Giyozara fires a bolt of pure coldness at Shimmergrin and it connects, the cold slowing down his movements.
Cherry Berry calls on the power of Erastil to boost their friends's accuracy.
Fuìn lashes out once more, but only eats air.
After that, Kka steps in to shank the small creature. Her first attack connects, her second doesn't.
Kvit channels the power of undeath through his opponent, though it seems to shake off most of its effects.
Since Kka hurt it a lot, Shimmergrin lashes back out at her.
Both attacks miss, and Shimmergrin curses in anger. He tries to zip away again, but not before Fuìn's weapon lashes out once more.
Shimmergrin flies away, his shining body once again blending with the light of the room until he's disappeared. You still hear him snickering maniacally, but you can't place where exactly he is in the room.
Fuìn
Kvit, 19 damage
Shimmergrin, 53 damage, bloodied
Cherry Berry, Bless 5 ft
Kka
Giyozara
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<>Perception check to figure out where the snickering is coming from.
<><>Cast Glitterdust in the vague area of where I think he is (if perception check gives me that info)
◆
◆
◆
Cherry steps into a more central position while quietly expanding their magic and protecting themselves.
Giyozara tries to locate the creature, but can't find him. He casts Glitterdust anyway, and Shimmergrin appears next to Fuìn, coughing and hacking up inhaled dust.
Cherry Berry increases their range of Erastil's divine power.
When Giyozara's spell makes Shimmergrin visible again, Kka curses the lack of flanking options. She shrugs and moves quickly up to the creature before once again... The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
Kvit recovers long enough to aim and fire a bolt of fire at the glittering outline.
Seeing it hit home, he smiles as he searches his pockets for his healing potion.
Fuin steps back to get room to swing and lobs the meteor hammer twice at Shimmergrin.
♦ Step.
♦
♦
Kka lashes out twice at her opponent. Her first attack hits, but her second attack sadly misses because she can't quite pinpoint Shimmergrin's exact location. Kvit follows it up with a ball of fire, and all the dust in the air makes the target extra flammable. Shimmergrin goes up in a ball of flame and falls to the floor dead, his wings burning to a crisp.
Hero Point to Giyozara for the well-timed spell, I'd say. :)
When you look through the room, you find the following things:
- The book Shimmergrin was reading is titled Pathways of the Worm. Since it was used as a Telekinetic Projectile, not much is left of it. You find several pages describing ritual sacrifice, all annotated and illustrated by a childish hand (most likely Shimmergrin's).
- Another everburning torch in the chandelier.
- A small volume tucked in a much bigger book. The volume is called Ineffable Hauntings, and upon perusing it, you find some interesting magical applications. You find the formula to create poltergeists through a ritual for create undead, and you find a complete academic analysis of the ghostly weapon spell.
Ineffable Hauntings is worth 20 gp, and there's 1 bulk of books here that Morlibint would find interesting.
"Hmm, maybe I need to start carrying one of these torches instead of using a spell."
Kka tries to brush the glitter off her leathers and feathers, but with little success. "Nice work with the glitter there Giyozara. We would've had a much haarder time nailing that annoying bug without it." She then goes over to the remains of the book and picks up the shredded cover. "Caan't say the same about your choice of projectile there Kvit." She squints to read the title. "Uh, Paathways of the Worm, I think. I hope there waasn't anything important in it, like, oh, I don't know... a ritual to destroy Belcorra or something."
A quick search of the room yields another everburning torch. She looks at Cherry. "You sure you waant to use this instead of your spell? Better to keep your hands free, no?" If Cherry wants the torch, then Kka hands it to her, otherwise she adds it to its partner in her backpack.
The spellbook she hands to Kvit. "This looks more up your alley Kvit. Maybe there's a book mending spell in there or something. <Ark!, ark!>. The rest we caan pick up on our way out."
She then looks from one door to the other and back again. "Eenie, meenie,... ah, forget about it. Let's try this one first." She heads to the Northern door and gives it the once over.
Fuin puffs out a breath as Shimmergrin falls. Seeing Kvit bleeding a bit, he steps over and touches the ysoki on the shoulder. "Desna watch over you, friend," he murmurs, filling Kvit with healing energy that spiderwebs out from Fuin's fingertips in soft white veins that appear to be made of moonlight, sealing torn flesh and muscle wherever they pass.
He then settles onto the ground, sitting cross-legged as he meditates to refocus his divine power.
