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Kka pockets the silver and chakrams for later resale. "Better thaan nothing I suppose." She hopes that Urevian had Carman's bounty nearby, or the haul from this level was going to be pretty sad if things continued as they were.
When Kvit suggests they try the secret door first, Kka shakes her head. "Nah. Better to clear things out as we come to them or we risk our retreat being cut off." She sidles up quietly to the first visible door and checks it for traps and locks.
Kvit shrugs, he wasn't the one going through the doors first either way.
The flat, black walls of this chamber reflect an eerie emptiness. An open trapdoor against the east wall leads to a narrow crawl space.
Standing in the room, the black walls absorb all light, making it feel like you're in an endless void. You feel a strange sense of vertigo as you can't judge distances properly anymore, but it passes after a few minutes in this room.
Kka is an old hand at feeling like she's floating in an endless void without form. She half expects to see Libitina pop up beside her before the feeling passes. "Maaaan! Thaat's some creepy blaack paint they used in this room. I bet you won't find any caans of thaat stuff at your local haardware store."
Not seeing anything potentially dangerous, she enters and checks out the other door. "Let's see whaat's behind this door before we go looking any further into spider-invested crawlways."
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Cherry Berry reacts much more strongly to the void room than Kka does. As not only a healing cleric, but as a druid and a plant the lightless room hits them very hard.
"I don't suppose either of you have any paint on you do you? I don't care about the color. I never want to enter that room again; and I would prefer to make it safer for someone in the future."
When Cherry asks if anyone brought any paint with them, Kka looks at the leshy a little incredulously. "Are they kidding? Hard to tell with that one." She then pats her pockets as if looking for something. "Nope! Sorry Cherry. I'm plum out of paint. If we come across any down here, we'll definitely come baack to repaint this room."
You check out the room to the west.
A bowl of filthy swamp water rests upon a crude altar.
Cherry Berry and Kvit can tell you that this is a scrying bowl, also used to communicate with other people.
There are some items lying next to the bowl: a grisly molar on a string, a transparent gemstone with some cloudy substance whirling within, and seven ears impaled on a nail.
Kka opens the door and looks into the small room. She spots the bowl of nasty-looking water on a table with some stuff lying on the ground around it. When Kvit and Cherry suggest that it is a scrying device, Kka is intrigued. "I wonder who's on the other end of thaat? Let's find out." "Probably not a smart idea, but you only live once." Before anyone can stop her, she takes a couple of steps and looks into the bowl.
At first, she sees nothing, but a moment later, a by-now-familiar face jumps out of the bowl at her. "Eeeeeeek!" She rips her gaze away, but not before the vision drills into her mind.
"Arrrghhhhh!" She clutches her head with her hands. "It hurts" She falls to the ground stunned for a minute as the pain recedes, leaving her wrung out.
"Remind me not to look into any weird bowls from now on. Thaat was no. fun. at. all." She pulls out some smelling salts from her healing supplies and self-medicates. "If Belcorra didn't already know we were coming for her, she sure does now."
She then picks through the items on the floor and tries to identify them. "Anyone know what this stuff is?"
Once everyone has looked over the items, she tucks them away for later resale.
When Kvit realizes what the bowl is, and who it might be linked to, he is immediately interested in seeing what was in it. Though also smart enough not to look. And maybe he hesitated a second longer than he meant to when Kka moved to look into it. "Wait! Don't-"
Once Kka stops screaming, "Well, what did you see? Of course we can probably smash it now Like you said, whoever is on the other side has already been alerted."
"These are fantastic talismans. Lough and Kka you two can fight over that tooth and nail. Cherry, how do you feel about controlling the very elements in sentient form?"
When Kvit asks what Kka saw in the bowl, she shivers at the recollection. "Ugh! it waas Belcorra. No big surprise really, but the way she jumped from the bowl and buried herself into my mind waas scary. Thaat one is going to be haard to take down when we finally run into her."
Once told that the bowl is worthless, Kka accidently bumps into it and sends it smashing to the floor. "Oopsie! I caan be such a klutz sometimes."
Kka looks at the crawlway again and sighs. She wasn't really up to shimmying into tight spaces with the gods only knew what waiting at the other end. "How about we skip the spiderwebs for the time being and see whaat's behind the secret door?" The question is rhetorical and she make her way to the secret door to check it for traps and locks.
Cherry offers Kka their daily berry to accelerate their healing.
“I don’t mind summoning elementals.” The Lesly says, “At least with the normal summoning spells.”
Kka goes back and checks the secret door. She finds no surprises and opens it.
