.
Surprise round actions please people
Vhane takes quick aim and fires! at the Red one.
Koriah acts and attacks with her Aklys.
She fails to trip Red.
Koriah darts into the room and swings at Red.
Red & the previously unseen Orange attack Koriah.
.
Elena, Axton & Lt. Vhane may now act!
Axton pulls his rod of Selective Metamagic out of his handy haversack and casts fireball at the skulks, willing his rod to bend the spell around Koriah and up to two other allies who might be in range.
Intrepid horks a fire globule at the closest skulk.
Just now catching sight of orange, Vhane focuses on that one and unleashes multiple bolts at it.
.
Axton chars the Skulks, Intrepid nearly puts a globule of fire through Greens head.
The scorched and sobbing Skulks are set up for Lt. Vhane who casually slaughters them.
.
Loot:
Longbow + 1 (4),
Inubrix arrows (40).
.
B11. SERVANT LODGINGS
Three of these rooms once served as sleeping chambers for the six servants charged with keeping the grounds of the abbey clean, providing food for the priests, or otherwise tending to the structure's needs.
The rooms, and the storeroom in the southeast corner of this block, are now empty and abandoned.
The gap to the west looks out over the seashore-it's only 1 foot wide and 2 feet tall, and as such would be difficult for a larger creature to squeeze through. On the far side, it's an 80-foot drop to the rocks below.
B9. WORKSHOP
This room contains a few sturdy wooden tables and the necessary equipment to work wood, leather, and textiles.
This room is used for routine maintenance of the abbey's furniture and trappings.
It has been recently used now and then by Ardathanatus to work on some of the traps and golems that now protect the abbey. A successful DC 20 Knowledge (arcana) check is enough to confirm that this workshop
has been used recently for those two purposes.
Treasure:
The fine tools in this room compose two full sets of masterwork craftsmen tools-each set is worth 200gp and grants a +2 bonus on Craft skills having to do with carpentry, stonemasonry, and the like.
Of perhaps greater interest are several scrolls containing Ardathanatus's notes on golem crafting, including his notes on how to
disrupt and damage golems crafted by others so that they fly into berserk rages . These notes are worth 5000gp to an interested scholar of constructs.
.
These level is clear You have the stairs in B5 leading down. What are you doing now?
B9. WORKSHOP
This room contains a few sturdy wooden tables and the necessary equipment to work wood, leather, and textiles.This room is used for routine maintenance of the abbey's furniture and trappings.
** spoiler omitted **
Examining the tools and apparatuses of the workshop, Axton speculates that it's been used "recently" to create traps and golems.
"I believe the last person through here was Ardathanatus. He's the priest of Pharasma who went insane hundreds of years ago, you'll recall."
These level is clear You have the stairs in B5 leading down. What are you doing now?
Down the stairs!
”Aye? And it was recently used. The fooker really has been here for that long, out of his fooking mind. It’ll be a mercy what we do to him.” Bharak mused. ”Well. Let’s get to him. We go down.”
Vhane follows silently after the others, making sure his crossbow is fully loaded before he does.
.
You cautiously follow the stairs down to a passageway. taking the bend to find.
C6. PROPHECY ROOM
The walls of this room are decorated with complex frescoes of a crowd of people in a queue, waiting to talk to a blindfolded old man who stands twice as tall as everyone else. Various prophecies, represented by strips of parchment scribbled with words, erupt from the tall man's gaping mouth and fly up to the sky and all over the landscape.
The door in this room is another Doomsday door. The four braziers at the corner of this room are fueled by dim continual flames.
With a successful DC25 Knowledge (religion) check, a PC can identify the old man as an archaic representation of an ancient priest of Groetus,
before the man was transformed into Groetus's herald. The prophecies issuing from his mouth are written in Thassilonian.
The prophecies is suing from his mouth are written in Thassilonian, and an examination of them along with a successful DC30 Knowledge (religion) check to interpret the metaphors correctly gives the impression that this fresco, well over 10000 years old, prophesies the death of Aroden as "the passing of the last of the Azlanti at the dawn of an age of lost omens."
