Kayleigh replies to Ariadne's grin with a soft smile of her own and quick nod of her head. She's not the least bit surprised when her old acquaintance immediately rushes off selflessly to engage the second necrophidius (that she herself wasn't even fully aware was there). She'd caught her first glimpse of the second construct after looking around a bit after bashing the unnatural life out of the one that had briefly mesmerized her. She'd considered starting toward the others to help but hesitated, figuring that Ariadne would likely do that very thing herself, and Kayleigh didn't want to get in her friend's way.
Trusting in her somewhat shaky knowledge of constructs in general, the young Milanite believes her magical healing will not revive the two necrophidiuses, so she moves closer to the others, draws forth the holy symbol of her goddess that hangs from her neck on a silver chain, and channels positive energy into the group. The magic is strong enough to heal the damage caused by the acid trap, but the cleric notes that Nethen and Iorghil will require additional treatment to heal the damage caused by the guardians' great fangs.
She gives the newcomer, Brigita, a friendly smile before saying, "Your assistance was very timely! Thank you!" The young cleric seems to accept the blacksmith's story without question, proving herself to be kind-hearted and trusting or incredibly naive. Or both.
"We should probably get out of this hallway quickly, just in case that acid trap resets," she points out. "I'll give Nethen and Ghil more healing once we're out of this room." The cleric then casts a quick cantrip (detect magic) and begins scanning the chamber for auras while waiting for the others to move out so she can fall into her position as rearguard.
Her shoulders easing up as the second construct falls, Ariadne turns to the newcomer as she answers Nethen’s question. Something about the woman’s face tickles at her memory. The she gives her name.
’ Brigita Ungurian’…..wait….Brig??’
”Brig?...Little Brig from Riverside House?” she asks, eyes widening in surprise. If this was Brig from back then, she’d grown, both physically and as a person, speaking with a calm confidence tinged with an anger Ariadne and her friends also felt. ”I’m Ariadne, Ariadne Rithann…Ari.”
As Keyleigh Sends a pulse of healing out, and focuses on healing the most wounded of them, she turns her attention to the other tie to her past and growing up in this city. ”You’re right, and considering where we are, a pulse of healing may draw more things down here like a beacon.”
Vedika stows her sap and picks up her kukri, then carefully sheathes the curved blade as well.
"Welcome to... all of this," she says, then blows an errant hair out of her face.
Brig was greeting the woman healing people (which was Amazing, Brig thought, the ability and that she wasn't demanding payment like every other holy person she had ever seen). Then Ariadne looks at her, "Little... Brig, yay that's me" A thick arm rises to run her hand through her hair, and there is a ting of flush in her voice at the old nickname "Good to see you again, Ari."
As her old acquaintance shifts to discuss the strategy of healing, she says hello to the rather attractive olive-skinned woman (another oddity Brig thinks when imagining what kind of people she'd think would be rising to fight in a crypt), "Thanks..." she looks to the bone snakes "I think? What is all this? Croft just said, Go, and for some reason I obeyed."
After Brigita's dramatic arrival and ending the of last Necrophidius a silence falls over the area, broken only by very awkward introductions.
.
What are you doing now?
"Apparently the lair of a necromancer. We came down here to retrieve a body, or what's left of it, but we need to deal with what's down here before heading back." Ariadne says leading toward the only exit.
Vedika can detect no traps on the door, opening it reveals a large chamber inhabited by a single Derro who stares at the party with shocked disbelief.
D7 Alchemy Lab
The wooden tables here are stacked with vials, beakers, and other alchemical gear, although the southern one is heaped with broken vials and leans awkwardly on a hastily repaired leg. Three large cauldrons sit against the east wall, one of them upended. Its foul, rancid contents—old rendered fat—have spilled onto the floor.
.
What are you doing? The Derro is frozen with shock so you get a free round on him.
Leaving the surprised derro for the party's better fighters to engage, Kayleigh enters the room for her action, moving a bit south, hopeful of cutting off the creature from escaping.
