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A surge of panic overtakes our paranoid hero, and he turns around to crawl back through the short opening, his muscles tensing with regularity at the biting breeze - - turnabouting against his weak will, he pushes onward instead, the humanoid-chain of Kka-Giyozara-Sam spurning him reluctantly onward, soon to spill out of the discovered passageway and into the forgotten room beyond -
When Lough freezes right after opening the door and turns in panic, Kka frowns at him. "What the problem big maan?" But then she spots the animated corpse with the glowing blue eye sockets looming behind him. "Well, thaat's a new one." She almost laughs at the creature's pathetic attempt to chomp down on the changeling. "Doesn't look like these guys'll give us too much trouble."
Kka pushes by the frozen Lough and dodges around the creature who just attacked him to get a better angle on it. Once in flanking position, she carefully aims her shortsword and hacks twice at the corpse's neck.
Kka enters the room and takes two good swings at Yellow's neck. So good, in fact, that she decapitates Yellow! Pale blue flame flickers from the neck-hole, but Yellow still seems alive and kicking.
Blue shambles up and in turn flanks Kka with Yellow. It then tries to take a chomp out of Kka.
Yellow - 34 damage - heavily damaged
Kka - 7 damage
Blue
Lough
Kvit
Cherry Berry
Giyozara
Sam
Lough, Kvit, Cherry Berry, Giyozara, and Sam may act!
"Lough, do need help?
◆
◆◆
Kvit hears Lough scream and Kka not caring much so runs into the room and slings some electricty toward both foes. "This wasn't the ghostly flames I was expecting to see."
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His entire life, all Lough has ever been recognized for is his size, the townsfolk, but especially his fellow loggers, seemingly reducing his social value to what leveraging that same size (and corresponding strength) could be readily exchanged for in the labor market, a process in which he unwittingly participates, but never learned to negotiate on his own behalf over. But they never notice my mind... he laments to himself, the adrenaline coursing through him slowing down the action around him. "Big Man" is all they see!"
No time to dwell upon feelings hurt, our misunderstood hero, heartened by the brazen dashing of one so small - the indefatigable Kvit! - scrambles past him like leapfrog, stumbling into the room - - shield-first and grabbing the corpse by the hair, digging in with his powerful claws.
◆) Raise Shield
◆) Stride
◆) Snagging Strike
+
↺) Shield Block
↺) Attack of Opportunity
~) Whichever reaction triggers first
{Fighter}
Requirements You have one hand free, and your target is within reach of that hand.
You combine an attack with quick grappling moves to throw an enemy off balance as long as it stays in your reach. Make a Strike while keeping one hand free. If this Strike hits, the target is flat-footed until the start of your next turn or until it’s no longer within the reach of your hand, whichever comes first.
"Yes" he replies to Cherry Berry, the flavor of his fruit (from earlier) remembering into his mouth as he answers.
Cherry Berry throws a lance of divine energy at Yellow, but misses narrowly. Kvit throws electricity at them, but the two bodies barely manage to evade.
Yellow - 36 damage - heavily damaged
Kka - 7 damage
Blue - 2 damage
Lough
Kvit
Cherry Berry
Giyozara
Sam
Giyozara and Sam can act. Lough's Strike may be redirected.
Kka is not enjoying the feeling of being the filling in a zombie dwarf sandwich, so when she sees Lough start ripping into the corpse of a totally dead dwarf, she wonders what the lunatic is up to. "Uh, Lough? I could use some help over here. Why don't you do me a faavor and claaw at this actually dangerous dead dwaarf behind me."
Lough's claw rakes across Yellow's chest. Yellow's taken enough abuse and falls to pieces on the ground, revealing the source of the light - a tiny, floating skull made of light, looking around in a panic now that it's been exposed.
Yellow - 44 damage - heavily damaged
Kka - 7 damage
Blue - 2 damage
Lough
Kvit
Cherry Berry
Giyozara
Sam
Giyozara and Sam may act!
Kka watches with some relief as Lough takes down the zombie she'd just decapitated. That relief turns to surprise and then consternation as the glowing floating skull rises out of the body. "Uh oh. I have a baad feeling about this."
Giyozara will enter the room
Then he will cast Ray of frost on yellow
"Dodon-PA!"
Giyozara's Ray of Frost hits true and a layer of ice forms over the skull. It falls to the ground and shatters completely.
Kka - 7 damage
Blue - 2 damage
Lough
Kvit
Cherry Berry
Giyozara
Sam
Sam and Kka may act!
Hearing the commotion, Sam runs in and joins the fray. She unleashes two strikes at Blue.