This small chamber features a large map of the Inner Sea painted on the north wall, though the listed countries seem long out of date. A large cushion rests in the room’s southwest corner. On the west wall, overlapping scraps of paper create a much newer map of the town of Otari and the surrounding terrain.
As the door slides open, pages fall to the ground, presumably previously pinned to said door. Distracted by the rustling papers, a person almost completely covered in cloth whirls around, only their long, black fingernails and leonine eyes visible. He - you instinctively know he's a he - smiles behind his veil, his eyes softening slightly. "Ah, visitors, welcome to my humble abode. You're probably here because of what I did to little Dorianna. And your friend, of course. Don't worry, I'll release her, as long as someone takes her place. The kayal, for example, he's such a fine specimen, so much trauma in his past just ripe for the plucking. He wasn't part of your original group in the first place, so you'll barely miss him. Or, if anyone else would like to volunteer?"
With a wave of his hand, a blood-red ruby materialises in his hand, and he holds it out for you to take.
Kka quickly looks over the room and takes in the recent map of Otari and surrounds, as well as the cloth-shrouded person. "Looks like this guy is part of the Otari invasion crew. Seems like we're going to have to burn everything in this room as well."
When it becomes clear that they are in the presence of Ysondkhelir, the denizen of Leng they've been looking for, Kka says, "Ah, so you're the denizen thaat's been causing us so much trouble? Ysondkhelir, waas it? I haave a better idea for how to fix the problems you're causing us and, news flaash, there's no volunteering required. Unfortunately for you, it requires your death."
Kka clangs her swords together and advances menacingly.
Kvit tries to recall everything he learned about these denizens from before, especially how to hurt and kill one...
Kvit tries to stall to get more time to think.
"It doesn't sound like you're offering anything in trade. What are you suggesting?"
Kka promises Ysondkhelir will die and successfully intimidates him, but before he can react to the threat, Lough steps up and offers himself. Taken aback by the sudden crowd, Ysondkhelir lashes out at Lough, ready for combat.
Kvit quickly tries to think of what else he knows about Denizens of Leng, but in the heat of the moment, his brain fails him.
Lough 92/92
Kka 83/83
Giant hand
Cherry Berry 78/78
Ysondkhelir, Frightened 1
Kvit 48/48
Lough and Kka are up!
When Ysondkhelir attacks Lough, Kka thinks, "Finally! I was beginning to think we were on a level full of pacifists or something."
With Lough within range of both enemies, Kka steps forward and starts slicing and dicing the frightened Ysondkhelir.
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Looking around the room, Lough suddenly realizes that he misses Fuin...
...the thought persists momentarily before adrenaline takes over!
◆) Raise Shield w/ Spellguard Shield
◆◆) Snagging Strike
↺) Reactive Strike
Lough is consumed with guilt over telling off his old friend. "I deserve to die"...
Ysondkhelir easily dodges the attacks with barely any effort.
"Tss, all that big mouth and this is what you have to show for it? I think I grabbed the right person anyway, you don't even seem worth the effort of breaking."
The mastiff-sized hand scratches at Kka, trying to prevent her from injuring its master.
Lough 92/92
Kka 83/83
Giant hand
Cherry Berry 78/78
Ysondkhelir, Frightened 1
Kvit 48/48
Cherry Berry is up!
Crit success: no damage.
Success: half damage, sickened 1.
Fail: full damage, sickened 2.
Crit fail: double damage, sickened 3.
Cherry gestures, unleashing a blast of electricity at both the hand and Ysondkheiler before using their staff to shield Kka.
. DC 25 basic reflex save
Kka gets a +1 circumstance bonus to AC.
Correction: I missed Kka's first attack. That one definitely hits. However, Kka aims for the Denizen's internal organs, and it seems like their internal organs are not where a regular humanoid's organs would be. It's much less effective than you would've hoped.
Cherry Berry zaps electricity between the hand and Ysondkhelir.
The hand takes the full brunt of it, Ysondkhelir nimbly dodges out of the way.
Ysondkhelir seems to heal a little bit of his injuries, then arrogantly walks out of Lough's reach, triggering a reaction from him. Then he casts a spell. A cloud of fascinating patterns appears in the room, entrancing everyone within.
Kka and Lough, please make a DC 26 Will save against Hypnotize!
Afterwards, he bleeds out a little.
Lough 92/92
Kka 83/83
Giant hand, 9 damage
Cherry Berry 78/78
Ysondkhelir, 14 damage, 1d6 persistent bleed, Hypnotize in effect
Kvit 48/48
Kvit, Lough, and Kka are up! Keep Hypnotize in mind if you enter the area.
Crit success: no damage.
Success: half damage, sickened 1.
Fail: full damage, sickened 2.