Given the actions of the previous derrow they'd encountered, and the vile things they'd already seen, Ariadne doesn't hesitate in the least in moving to strike the stunned derrow down.
Combining the clues of the dead creatures she had seen running here to help and the fact Ari rushes to attack without hesitation, Brig knows this is an enemy that is not meant to see the light of day.
She is not used to fighting with others though, so has to take a split second to think. The healer helps her decide on a course of action, but running with purpose around the other side of the creature, so she does the same.
Nethen slots his morningstar back into it's leather pouch on his belt and picks up his whip, holding still for Kayleigh to administer some pain relief from her wand.
"Well if Marshall Croft sent you then who are we to argue?" Nethen says to Brig, a smile creeping into the corners of his mouth. "I'm Nethen, glad to have you down here with us."
Nethen follows the others into the lab as they advance, his whip held at the ready.
Iorghil fires carefully from the doorway and just grazes the Derro.
Vedika?
Vedika draws her sap again, figuring that it might actually be useful against a living opponent who can be knocked out.
Iorghil can't repeat his success.
Red makes a break for the exit.
As the derro tries to bolt, Ariadne lashes out with her sword, attempting to cut him down.
A twinge of right/wrong eats at Brig, about the fairness of some many against one, but she smothers it. If these people are working with a nercomancer, fairness is secondary to stopping them.
So she swings her two handed hammer into its gut as it tries to run.
The fleeing Derro is stopped by Brigita splattering it acoss the wall of the chamber.
This room is clearly an Alchemists lab, but something has recently caused a great deal of destruction to it. destruction the Derro was half-hearted cleaning up.
Searching though the room finds.
Loot:
Enough material to cobble together an alchemist’s lab,
3 doses of vermin repellent,
2 tanglefoot bags,
4 doses of black adder venom,
A hybridization funnel,
2 doses of silversheen,
A handy haversack containing:
3 potions of cure moderate wounds,
a potion of lesser restoration,
a potion of invisibility,
two scrolls of false life,
and a scroll of dispel magic.
There are two exits from this room. A door to the south and a passage to the east.
What are you doing now?
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"Wow. Glad Corft sent you to help us," says Vedika, though she keeps her sap in hand.
"This is um... getting kind of creepy. Not 'using children as a crime ring' creepy, but more 'deranged alchemist with eerie plans mixing up oddball parts to make a formula with no good end' creepy."
"What is all this stuff? This necromancer's working on something, but what? Whatever it is, looks like it went really sideways."
"Nicely done!" Ariadne comments at Brigita's decisive strike, with a hint of a smile.
'She's come a really long way from being picked on'
"You're right Vedika, they're definitely up to something nasty down here....makes me wonder for how long too. At least this stuff is out of their hands now." she says as they gather up the assorted magical and alchemical items. "Quite the arsenal here. I think we should check out the passage to the south, then move our way east, working out way back up."
"He practically ran right into my hammer" Brigita says deflecting praise away, running a hand across her head in a nervous tik. She helps rifle through the alchemical supplies, commenting on what she recognizes and frowning at what she doesn't. She doesn't like Not knowing.
When the task is done, she nods in agreement with Vedika's comment, thinking to see if she has any idea. She avoids the rest of the statement since she studies alchemy with the plans for improving a person, which most would think was creepy. She made a note to never show any of them her workshop.
"South sounds good." she hefts her hammer, ready to follow.
Kayleigh's eyes widen and you can almost read the word "Wow!" in them as Brigita takes down the fleeing derro with a powerful swipe of her great hammer. Those same eyes soften a bit as the new girl makes the self-deprecating comment about how the dead creature "ran right into my hammer."
I like her, Kayleigh decides. She scares me a bit...but I like her.
After helping to gather and identify the goodies in the room, the healer quietly reminds the others that she still has two bless spells prepared and can cast a couple of shield of faith spells as well. "Or should I save everything for our confrontation with the necromancer?" she asks the others in a hushed tone. "The shield of faith spells are only good for four minutes," she adds, looking to see if Vedika or Nethen might be interested in such a spell before the group proceeds.
