"...urgh! I don't feel so good all of a sudden." As the life is drained from her body, she staggers and collapses to the ground unconscious.
[Aaaah! Nice! I'm back. I was beginning to think this place was just a fever dream or something]
Instead of the winged black skeleton that Kka was expecting to see, she looks over to find a festively dressed skeleton in a floral print dress and a crown of flowers on her skull. Looking down, Kka spots a pair of low-heel red pumps on their feet.
Cherry begins to concentrate on a healing spell.
"Try to keep Kka up, I am beginning to run out of these!"
◆◆
◆Shield spell.
[Um. Okay. Nice to meet you...]
Kka's eyes snap open and the first thing she sees is the murder doll flying above her. She groans. Strangely enough, her first thought is, "What happened to its beak? Didn't it have a beak?"
Grabbing her shortsword, she half uses it as a crutch to pull herself to her feet. "This is really getting old. Maaybe you should all just let me go next time." Her tired red eyes turn to face the flying doll and flare in anger. "You first though." Kka then dives one way and the other to try and confuse the creature before lashing out at it with her sword.
"Everyone try to cover Kka for a sec!"
He fires off a quick bolt of flame at the flying doll and raises a shield again.
Lough slashes twice at the doll, but the doll ducks under both attacks. Cherry Berry heals Kka back up, and she makes use of the fact by feinting one way and dashing another, hitting the doll in the back. Kvit throws some fire at it, but it also dodges that attack.
The doll then switches over to harassing Kvit, as that glob of acid really hurt.
It moves into Kvit's square, , then bonks its head Kvit's.
Kvit -10, can pop shield.
Kka, wounded 1, -14
Mister Beak -25, 1 temp HP
Lough
Cherry Berry
Giyozara
Everyone may act, and Lough has an Attack of Opportunity.
"Watch it it's- Ahh! Get it off! Getitoff!"
Kvit backs up with his arms covering his head and fires at it again.
<><><>
Taking a three action cast to fire off Horizon Thunder Sphere, so it does 1/2 damage even on a miss.
|
Flanking the creature with Kvit, he makes several quick strikes!
LINK
Trigger: A creature within your reach uses a manipulate action or a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it’s using.
You lash out at a foe that leaves an opening. Make a melee Strike against the triggering creature. This Strike doesn’t count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn’t apply to this Strike.
Nearly snatching the wretched construct out of the sky!
"Why don't you pick on someone your own!" apparently having forgot (or never learned!?) the full common boast!
↺) Attack of Opportunity
+
◆) Raise Shield
◆◆) Snagging Strike x2
+
↺) Shield Block
↺) Attack of Opportunity
~) Whichever reaction triggers first
"I got it right where you want it Kka!"
Seeing her opportunity, Kka steps carefully behind the doll and slashes at it with her sword.
Still feeling weak from the murder doll's earlier draining, Kka decides that perhaps she needs a bit of a pick-me-up in case the creature decides to turn and attack her again. Pulling out her smelling salts, she takes a deep whiff.
Kvit fires another ball of fire at the puppet, but misses in his panic. Lough's reaction crits and rips the legs off the doll, but he's still flying. Giyozara's Thunder Sphere misses, but the half damage is still enough to fry the doll's brain, and it falls to the ground, lifeless.
Kvit and Kka are wounded from the fight, but those wounds are easily patched up again by Kka.
Now that there isn't a doll harassing you, you can safely enter the room. After tiptoeing through the rubble and inspecting everything, the only thing of value in this room is a bejeweled spyglass on a display rack. You guess you could probably sell it for 20 gold pieces, if you don't give it to Spookywisp.
Come to think of it, Kvit at first presumed Spookywisp to be a mitflit of some kind, but after reconsidering, you're pretty sure he's something else, but you're not sure what, exactly.
|
|
Unless there is strong objection, Lough collects the doll's remains and the bejeweled spyglass, and arriving back into the room, addresses "Spookywisp - we have defeated the nuisance, and recovered this fine amulet. Now. We bargain!"