Seeing Giyozara snuff out the glowing floating skull, Kka relaxes momentarily, but the presence of the remaining zombie dwarf at her back is something she can no longer ignore. With Sam charging in and generously taking its attention away from the tengu, Kka uses the opportunity to slip around behind the zombie and attempt another decapitation... <Chop, chop>
"I think this one haas a glowy skull in it too. Someone get ready to swaat it when it comes out."
Sam runs up close and personal and gives the body two solid whacks. Kka slashes twice, making precise cuts in the body. The flesh falls off the body , and again only a ghostly skull remains.
The skull looks around in panic and sees a body slumped on the floor next to Kvit. It dashes towards it, but gets intercepted by Lough.
Lough's claw misses, however, and the wisp merges with the body, which immediately stands up and bites back at Lough.
Lough's shield saves the day again and Lough remains unharmed.
Kka - 7 damage
Blue
Lough
Kvit
Cherry Berry
Giyozara
Sam
Everyone may act!
DC 17.
Startled at the sudden rising skeleton behind him, Kvit scurries away and throws another arc of electricity at the enemy. "That thing just won't die!"
The corpse dodges out of the way of Kvit's sparks, but some still singe it. Lough's claw once more frees the skull from the body, its form now looking panicked, searching for a hiding place.
Kka - 7 damage
Blue - 9 damage
Lough
Kvit
Cherry Berry
Giyozara
Sam
As she had been expecting, Kka sees the blue skull emerge from the deanimated corpse at her feet and take off for the last of the dead dwarves. "Quick! Smaash it before..." But Lough's reactions aren't fast enough and the skull dives in. "... Ugh! Never mind." "You had one job, Lough..."
Kka glances over at Sam and jerks her beak towards their last opponent. "Plaay it again Sam!"
As soon as Sam finishes acting, Kka takes off, circles behind the creature and... <Chop, chop>
Sam rushes in to flank. Suddenly she staggers, as if her footing became unsteady. Still appearing wobbly, she unleashes a pair of very sober punches at Blue.
Giyozara repositions himself and fires off another blast.
◆ Stride
◆◆ Ray of Frost
Kka, Sam, and Giyozara pound and blast on the skull until there's nothing left. The room is dark now, no pale blue flames lighting it anymore.
The air in this large chapel feels colder and damper than elsewhere in the ruins. Condensed beads on the walls run in rivulets across the countless skulls carved into the stone. Three short flights of steps lead upward to a wider chamber to the north, where a semicircular dais supports an altar of white stone. Beyond the altar loom four stained‑glass windows, each twenty feet tall and depicting four haunting scenes of ghosts rising from overgrown graveyards toward a four‑pointed orange star above.
Looks like the body that was next to the secret door still had some equipment: four daggers, a rapier, a silver ring worth 5 gp, a minor healing potion, and a lesser darkvision elixir.
The two other bodies also have valueables. The decapitated corpse has a gold tooth worth 4 gp, and the other has a fancy-looking amulet.
Sam crosses over the Kka and examines her wounds.
But can't decide how to ease her friend's pain.
Kvit sees Sam's expression as she tends to Kka's wounds. He rummages through his pack and retrieves a small vial. He approaches Kka and Sam. "No offense to your medical abilities Sam, but it appears her wounds are giving you trouble. I have a spare elixir of life here that should help somewhat." He offers the vial.
Giyozara casts light so everyone can see a bit better
"Hmmmm, This amulet here is magic, as is the rapier. I'd guess it has a similar power to the mace, but if we want to take ten minutes I could double check. Also, that alter over there has some sort of weird magic going on as well" Giyozara points over to the alter at the front of the chapel.
When the last skull perishes, Kka lets out a long low cawing breath of relief. "Krraaaaaawwww." She then cranes her neck to see where the zombie had bitten her. "I guess they were a little tougher than they looked after aall. They better not've been real zombies, or I might be turning into one soon. Ark ark."
Kka searches the bodies and lays out what she finds for all to see. "Sorry big man. Still no crowbaar." The shiny ring catches her eye. She picks it up and after a couple of tries, finally finds the perfect finger for it. "How pretty. Now I feel like a princess. Ark ark."
Next, Kka picks up the rapier and swishes it about to test the balance. "You say it's magic, Giyozara? Caan you tell what kind? I'd hate for it to be something like a raapier of monster attraction if I'm going to be using it." She then picks up and looks the amulet over avariciously. "Ooooo. That's also pretty; and maagical too? Niiiice! Is it something we caan use Giyozara?"
While Giyozara tries to figure out the magic of the rapier and amulet, Kka decides to give the room a thorough looking over.
