Kaako!
Its mighty pincers grab hold of the tengu Rogue, and it tries to drag him away!
Round 3
Jadren -- GO
Kaako -- GO
Lavanna -- GO
Elsir -- GO
antz (-29) -- TBD
Jadren pursues the ant and strikes.
Kaako slides into position to flank the black ant and he drives his rapier into its abdomen twice.
Jadren finishes the job, and the ant's demise releases Kaako from his bondage!
Jadren uses lay on hands to heal Kakko for 18hp and then prays to Iomedae to refocus.
"While I give thanks, perhaps others could search this area thoroughly?"
"Wow! You must have paid your inheritor a great deal of gold to be able to heal like that! That was impressive!"
Lavanna looks slightly annoyed that her role has been usurped by the decidedly less fun Jadren.
Elsir saves his energy and skips the banter, but does follow Jadren's request.
Now that Lavanna has a chance to see the floor without danger of being a giant ant snack, she immediately recognizes the pattern in the floor as the holy symbol of Gozreh, a nature deity whose fury is unleashed upon both the sea and the sky. Honest sailors, hopeful merchants, and greedy pirates all give offerings to this powerful deity, whose fickle favor can mean the difference between triumph and disaster on the high sea. You do recall earthy language of Captain Renlock that invoked the name of Gozreh on occasion.
The statue standing in the brackish pool is another representation of the god, who is typically seen in one of two forms, either as a woman rising from the sea or as a weathered old man emerging from a storm cloud. This statue is of the former representation, although many of its features are obscured by mold and vines growing out of the pool.
"Hey, check it out, some kind of conjuration magic here." He looks at the pool and tries to ferret out it's powers,
"Well, this must be some sort of summoning pool. Not something I want to mess with without more information. I'd leave it totally alone.... but we need to make an offering to Gozreh here."
He looks around at the others, "I'm not exactly a font of religious information. Anyone have an idea on how to do that? Just.... let me get ready, the map says there will be consequences, so I'm going with something nasty is coming out of the water."
"Why is it that all of these gods need our money? Aren't they already immortal? What else does the god of bad weather want besides gold?"
"Yep, this is for Gozreh. That's the god that kept us all alive for all those years, in case you forgot," Lavanna subtweets Iomedae.
"Let's see here..."
"They demand a sacrifice. A human sacrifice. I guess that means Jadren."
"Can we just throw some of these dead ants in the pool and call it even?"
"Worth a try." Elsir says that, but then makes absolutely zero motion to help.
Lavanna isn't sure it requires a human sacrifice, so much as something of value. (Whether she values Jadren or not is entirely up to her.)
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"I never know what to tip. Hope this doesn't offend." Lavanna pulls two gold pieces from her purse. "One for us" she flips a coin into the pool. "And one for me" she kisses the coin and whispers into it, "I wish I was big." She throws it in and waits.
Lavanna does not get big.
The water in the pool, however, does, as a massive plume of water rises from the pool, taking the form of a humanoid-shaped column of churning water!
The column lashes out at !
Lavanna is pushed back 5 feet!
It then attacks The column lashes out at !
Elsir easily avoids the blow!
Round 1
baddy -- beatcha up
Lavanna -- GO
Kaako -- GO
Jadren -- GO
Elsir -- GO
"You know, maybe Iomedae isn't so bad after all."
She plumbs the depths of her mind...
Moves another step away...
And attempts to steam things up with a ray of Searing Light.
"What in hells did you wish for? I hope you didn't offend by not giving enough."
Kaako decides it is best to stab it with his rapier.
◈ Recall Knowledge
◈ Strike
◈ Strike
Jadren raises his shield and strides in front of the beast.
He has no knowledge of such things, but he does have a sword!
"You know, maybe Iomedae isn't so bad after all."
She plumbs the depths of her mind...
[dice=Kn: Nature]1d20+11Moves another step away...
And attempts to steam things up with a ray of Searing Light.
[dice=Attack]1d20+11
[dice=Damage]5d6
Think that was one too many actions so nix the step.
Lavanna recognizes this as a...darn, she can't quite recall. Her spell strikes the column of water, though she notes that it seems toresist some of the fire damage.
Kaako isn't quite certain what it is, though he believes it to be a creature of the elements, so it is likely immune to bleed, paralysis, poison, and sleep. The tengu successfully stabs its watery essence twice!
Jadren has no such luck, though he is ready to defend as needed.
Round 1
baddy -- beatcha up
Lavanna -- spell
Kaako -- stick
Jadren -- strikeout
Elsir -- GO
"If you'd get out of the way, I'd blast it with a bolt!"
For now though, Elsir takes a step back and levels a Ray of Frost at the water, hoping to freeze it out: for
Elsir's ray hits center mass!
The living waterfall turns on Kaako and his twin hits!
Kaako is pushed back 5 feet!
Round 2
baddy -- bad tengu! bad!
Lavanna -- GO
Kaako -- GO
Jadren -- GO
Elsir -- GO
Jadren seeks to end this abomination.
"Kaako, dance in and out like a... an unnamed wedding dance. I will take the hits."
Raise Shield
Kaako decides to step up, stab at it with his rapier, and then heed Elsir's request by moving out of the way of the incoming lightning.
◈ Step
◈ Strike
◈ Stride
Lavanna does the hokey pokey with her trident.
◈ Left foot in
◈ Pokey
◈ Left foot out
Lavanna lands a blow with her trident, and Jadren a pair with his longsword!
Kaako stabs but only manages to catch air (which is unproductive considering he's fighting water)!
Round 2
baddy -- bad tengu! bad!
Lavanna -- pokey polka
Kaako -- fancy-pants miss
Jadren -- chop suey
Elsir -- GO
"It ain't broke, so I ain't fixing it." For variety (and because his arm is tired) Elsir fires another ray with his other index finger:
, but then he remembers that he's left handed.
Just in case this gets ugly though, he takes out a scroll...
Elsir's much-anticipated lightning bolt turns out to be an off-target ray of frost! The Muses heckle from the sidelines!
It's Jadren's turn to be the focus of the living waterfall's attention!
Jadren is pushed back 5 feet!
Round 3
baddy -- NOT IN THE FACE!
Lavanna -- GO
Kaako -- GO
Jadren -- GO
Elsir -- GO
Jadren blocks part of the damage of the attack.
He steps forward and swings his sword in retribution.
He raises his shield.
"I'd like us all to reserve judgment on Gozreh for the time being."
Lavanna rinses and repeats...
◈ Left foot in
◈ Pokey
◈ Left foot out
Kaako uses some minor rogue magic and casts electric arc on the elemental.
The elemental avoids much of Kaako's spell, but combined with the blows from Lavanna and from Jadren, the beast collapses back into the pool, drenching the entire cavern with water, then falling silent!
"Being with all of you, fighting water elementals brings back some great memories!"
Kaako now checks out the pool in search of treasure.
"That was fun." Elsir helps Kaako look around.
Lavanna starts to clear the vines from the statue out of respect for the mighty (but fickle) Gozreh.
"You guys find anything? Secret door? Lever? Button? Knob?"
"Not yet, but I do see that we have a serious water spill over here."