Crafting (*) +6
Occultism (*) +6
Swamp Lore (*) +6
Kka, still flat on her back on the floor, stares up and watches as the rest of the group finishes off the flying murder doll. "Thank Calistria for that." She was very tired and had not been looking forward to throwing herself at the nasty little creature again. She sighs and closes her eyes for a minute to work up the energy to get going again. The image of a skeleton wreathed in flowers waving goodbye flashes into her mind. "Huh. That's odd. Where did that come from?" She grasps at the image but it slowly fades away from her memory.
Finally she sits up, collects her fallen weapons and gets to work patching up herself and Kvit. After a few minutes her bone-deep exhaustion dissipates and she begins to feel a lot better. "I don't know whaat that thing hit me with, but it was a doozy whaatever it was."
She follows Lough back to the first room and glowers at Spookywisp while Lough bargains with it.
Cherry looks around to see if anyone seems to be critically injured. "Does anyone want to eat a berry?"
Kvit kicks a toe at the defunct construct. "It's too bad. It would have been interesting to see how this was made. By the looks of it, it's creator was definitely not coming back."
He looks at Kka patching themselves up and then to Cherry. "Ah, well I don't want to bother Kka. She seems pretty busy bringing herself back from the dead again. I'll try one."
"Hey let me see that spyglass before we hand it over. Giyozara, what do you think? Anything special?"
Kvit casts detect magic and tries to identify it if anything appears special.
It doesn't detect as magic. It's a very pretty bejeweled spyglass.
"I'm definitely up for a longer break when anyone is ready."
With that berry and Kvit's popped shield, Kvit is all healed up. Kka heals herself and you make your way back to the first room. Spookywisp doesn't listen to Lough's demand, and as soon as he sees the spyglass, he rushes up to Lough and jumps up and down in front of him, trying to swipe the spyglass from Lough's hands.
"Yes, that's the shiny! Gimme the shiny! I want the shiny! Gimme gimme gimme!"
A low growling noise comes from deep in Kka's throat ("<krrrrraaaaaawwwww>") as she fixes her beady red eyes on the troublesome Spookywisp. "Waatch yourself there little one. You don't waant to end up like the doll, do you?"
Spookywisp gulps, then backs off and clambers back onto the comfortable chair and sits down. "See? I'm calm now. Can I have the shiny now?"
His eyes flit between Kka and the spyglass.
[dice=Berry Healing]1d8
"I'm definitely up for a longer break when anyone is ready."
"Thank you Cherry. That was surprisingly good and I feel tip top. And don't worry, I think the plan was to check out this building, see Lough's good friend the mitflits boss, and then head back to civilization."
He follows along behind Kka and Lough. "Hey, it's not magical or anything but it's pretty well crafted. It could fetch a decent price in a second hand market. Whatever information that mitflit has better be worth it."
"Whee!" Spookywisp grabs the spyglass and parades around the room with it, twirling it like a baton, pretending it's a wand and shooting explosions from it, swordfighting with his shadow, and making the gems on it reflect in the light. Basically, everything except its intended use. He has completely forgotten you are there.
When you interrupt him, he startles and remembers why you are here. "Ah, yes, the secrets! First of all, this building belonged to someone named Volluk Azrinae.
Secret the second! Volluk was an apprentice to someone named Belcorra, and though I think Volluk was very mean and dangerous, this Belcorra person is much worse!
And finally, secret number C! The lighthouse doesn't just shine a creepy light. It can also shoot a beam full of ghosts!"
With that said, he turns away from you, tucks the spyglass between its legs, and skips off, pretending the incredibly expensive piece of art/science is a hobby horse.
"Well we learned her apprentice's name at least. I wonder who this Volluk Azrinae was. Doesn't sound Gnomish."