Crit fail: double damage, sickened 3.
Kvit is familiar with the scintillating patterns of the hypnotize spell. While fairly confident he could ignore it, he decides to stay back and send something in that will be unaffected by it. In a lengthy incantation, he coalesces tiles and stone nearby into a sturdy suit of armor. It clomps into the room, ignoring the lights
It pushes past Kka to strike at the hand with its gauntleted fist.
When Ysondkhelir steps back, Kka urges Lough to take another shot at the denizen. "C'mon, big maan. Maybe you'll get lucky this time." The room then explodes in kaleidoscope of pretty colors and...
...Kka is deeply entranced by the shifting patterns...
<Record Scratch>
...Kka is unimpressed by the lightshow, though the brightness of the lights does make it difficult for her to see what's what.
Kvit conjures up a stone statue and clobbers the hand with it.
Kka fails her save against the hypnotism, but then gathers herself and snaps out of it.
Lough 92/92
Kka 83/83
Giant hand, 23 damage
Cherry Berry 78/78
Ysondkhelir, 14 damage, 1d6 persistent bleed, Hypnotize in effect
Kvit 48/48
Lough and Kka are up! Lough still needs to save against the spell.
Lough reflexively lashes out at Ysondkhelir as he moves away, then once more as he corners him!
Lough 92/92
Kka 83/83
Giant hand, 23 damage
Cherry Berry 78/78
Ysondkhelir, 41 damage, 1d6 persistent bleed, Hypnotize in effect
Kvit 48/48
Kka wants to follow after the denizen and finish the job, but Lough and Kvit's statue are in the way. With nothing else to do, she takes a couple of slices at the giant hand whose fuzzy outline she can see before her, then ducks out of the cloud of flashing lights.
Kka slices at the giant hand and manages to open up a pretty big gash. Necrotic pus sprays out, conveniently spraying all over Ysondkhelir!
Both of Kka's attacks hit the hand! The hand is looking pretty bad now. Sadly, it seems pretty drained of fluids (other than pus), so it doesn't take bleed damage.
Kka then moves out of the fray.
The hand, looks at the two opponents near him...
And decides to go to town on the statue.
The hand curls its fingers around the statue, attempting to restrain it.
The statue is unfazed.
The hand then tries to damage it once more, but misses.
Lough 92/92
Kka 83/83
Giant hand, 53 damage
Cherry Berry 78/78
Ysondkhelir, 48 damage, 1d6 persistent bleed, Hypnotize in effect, sickened 1
Kvit 48/48
Kvit's statue 29/35, 6 hardness
Cherry Berry is up! The Hypnotize is still going on.
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Cherry steps into the room to get close enough and gestures to release a holy aura of to aid the party.
"Do well everyone!
◆Step
◆◆Bless
Ysondkhelir heals a tiny bit of damage.
Ysondkhelir is pressed into a corner in the increasingly crowded room, but can still pass by the hand to menace Cherry Berry, conveniently also closing off more opportunities to attack him. He moves out of Lough's reach again, provoking an attack, but Lough misses. Ysondkhelir stands next to Cherry Berry and slashes at them, then lifts up his veil and reveals a row of pointy teeth, then sinks them into Cherry Berry's flesh.
He opens a nasty wound on Cherry Berry, and they start to bleed profusely.
Some of Leng's influence seeps into Cherry Berry. Please make me a DC 26 Fortitude save or become Clumsy 1 for 24 hours!
The wound Kka inflicted stops bleeding.
Lough 92/92
Kka 83/83
Giant hand, 53 damage
Cherry Berry 41/78, 2d6 bleed, DC 26 Fort save vs Clumsy 1
Ysondkhelir, 44 damage, sickened 1
Kvit 48/48
Kvit's statue 29/35, 6 hardness
Lough, Kka, and Kvit are up!
If you attack the hand with a piercing or slashing weapon, a random creature next to it takes 4d6 void damage and is sickened 2. DC 21 Reflex save to halve (and decrease Sickened to 1).
Kvit sustains the summoned construct and lets it go to town on the hand.
Now that the denizen shows itself, Kvit tries slowing it down, literally.
Kka watches as Ysondkhelir continues to evade her. "Curses! He's a slippery one. Oh well, That still leaves the big hand to deal with." Skipping past Lough, she closes with the hand, and fully expecting another pus spray if she hits home, hacks away a the wayward appendage again.
I'm mostly surprised it's only a level 3 creature. Lough's Fort is two higher, and he's level 7![/ooc]
Kvit directs the statue to pummel the hand, and it does. It then expertly pins down the hand and it can't go anywhere.