"Might be better to save it for when we meet the Big Bad. I'm sure they'll be deadly, so we can cover you to make sure you have time to cast safely." Ariadne suggests, not wanting Kaylegh to waste spells that could very well be integral to them making it out of here.
"Shouldn't necromancers be all sickly and frail?" Brig had never met one, but had a kind of assumption in her head for some reason. "Meaning their minions, like those snakes things, are where all their power is."
"One would think. It may still be safe to hold back until we run into something more deadly." Ariadne replies.
The door is neither trapped nor locked.
When the door swings open a foul stench fills the air that causes your stomachs to revolt.
Standing in the center of the room is a horrific humanoid creature!
A lurching mash-up of rotting flesh, jagged bone, and coarse hair, this humanoid monstrosity reeks of death and decay.
Everyone but Brigita & Iorghil may act!
Kayleigh's nose crinkles at the horrific stench but she proves stronger than she was against the necrophidius. She casts bless to give her allies an advantage against the frightful beast. She has no idea, however, of exactly what the group faces.
Vedika has a stomach flip and is once again useless.
As the door opens a stench fouler than any he'd previously encountered washes out over Nethen. He feels his gorge rise and he holds onto the cold stone wall while he waits for the nausea to subside.
Just managing to keep her breakfast down, Ariadne powers through the vile stench
"Ugh, it’s a Carrion Golem, a construct of corrupted dead flesh. Piercing doesn’t do much against them, and most magic doesn’t work on them, but fire or cold can slow them down….electricity makes them faster!” She calls out to her companions, making a quick arcane gesture as she sends a slim beam of frost shooting past Nethen at the monstrosity, before moving forward to engage and make room for her companions, protective sigils flaring to life on her armor.
You seem to have discovered the source of the damage to the Alchemy lab, the Golem immediately attacks furiously.
.
The Golem clubs Ariadne with one misshapen arm.
Birgitia & Iorghil can act, then back to everyone again.
.
Brigita has studied many corpses in her attempts to understand how to improve the human body, but she was always careful to avoid rot. This... stench... is exactly the reason why.
She was unprepared, breathing in too deep before realizing the danger. A gut-wrenching heave sends a shuddering throughout her powerful muscles. But somehow she pushes one foot in front of the other, making it closer and closer to the source of the nauseating fumes.
.
Seeing some of her friends get affected by the hideous golem's stench, Kayleigh realizes she'll have to step up for this fight. Also seeing the thing batter Ariadne, however, the cleric decides that discretion is the better part of valor. She casts shield of faith upon herself before moving forward to engage, pushing past Brigita with a polite "'Scuse me!" into flanking position opposite Ariadne.
"Maybe now is the time," says Vedika as she draws her kukri again. "To cut a carrion b!%&&."
She skirts through the passage and past Nethen, dives past the creature and into the corner.
As Vedika tries to slip past the thing she finds the footing too unsteady and fails, it swings at her, its blow just passing over her head.
Nethen misses his swing.
The Carrion Golem keeps swinging.
Both swings missing Ariadne.
Everyone may now act
With the golem flanked, Kayleigh strikes out at it with her morningstar.
for
After several nausiating steps, her stomach manages to decide to stay where it was meant to stay, instead of heaving out of her throat.
She swings her silver hammer overhead, since so many of her new allies are around her, and slams it hard into the creature's shoulder. The resulting gore splattering out of its stitches almost makes the blacksmith start retching again.
'This is why people hate necromancers' she says to herself.
As her companions lay into the vile construct of dead flesh, Ariadne returns the monster’s initial blow with one of her own, adding to the accumulated damage.
Thanks to attacking with the group Nethen manages to clip the Golem.
Kayleigh hits it with a dull thud.
Brigita again slams her weapon hard into the thing.
Ariadne hacks deeply into it, almost making a critical strike.
Deciding she's fine where she is Vedika stabs at the Golem.
.
.
The Golem flails uselessly at the group, missing everyone.
Everyone can now act!