Kka looks at Lough slightly aghast. "Whaat kind of bargaining waas that? That spyglaass was worth 20 gold easy and you just gaave it away?" She looks over at Spookywisp and quickly calculates the pros and cons of retrieving the spyglass by having her sword accidently slip and slice the creature in two. Seeing Spookywisp so happy and knowing how the rest of the group would react to such an accident she decides it isn't worth it. She stomps her hoof. "Dang it!"
She glances over at the two side doors. "Maybe there's something of value behind those." She moves over to the doors and gives them the usual looking over. She calls back at the cavorting creature. "Yo! Spookywisp! Do you know whaat's behind these doors? Anything dangerous?"
"I'm not sure I like that 'beam of ghosts' line. Do you think it can manifest actual ghosts instead of just zombies?"
Kvit shakes his head and comments sarcastically,"Well that was money well spent."
Though he does call after spookywisp. "Hey, that last one wasn't a secret. It doesn't count."
He wonders at Cherry's question. "Hmm, interesting question. We definitely don't know how that light works. It could be transporting undead spirits directly, but I'm not sure."
Spookywisp giggles at Kvit's comment. "Well, I don't know what you know. That's why it's a secret!"
If this is Gauntlight in a weakened state, a fully powered lighthouse could be catastrophic for Otari.
At Kka's question, Spookywisp replies, "Oh, just some stairs and a supply room. I've never gone down the stairs, I don't like the dark down there," as he juggles the spyglass in his hands, along with a rock and a carrot.
Indeed, if you open the eastern door, you find the following:
Shelves laden with tools, lumber, and planks line the walls of this 10‑foot‑square room.
Among the tools, you find a silver key. It seems to be worth 10 gold pieces on its own.
The western door opens to a winding stairwell that's covered with moss and fungus. Anyone walking these stairs would've clearly left imprints, but after a quick inspection, you don't think anyone has gone down here in a long time.
Kka adds the silver key to her ever expanding collection . She then looks down the moss-covered stairs. "Might as well go down and check it out."
Kvit is clearly flustered by the spookywisp "What-? No thats- arghh forget it."
He shrugs towards Kka. "Sure, let's try to make it quick. There can't be much down there judging by the moss."
He continues talking to Cherry as they head down. "Thinking about it some more, you could be right. Somehow I forgot about the Scalathrax. The beam has definitely demonstrated that it can transport things and reanimate things. No reason it couldn't transport some incorporeal spirits as well. I'm just hoping we don't find out any other abilities the Gauntlight might have."
Cherry nods. "I'm not super familiar with them myself, but I thought lighthouses were supposed to protect things".
You head down the stairs and immediately come to a T-junction. The room to the east has a big lock on it, the door to the west doesn't.
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Kka is the first to spot the big lock on the eastern door. "About time we found a door with a lock." She checks the lock for traps and then pulling out her keys, tries each in turn, starting with the silver key they just found upstairs.
Indeed, the silver key opens the lock just fine.
Seven square alcoves, each containing strange magical apparatuses or alchemical sets of tools, ring this damp stone chamber. The alcove to the north contains a large glass tank filled with liquid. A goblin’s corpse, clad in outdated servant’s clothing, floats inside it. A semicircular worktable covered with tools, moldy papers, and a large open book stands in front of the tank.
The notes are moldy and crumbly, but with some care, you can read them easily. They're full of formulae and processes you can't immediately place.
In an alcove to the northwest you find an armless, legless doll shaped like a goblin. It has an indentation in its back, as if something can be slotted in.
"Ugh, necromancy workshop. And it looks like also dedicated to building constructs too? Dunno why."
Kka glances at the notes but decides that they're boring and leaves it to the smart ones to figure out. When Giyozara mentions that this is a workshop for building constructs, Kka says, "So this is where this Volluk Azrinae guy, Belcorra's apprentice, built the murder doll we just killed?" She eyes the new doll warily. "Good thing he never finished this one."