An examination of the parchments issuing from the man's mouth using detect magic reveals a moderate aura of divination. With a successful DC35 Spellcraft check, a character can identify this magical property once per day, the parchment strips can be used to cast divination (CL20th) as if the fresco were a scroll of divination.
What are you doing now?
With a successful DC25 Knowledge (religion) check, a PC can identify the old man as an archaic representation of an ancient priest of Groetus,
before the man was transformed into Groetus's herald. The prophecies issuing from his mouth are written in Thassilonian.
The prophecies is suing from his mouth are written in Thassilonian, and an examination of them along with a successful DC30 Knowledge (religion) check to interpret the metaphors correctly gives the impression that this fresco, well over 10000 years old, prophesies the death of Aroden as "the passing of the last of the Azlanti at the dawn of an age of lost omens."
Stunned by the revelation that Aroden's death was prophesized, Axton can't focus on whatever the third spoiler is.
”What’s the big deal?” Bharak asked. ”Prophecies happen all the time. Why should this be shocking? Even if most of them are open-ended rubbish.” He was vaguely aware that there used to be a human god. ”Aroden, aye? Didn’t he turn into a girl, Iomodae…?” He really wasn’t very up to date on human deities outside of their names and general spheres of influence. ”Well, something like that?” He added, aware that he was probably butchering it.
.
.
Doomsday door to the west. Passages north & east. Where to now?
What are you doing?
Vhane looks around at the others, wondering if any of them are going to decide which way to go. Shrugging, "Let's check out the east room." Vhane heads that way.
”As good as any.” Bharak nodded to his kinsman. Fully aware that they were losing momentum he hurried down, scouting for traps as he went.
.
C7. SHRINE OF EMPTY PLACES
The plastered walls of this room are decorated with images of an endless series of exceptionally realistically painted torchbearing
pillars receding off into the horizon, giving the chamber the optical illusion of being far larger than it actually is. A flight of stairs descends to the north, the painting incorporating the stairwell in such a way as to make the stairs appear to descend into a particularly wide pillar.
Aside from the stairs down there is only a statue of an unknown demon sitting in the center of the room?
This statue is so hideous that Bharak recoils when he sees it.
01-25 Acts normally
26-50 Does nothing but babble incoherently
51-75 Deals 1d8 points of damage + Str modifier to self with item in hand
76-100 Attacks nearest creature (for this purpose, a familiar counts as part of the subject’s self)
What are you doing?
.
”Beware, demons!” Bharak called out upon seeing the statue. A glazed look filled his eyes , as he looked about wildly for the foes which he believed were assailing them.
.
Bharak swings madly at Koriah, shouting something about demons. You have encountered Confusion before and realize he is under its effects!
The statue in the room reverts back to its living form. This human-sized crablike creature scuttles on six stumpy legs, and each of its four arms sports a different method of inflicting pain.
What are you doing?
The party can now act!
26-50 Does nothing but babble incoherently
Having swung his hammer and missing, Bharak turned around, his eyes still glazed. He babbled incoherently in dwarven, apparently having a heated discussion with someone only he could see.
Koriah moves passed Bharak to engage the creature, shouting a warning as she does so, "It confuses those who see it!"
What are you doing? Lt. Vhane, Axton & Elena can act!
Axton struggles forward and tries to see what's going on. He's wary of becoming befuddled, but he can't help much if he can't see what's going on.
"A Qlippoth, wow!"
Axton casts dismissal to try and get this guy outta here.
When his spell doesn't work, Axton starts calling out helpful information. "It's susceptible to law-aligned damage! It's immune to cold and acid! If it catches you, it will plant its eggs inside of you!"
.
If Bharak could have understood anything Axton was saying then he might have appreciated it. Instead, he just continued his argument with someone that only he could see.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Raising an eyebrow at Axton's info, "Eggs in me, huh? That would suck."
Vhane finds his target through the bodies blocking his way and fires at the creature!
Lt. Vhane hits once.
!
Elena casts Blessing of fervor on the party.