She decides to investigate the magical altar more closely. She calls back. "Giyozara? Was there anything specifically magical about this altar or is it the whole thing that's magical."
Cherry hums, glad the fight was over without need of further intervention.
Looking at the group healing Kka, Cherry shakes their head. "I have this one. It is probably best if I expend something a little less permanent."
Kka pokes around the altar and finds a hidden panel. She detects no traps and opens it. Inside is a small stick she recognises as a wand and a magical scroll.
The amulet is a Channel Protection Amulet, the rapier is a standard +1 enchantment, the wand is a first-level wand of Heal, and the scroll is one of Restore Senses.
Kvit nods at Cherry and re-pockets the vial. "Good to have you around. These potions are great in a pinch, but expensive to replace. I should look into what it would take for me to make these someday..."
He lets Squeakers down and they also takes a look around. Kvit helps inspect the items they've found. "Hmm, that channel protection amulet could be very useful if we ran into any evil-aligned clerics. I assume that Cherry is the only one that can currently use that wand, and she'll put it to good use I'm sure."
”Kka, first of all, I’m reasonably sure there ISN’T a thing such as a ‘rapier of monster attraction.’ And even if there was, I’m a certain as I can be that this isn’t one. I detect no summoning or mind-altering Magics, so I don’t know how it would attract monsters even if that was a thing. All I’m detecting is a minor accuracy-improving rune, pretty sure this sword just helps you strike more true.”
Cherry Berry takes the wand for now.
"Remind me to try to teach one of you how to use one of these. They are useful for sure, but another hand with healing magic would not go amiss."
After Cherry casts her spell, the zombie bite mark heals up and disappears. "Thaanks, Cherry. I was about to slap a bandaage on it, but this works a lot better."
She then returns from the altar with her latest acquisitions. "You were right Giyozara, there was definitely some maagic in that altar. Look whaat I found." She adds the wand and scroll to the pile for Giyozara to identify.
When the markings on the rapier turn out to be a potency rune, Kka eagerly snatches it up and once again swishes it around. "I noticed that the balance on this guy seemed pretty good, but now that it's for sure not a raapier of monster attraction, I can't wait to try it out." She takes the shortsword from her hip and straps it to her back where she can still get to it quickly. The fancy new rapier now hangs from her hip where the shortsword used to be. "Sweeeet!"
When the amulet is identified, Kka looks at it again, seemingly mesmerized by its shininess. She then puts it around her neck and holds her newly ringed finger up to it. Eagerly she asks the others, "Do they maatch?"
Picking up a couple of the daggers, she tucks them in her belt. Shrugging, she says, "Eh! In a pinch, I can throw them at things."
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Lough mentally calculates the value of all the items the party finds, and loses count in short order!
"That's a week's worth of wages there. And that?" pointing "A month!" feeling a little shy around the little capsules of concentrated work-days thrown tither and hither with abandon, he walks up to Cherry Berry and almost doesn't say "I, um, would be willing to learn..." unsure if the "Big Man's" proposal would be taken seriously...
Lough mentally calculates the value of all the items the party finds, and loses count in short order!
"That's a week's worth of wages there. And that?" pointing "A month!" feeling a little shy around the little capsules of concentrated work-days thrown tither and hither with abandon, he walks up to Cherry Berry and almost doesn't say "I, um, would be willing to learn..." unsure if the "Big Man's" proposal would be taken seriously...
”Oh, oh yes, you are right. Sorry, I forget myself when I get in the zone of identifying magic items, but yes, magic does to cost a pretty copper or two.”
Cherry smiles up at Lough. "When we're done here remind me and I would be more than happy to teach you the basics."
When her query is met with a wall of silence, Kka looks down at the ring and amulet. "No dice, huh?" Her shoulders droop a little in disappointment. "No, no. You're right. It's too jaangly for me. I'd hate for the thing to tinkle as I'm sneaking up on a draagon or something. Thaat would be really baad."
She takes it off and hands it to Giyozara. "Here you go. Why don't you hold onto it for the time being. Who knows... maaybe it belonged to one of the Roseguard." Kka gasps in mock excitement at the possibility, but it quickly dissolves into laughter. "Ark ark ark"
"They do match, " Sam says with a smile. She stacks up behind Kka, bow in hand, while Kka prepares to open the door.
"Hopefully it will prove useful. Maybe there are evil mushroom clerics. Anyway, lessie, looks like there should only be one or two rooms left here, and then there is a small outbuilding I saw coming in, and then some sort of structure jetting out into the sea. I think that's where the lighthouse is, and that should be it for the ground floors here."