A few minutes later, he stands back up and meets Kka at the north door, meteor hammer ready and eyes darting back and forth, looking out for further danger.
Kvit stands back up straight as Fuìn heals most of his wounds. He nods in appreciation and says, "thanks, that's quite a bit better"
He glares and grumbles at Kka "That book was already well destroyed before we got to it. You can pick up the pages and I'm sure Morlibint can glue it together if it's that important."
He does happily accept the other books. An inspection shows the ghostly weapon spell that his bushy eyebrows definitely raise at. "Now, if you want to stop Belcorra, I think this will be of more use than pathway of the worm or whatever. Ghostly Weapon. Could enchant several weapons of needed, well, eventually."
He shrugs at the ritual though. "This could be interesting. Though I'm not sure how useful our own poltergeist would be. I don't recall much about them, other than the ones we fought already."
Kka watches as Fuìn lays hands on Kvit. "Nice trick that. Must come in very handy. Looks like you missed a spot though." While Fuìn recovers, Kka gets to work on the last of the damage. "Stop fidgeting Kvit, this won't taake long."
Kvit attempts to stand still, though he yips as the last of the wounds are closed up.
"No problem, trick I picked up a while back. Not sure what it has to do with dragons, but it seemed useful. At least it did in my dreams. That was the first time I actually cast it you know."
Kka opens the door to the north and finds... the bathroom.
The bathtub and commode in this room are surprisingly clean.
There's several magical auras here. Upon investigation, they're two create water spells to flush the toilet and fill the bathtub, and two prestidigitation spells for hot and cold water. You look around, but nothing interesting remains.
You take the door to the south and find nothing other than a broken iron stool and a well-used whetstone. Behind the door is a set of stair leading down.
"There is a spell Earsitle will allow me that can allow me to repair objects. If we gather all the pieces, I can repair the book tomorrow."
Looking at the stairs, "I'm not sure we want to go downstairs yet. I still want to put all those bodies to at least some sort of rest."
"There is a spell Earsitle will allow me that can allow me to repair objects. If we gather all the pieces, I can repair the book tomorrow."
Looking at the stairs, "I'm not sure we want to go downstairs yet. I still want to put all those bodies to at least some sort of rest."
"Also, did we ever fully explore that secret room in the bookbinding place? I feel like a secret room full of books could be important.
Squeakers runs around the bathroom. "hey, this is like, the one clean room in this whole place!"
Kvit inspects the seemingly permanent enchantments with interest. "Interesting, I have not had much experience with more permanent enchantments."
"I'm sure we could take another look at the room if you think we missed something, there are definitely a few more rooms up here to check out before moving on anyway. Plus that guard demon to deal with."
Kka looks at the bathtub and commode and racks her brain for a good way to rip it all out and take it back with her to the Crook's Nook. None of the members of the Osprey Club liked to clean the toilets there and they were always a stinking mess. Finally she shakes her head in defeat and continues her search in the other room.
When Cherry suggests mending the book, Kka waves her away. "Naah, don't worry about it. It looks worthless. I waas only complaining about it to needle Kvit." Kka agrees with Cherry on the stairs. "Yeah, Like Giyozara and Kvit saay; we've got plenty to keep us busy up here for a while longer before we open up another level of this plaace."
She ponders her mental map. "How about we check out those two doors in thaat long hallway to the north? We never finished thaat up after the golem chased us away."
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Fuin mouths the words "guard demon?" with a concerned look, and his face absolutely drains what little color it had at the mention of being chased off by a golem.
"Guess it wouldn't be a dungeon without at least one truly deadly beastie. And it sounds like this level has two! Bonus!" His sweaty forehead clearly doesn't match the jovial tone of voice. He supposes it is past time to truly earn his keep. Be a helluva story taking down a demon, too...
"So where are these rooms?"
Kka notices Fuìn mouthing the words "guard demon" and laughs. "<Ark!, ark!> I think technically it waas a devil. I doubt demons worry about contraacts quite as much as this guy. And, 'two' seems like an undercount of the 'deadly beasties' taally. That misty floating eye thingy sent me to the other side, and the golem did it twice. If we hadn't maanaged to talk a couple of the ghosts to death, we'd probaably have joined the ghost paarade ourselves by now. <Ark!, ark!>"
Recovering, Kka points back the way they came. "The hallway I'm talking about is just around the corner from here. Walk this way!"
Kvit follows along at a safe distance, though he seems maybe a bit more out of breath than usual.