The Qlippoth attacks Koroiah.
The party can now act.
.
Perhaps there was a moment of clarity. Perhaps in Bharak's confusion he mistook the demon for an illusionary foe. Regardless, he charged at the outsider, blade in hand. Raising it up high, he swung it down in a wide arc, hitting it squarely in the head.
Axton again casts dismissal, hoping to penetrate the outsider's spell resistance. Only this time, he pulls out a pinch of dweomer's essence to infuse into his spell.
Quickly reloading, Vhane fires another round of bolts at the outsider.
:
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
.
After a few scratches from everyone the Qlippoth gets double teamed by the Dwarfs and is hammered! It dies.
.
It leaves behind a +1 Scimitar as its only loot.
.
What are you doing now?
”I don’t know about everyone else.” Bharak said, giving the remains of the demon statue a kick to show his deep displeasure at having his mind violated. ”But I’d like to see what’s behind that door.”
Using the key opens the Doomsday door without any problems. You find a passage that turns north to:
C5. GREEN MOUSE FOUNTAIN
The northeast portion of this wall curves outward and has been carved in the shape of an immense grinning mouse, its snout extending out from the wall in the shape of a bronze, faucet-like extension over an empty stone basin.
As you draw closer to the fountain Bharak holds up a hand to stop the party. There is a magical trap on the fountain!
What are you doing now?
Holding up a hand to indicate the party should stop, Bharak bent down and squinted at the fountain. ”See that?” He said, pointing at the stonework. ”Glyphs. If I’m right they are hidden among the decorations. Can see how the pattern shifts here…and here. Makes a whole, and when ye stare right at it there’s a pressure behind the eyes.” He pulled out a chisel as he talked. ”Going to try and break it…wish me luck.”
"Strange. It's almost like someone doesn't want us coming this way!"
Bharak disarms the trap... Just. .
It was set so that anyone wo approached the fountain received the faucet in the face like a missile, followed by a high-pressure jet of water. Followed by summoning an Elder water elemental.
Clearly someone had too much time on their hands.
The passage leads East from the fountain. .
C4 ACOLYTES' lODGINGS
Several large bedrooms and a pair of storerooms line the walls of this hallway. Their doors hang open, revealing the dusty, disorganized contents of each room, while the door to the north barely hangs on its hinges, revealing a smashed and battered armory beyond.
What are you doing now?
"Aye. How strange. People usually seem so happy to see us when we break in." Bharak replied with a deadpan tone of voice.
With a practiced eye and a careful step, Bharak walked through the hallway, scanning for traps as he went. He then went to the armory doors and cautiously looked inside. Given that they had just avoided a particularly devious trap, he hoped that there would not be another placed too close. The cost alone would make it prohibitive. However, whomever had set it obviously had far too much time on his hands, so the dwarf didn't let his guard down.
.
As he sneaks forward Bharak discovers that several of the room are occupied. The first four contain what looks like humanoid bears. .
The room at the end of the hall however contains the real threat! Two more of the Qlippoth demons you've been fighting.
This pale creature has four suckered arms that end in pincers. A gnashing maw gapes in its head between two staring eyes.
What are you doing now?
”Fook.” Bharak said, rejoining the group. ”Four were-bears yonder, two demons over there.” He motioned. ”I recommend taking the demons out first. Fighting the bruisers might take awhile and it would alert their masters. But if we get a drop on the demons we might be able to drop them before they can call for aid.”
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Axton asks Bharak for a description of the qlippoths.
"Actually, Bharak, these are qlippoths, which are not demons. The two are separate types of outsiders, and--"
Suddenly, Axton cuts off his own lecture and waves his hand in front of his own face in annoyance, as if trying to shoo something away.
"Never mind! Magilast has a thing about proper terminology. It doesn't matter. Here's what we need to know: Those are shoggti. They are good at charming and fascinating foes, and lowering defenses against such. They are immune to cold and poison. If we can handle that, I think these 'demons' are less dangerous than the last qlippoths we dealt with.
"They can teleport, but I think I can lock one down for the battle with a spell."
.