Lough then pounds down on the hand and beats it to a lifeless mess.
Lough 92/92
Kka 83/83
Cherry Berry 41/78, 2d6 bleed, DC 26 Fort save vs Clumsy 1
Ysondkhelir, 44 damage, sickened 1
Kvit 48/48
Kvit's statue 29/35, 6 hardness
So:
- Can Kvit target Ysondkhelir with Slow according to you? If not, Kvit has two more actions.
- Lough has two more actions.
- Kka has three actions, but let's first see what Lough does.
- Since the hand fell away, Cherry Berry may act as well! Don't forget the Fort save.
Cherry Berry may now act. They get out of the way so Kka can flank.
Kka moves up and attacks twice. The 34 is a crit due to a combination of Ysondkhelir being Sickened and Cherry Berry's Bless. 14 regular damage, 10 sneak damage (he has 10 precision resistance, and also weirdly, 10 crit resistance). 80 damage on Ysondkhelir. Second attack hits exactly, again due to sickened and Bless. 13 more damage, Ysondkhelir is on 93, and looks very, very bad.
Cherry Berry even has two more actions left to attack!
Cherry moves out of the way, provoking if they have to.
Cherry simultaneously gestures and lets electricity arc between the two enemies.
◆Stride
◆◆ DC 25 basic reflex.
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Cherry Berry resists the alien influences of Leng. They move out of the way, and zap electricity at the denizen.
Just a regular success, once again due to Sickened. If the rest does as I said in my spoiler, you drop Ysondkhelir exactly (if I'm rounding up, and I'll give you that)!
The denizen's body falls to the ground. After about ten seconds, the body starts to emit smoke and starts to boil. After a minute, the body has completely evaporated, leaving behind only its clothes and possessions: a +1 striking kukri, and a piece of the pentagram pendant.
If you look through the room, there's not much of value here. The invasion plans, scribbled on notes stuck to all the walls, are very old and mostly out of date. The oldest notes are from the town's defenses from 20 years ago. You get the feeling Ysondkhelir's attention has been elsewhere lately.
You indeed also find notes on Dorianna Menhemes' latent psychic powers, and his plans to nurture them, then kidnap her and sell her on the black market in Leng. There are also some scribbles on Fuìn's weak points and how much fun it is to full-on torture someone again.
Kvit reviews the notes with interest, especially the ones about Dorianna. They could be interesting to the mayor at least, or maybe Dorianna herself. It would be better to help her sort out her powers now when she's younger, than to let problems come up.
"That went easier than I thought it might. Seems the smarter creatures are the ones that run away. Let's get that door open.
Once Ysondkhelir bites the dust, Kka steps back and watches as the body dissolves away. "Good riddance to baad rubbish."
After searching his stuff, Kka holds up the kukri. "Thaat's it? Not very exciting is it." Shrugging, she slips it into her belt for later resale.
Kka piles up all the denizen's papers that Kvit hasn't already claimed for himself, and burns them to ash. She then goes to the southern door and checks it for traps and locks.
Kvit offers to hold onto the ruby for now. "This is one of their tools. Now that he's dust, it might be inert, but we should be sure. Or I'll find someone that wants it that might keep it safe, like those Pathfinder milquetoast do-gooders." Kvit sounds a little bitter as if there might be some personal history there...
Seeing the Denizen evaporate, you might recall some more information about them...
"At least that creature is defeated. I do not like mind-control."
Kvit recalls something and he frowns, "I hate to mention it, but he isn't actually dead. Probably. He is likely reincorporating in Leng now, but it should be some time before he comes back here physically. Anyone with this gem is still vulnerable. We should just destroy it, it's not worth the hassle. Though it will just make another one eventually."
When Kka hears that the denizen isn't fully dead and might come back at some point, she shrugs. "Why doesn't thaat surprise me. Nothing down here seems to waant to stay dead." She then sighs. "As much as I haate the idea of giving up the caash we could get for it, I guess destroying the ruby is the way to go. It'll probaably let Dorianna and Fuìn off the denizen's hook. And, who knows, maybe Fuìn'll become more likeable now."
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It was… precious…
”It should be destroyed” Lough insists ”I will take it back to my workshop”
He lies to his party, intending to study the gem, possibly harness it’s power… but certainly not destroy it… not just yet…
…and only fooling Kvit…
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"Lough," Cherry sighs. "It's dangerous and deceptive, and probably not really a ruby anyway. It might just be the blood of some Leng beast or whatever."
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Kka gives Lough a little beady red side-eye when he talks about taking the gem back to his workshop to "destroy" it. "Riiiiiiight. Suuuuure you are. Whaatever! It's your funeral big maan."