"That brings up a good point, Fuin. We should probably try to bring you more up to speed on the sorts of things we've seen so far. Next time we take a break in town, we should try to review. It might be helpful for us as well, there are several odd things we haven't quite figured out. Lead the way, Kka"
While discussing all the horrors of the dungeon, Kka inspects the next door you come across. It's safe, so she opens it.
The walls of this room are only partially completed and bear the telltale marks of chisels and picks. Discarded stone‑working tools lie against the unfinished walls.
Giyozara detects magic coming from the tools, and after examining it finds a +1 striking pick. The rest of the tools are nonmagical and very old. They look like one big swing with them might cause the wooden hafts to crumble.
"Hmmm, someone enchanted that mining pick as a weapon. Makes sense I suppose, the magic makes it more resistant to decay, and I think the striking rune might help it break through rock. Don't know how serviceable it'll be as a weapon."
"But at least the runes are recoverable. I'm sure one of us can find a use for them."
Kvit examines the pick and the rune on it. "Yes, it looks simple enough. With a little time, back in town, I should be able to transfer that to something more useful."
Kvit makes a turn about the room before shrugging. "Well, looks like that is it, Though this might make a decent hideaway in case we need to recover and can't make it back to town."
He exits the room, "End of the hall next?"
Kka agrees with Cherry. "We caan definitely make use of the runes, but until then, Fuìn can use it as a weapon if he waants." Kka then nods to Kvit. "End of the hallwaay it is."
Fuin tries very hard not to drool at the mention of a striking rune. "Erm, sure. I'll take it for now. When we have the chance, though, I'd love to move that striking rune onto the ol' ball and chain." He pats the meteor hammer lovingly before wrapping it carefully around his arm in its usual stowed position. "I'll pay for it out of my share, of course."
He gives the pick a few tentative swipes to test its balance, frowns, and shrugs. It feels a little clumsy compared to the meteor hammer, but he once knew a fellow who used a kusari-gama to devastating effect, so he knows it's functionally sound. Just different. I'll get used to it, I'm sure, and eventually I can go back to the hammer.
When Fuìn mentions that he'd like the striking rune on his hammer, Kka laughs. "<Ark!, ark> Oh, don't worry about thaat. We'll all be getting striking runes on our favorite weapons once we get baack Otari. It's already in the budget. Finding one just maakes the accounting easier."
Fuin tries and fails to not look like a kid who was just told they're headed to the candy shop. "Yes," he says brusquely. "Very good. Very responsible. Budgets." He draws the word out like he's never used it before. Which, of course, he hasn't.
Kvit eyes Kka strangely, "Budget? Accounting? How long does she think this is going on? We aren't a mercenary group..."
"Let's save the bookkeeping for a safer area, won't matter how many runes we find if we don't make it back."
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"You'd be surprised how much Erastil approves of a good budget," Cherry says as an aside. "I mean, he's no Abadar, but budgets are important to keep your community growing."
Kka slide up to the door at the end of the hallway and gives it the once over before letting Fuìn do the honors of opening it.
"I wouldn't worry too much Fuìn, we've been making enough racket down here anything in there probably already knows we're here."
Once Kka gives the all-clear, Fuin swaps places with her and opens the door, pick in hand.
Kka notices heat emanating from cracks below the door, but doesn't think the door itself is trapped. Fuìn opens the door.
The air in this room feels blisteringly hot, although the source of the heat is not apparent. Neither the wooden barrel containing a few iron scoops nor the metal bin with a hatch‑like lid seems to be the source.
Kvit watches intently as Kka and Fuìn lead the way, he makes to follow them in when Squeakers cries out in alarm.
Sneakers squeaks and babbles, Squeeak! Hey Boss! Don't go in there! I'm getting major heebie-jeebies. Something definitely died in there and I don't think it's happy about it. I- I think it's in that metal bin, it's hot like an old furnace, but I dunno."
He pats Sneakers trying to call him as Kvit squints his eyes and sniffs the area, without moving forward. Kvit says, "Well, either we shut the door and go back or we poke around. I don't doubt he's right. It wouldn't be the first ghost we've run into."
When Sneakers goes on about ghosts, Kka rolls her eyes and says sarcastically, "Another ghost? Thaat would be a shocking surprise." She examines the furnace. "The heat paart is new though. I don't know... looks more like a haunt to me. If it waas a ghost I think it would haave shown itself by now." Curiosity then overtakes her. "Let's see whaat's inside." She moves into the room and reaching out with the tip of her shortsword, uses it to flip the lid open.