Having divvied up the loot, Kka goes to the double doors in the southern end of the room and checks them out. She then draws her new rapier into one hand and her old shortsword into the other. "Okaay Lough. You're up."
Lough's shoulders are pretty painful at this point, but still he presses on.
This room looks like an exact copy of the ruined office from a few rooms before, until that weird tingling sensation fills the air again. The room disappears in a whirlwind of movement, then settles down again, once more completely unrecognisable from before.
The ceiling of this room has fallen in two places. A smaller collapse destroyed a flight of stairs that once led up to the now‑ruined upper floor. A larger collapse mostly buried the southern double door, leaving a hole in the roof partially blocked with several crossed timbers. A second double door to the north has a stone face carved with skulls caked with tangles of moss.
Near the southern exit, a freshly-killed scorpion lies on the ground.
Kvit blinks his eyes as things seem to shift and stares for a full minute at the scorpion corpse. "I uh. I do not like this place. I've no idea what is going on."
He and Squeakers look around, staying away from the supposedly dead scorpion.
Kka looks into the room and immediately spots the dead scorpion. "Aha! So that's where you got to you overgrown bug. I was beginning to wonder if it haad all been just a dream." She then joins Kvit in searching the room.
Once they're satisfied that they've found everything of interest, Kka gives the scorpion corpse one last kick and says, "That's thaat then. Just some outbuildings to check out and then we pay a little visit to the evil mist." After a quick perusal of her memory she adds, "The easiest way out back is through the base of the Gauntlight. Follow me!"
Kka isn't climbing anything she doesn't have to, so she turns on her hoof and works her way back through the secret doors and out into the main entrance area before heading into the circular room with the slightly less fresh blood stain on the floor. She looks up the stairs a moment and shudders. "Ugh! I am not looking forward to thaat get together."
She then gets to work inspecting the western door that leads outside.
Kka looks into the room and immediately spots the dead scorpion. "Aha! So that's where you got to you overgrown bug. I was beginning to wonder if it haad all been just a dream." She then joins Kvit in searching the room.
Once they're satisfied that they've found everything of interest, Kka gives the scorpion corpse one last kick and says, "That's thaat then. Just some outbuildings to check out and then we pay a little visit to the evil mist." After a quick perusal of her memory she adds, "The easiest way out back is through the base of the Gauntlight. Follow me!"
Kka isn't climbing anything she doesn't have to, so she turns on her hoof and works her way back through the secret doors and out into the main entrance area before heading into the circular room with the slightly less fresh blood stain on the floor. She looks up the stairs a moment and shudders. "Ugh! I am not looking forward to thaat get together."
She then gets to work inspecting the western door that leads outside.
”Wasn’t there a collapsed wall back where the maggots were? I bet we could climb out there. Or is that where you were talking about?”
When Giyozara mentions climbing over the collapsed wall in the giant maggot pen to get outside, Kka grimaces. "I'm not climbing over any piles of loose rubble if I don't haave to. Doors are there to be used."
Kvit, Squeakers, and Kka look through the room. Apart from a whole lot of rubble and a particularly large dead scorpion, there's nothing interesting here.
As Kka enters the lighthouse base again, she notices that the bloodstain on the floor is in a different place than she remembers.
As Kka enters the lighthouse base again, she notices that the bloodstain on the floor is in a different place than she remembers.
Kka stops in her tracks when she sees the blood has moved. "That's odd. I could haave sworn it looked different the laast time we were in here."
She crouches down beside the bloodstain and examines it more closely. She pokes it with the tip of her dagger to see if it moves.
Kka calls over her shoulder to the shorter members of the group. "Maaybe you smart ones should haave a look at this. Something's not right about this blood."
As Kka enters the lighthouse base again, she notices that the bloodstain on the floor is in a different place than she remembers.Kka stops in her tracks when she sees the blood has moved. "That's odd. I could haave sworn it looked different the laast time we were in here."
She crouches down beside the bloodstain and examines it more closely. She pokes it with the tip of her dagger to see if it moves.
Kka calls over her shoulder to the shorter members of the group. "Maaybe you smart ones should haave a look at this. Something's not right about this blood."
Assuming Giyozara is considered one of ‘the smart ones’ (despite only having a 12 Int), he gives it a quizzical look from 10 feet back (if someone could move me there)
”Well, it’s not OVERTLY magical, but it could be an illusion effect, detect magic usually doesn’t pierce illusions, they worked out that loophole yokes ago. Hmmmm, I suppose it could be a magical creature, those, counterintuitively don’t show up with detect magic unless they are doing something magic. Could be a magic construct I suppose, those also don’t show up with detect magic for some reason.”