Seeing the indentation in the back of the doll and remembering the magical gem in the back of the previous doll, she gives Lough a cold look. "Don't even think about it."
Kvit gleans the same information as Giyozara. "Why not though? Well, at least the construct building. They're always useful."
Sneakers, silent for a while clears his throat and curtly says, "Er herm, there's a door over there, the air smells different like a draft."
Kvit looks down in surprise at the rat poking it's head out of his robe pocket. He tries to be extra nice to him since he was probably still upset about the incident but appeared to be coming around. "Thank you Sneakers for your help."
At Kka's comments on the unfinished doll, Kvit's curiosity is peaked. It seems she might be worried about the wrong party member right now. "Giyozara says that gem is magic? Can I take a look? Also, Sneakers says there should be a doorway hidden on the south wall over there."
"Careful Kvit, it could be trapped."
Cherry will throw a guidance on Kvit as he checks the gem.
Kka goes over to examine the secret door and the opening mechanism. After making sure that it isn't trapped in some fashion, she activates the toolbox lever mechanism to open the door.
Looking through the now open door, she sees the steps leading down. "Looks like we've found another waay down. Whoever built this plaace really had a thing for staairs."
She then works her way back to the door at the other end of the hallway and looks that one over.
Nothing happens as Kvit examines the gem. With some Detect Magic, Kvit concludes that the gem radiates necromancy magic.
The eastern room explored, Kka now goes to the door to the west.
This room shares features of a bedroom and a study, although the decor is devoid of any touches of personality, as if anything of sentimental value had been removed.
Lying in the corner of the study, a scrap of paper has the following written on it:
What The Worm Knows, Grave Feasts, and Secrets of the Skull
Below that is a note, stating,
“Transcription will take months, but I’ll try to have these books back to you as soon as possible, my love!”
The rest of the room is empty.
"Hmm, do these sound like names of books to anyone else? Maybe we should visit the library once we get back to town."
Kka emits a short squawking laugh. "<Ark ark> This Volluk guy doesn't sound like the type to be returning library books. Plus, I doubt the Daawnflower Library, or Otaari were around baack then. If they're anywhere, it's down here somewhere." She turns to the northern door. "Or maybe behind this door." She moves to the door and checks it for traps.
...
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Kvit silently shakes his head at Lough's offer. And keeps his voice low while he speaks. "I don't think that'll work, we already broken it too much. But, we might be able to try with that goblin doll... I'm thinking if we activate it, it'll consider us its master."
He watches the others for a moment to grab the doll and takes the gem from Lough. And... Pops it right in like the last piece in a snug jigsaw puzzle.
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The goblin doll's button eyes flicker, then spring to life.
"WAAAAAHHHH, MASTER AZRINAE BETRAYED BORBO," the doll suddenly yells in Goblin. "BORBO WAS MASTER'S FAITHFUL SERVANT, AND THEN HE PUT BORBO IN A STUPID DOLL BODY. WAAAAHHHHHH."
Big tears (somehow!) stream down the doll's face, and the stumps where his arms and legs are supposed to be attached to wiggle frantically, the doll suddenly in a fully blown tantrum.
"ALL THESE YEARS, BORBO ENDURED MASTER AZRINAE'S EXPERIMENTS AND INSULTS, SAYING 'BORBO, DO THIS,' AND 'BORBO, STOP CHEWING ON MY BOOKS,' BUT NEVER A 'THANK YOU BORBO FOR HAULING ALL THAT HEAVY STUFF.' AND THEN HE PUT BORBO IN THAT STUPID DOLL. BORBO WAITED FOR SO LONG FOR MASTER TO RETURN, BUT MASTER NEVER RETURNED. AND NOW BORBO IS IN ANOTHER STUPID BODY, BUT EVEN WORSE. BORBO CAN'T EVEN PICK BORBO'S NOSE ANYMORE. WAAAAHHHH."