When Kka refuses to be cautious and steps in anyway, Kvit prods Cherry with his staff. "Better get up there before she gets herself hurt. I think you're the best expert we got."
Kka tips over the lid and it lands on the ground with a loud clang. Immediately, two flaming ghosts erupt from the bin and start whirling around the room, chasing each other.
"You fool! This information could give us the promotion that we've been waiting for! Finally out of this dusty library and closer to Lady Belcorra's private offices!"
"I'm the fool? This information could lead to the destruction of the whole Isle of Kortos and a new Age of Darkness! Think of how many lives we'd be responsible for ending if this reaches her."
"Who cares about that? If we show this to her, we could become immortal! That's worth a few lives, right?"
You quickly deduce that this is a haunt. These two people were fighting with each other about burning some papers and fell into the incinerator, their struggle continuing in the afterlife. You can put them to rest by yelling some sense into them (Intimidation), purging their spirits with Religion, or destroying the source of their unrest, the bin. Each spirit needs to be calmed down separately, and is a two-action activity.
The ghosts keep yelling at each other as they streak through the air. Fire whips from their bodies and lash out at Kka.
The first lash is a crit and puts Kka at 1, the second lash knocks her out.
Haunt
Kka, prone, dying 1
Fuìn
Giyozara
Kvit
Cherry Berry
Everyone may act!
<Clang!>
"Oh crap! I guess it was ghosts after all... Urk!"
[Now what? What fresh hell is this?]
{Hi there! I'm Catalina. We've already met, but you probably don't remember}
[Ah. I take it this isn't my first visit to the afterlife]
{Oh, no! You've been quite the regular visitor, or so Libitina tells me}
[Libitina?]
{Um, yes. She's the one usually assigned to your case, but she's on another mission right now, so I'm keeping an eye on you for the time being}
[Another mission?]
{Something involving a lot of water and nasty fish. She's not happy about it. I'm sure she'd rather be here}
[Soooo... now what?]
{We wait for a bit to see how things go. Usually your friends pull you back, but I'm here to make sure you don't go wandering off if they don't}
[I have friends? Why can't I remember them? Well, whoever they are, I hope they take their time. I kinda like this place. It's very relaxing]
{Your normal memories are suppressed when you're here, and your memories of this place are suppressed when you go back. Something about avoiding unnecessary trauma. At least that's how it's supposed to work, but sometimes it doesn't}
[Hold on! This Libitina you mentioned. She wouldn't happen to be a tall, and black and, um, somewhat boney by any chance?]
{Sigh! Yes. Don't tell anyone you remember though; I'll probably get into trouble. I'm sort of new at this and don't always get it right}
[That's funny. Who would I tell? There's only you and me here]
{That's true, at least right now. But if you end up in the Boneyard, you might find yourself being asked a lot of pointed questions. Shouldn't be a big deal if you've kept your soul relatively clean}
[Ah! I see. 'Clean', you say? Hmm... I wonder what's keeping my so-called friends?]
That's very fair. That leaves you at 3 HP.
As the haunt raises and strikes down Kka, Sneakers squeaks again and scrunches down further into Kvit's robe pocket.
Kvit casts guidance on Cherry and Blur on Fuìn.
As Fuìn's form starts to blur, Kvit says "Alright Fuìn, see if you can keep its attention away from Kka for a minute. I think Cherry is the only one that can help us here."
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"Oh for the love of . . YOU BOTH ARE DEAD. BELCORA IS DEAD. SHUFFLE OFF TO PHARASMA OR SHE'LL BE RIGHT PISSED AT YOU. WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER SET OF GHOSTS UP HERE!"
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"Oh for the love of . . YOU BOTH ARE DEAD. BELCORA IS DEAD. SHUFFLE OFF TO PHARASMA OR SHE'LL BE RIGHT PISSED AT YOU. WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER SET OF GHOSTS UP HERE!"
"Me??" Fuin cries, panicked. "I don't--What do I do, wave my arms around and yell 'hit me, hit me'?"
He scoffs, pauses, then shrugs. "Screw it, nothing else comes to mind." He starts waving his arms around, yelling obscenities at the ghosts. They seem pretty focused, though, so he has no idea how well it will work. After a few choice words about their incorporeality and how stupid it looks on them, he throws up another disc of shadow to protect against the possible onslaught.
♦♦
♦ Cast shield.