Haunt backs away from the door and whispers, “Works for me.”
He starts to draw his rapier, then stops, turns to Threads and Goss, and points to the secret door. “If anybody - or anything - comes out of that door, you start yelling, OK?”
The amurrun slaps Maddox on the shoulder. “Ready?”
He grabs his Tlehar amulet and wraps the lanyard around his hand to make sure he doesn’t lose it in the fight, draws his sword, and gives Much a nod.
Haunt disarms the trap and Much throws open the door.
The room is poorly illuminated by a flickering lantern. Multiple piles of trash dot the room. A makeshift table made of crates and covered by a large cloth bears a few scattered coins. Around the crates sit two human men in dark blue robes. One of them is leaning forward raking in a small pile of coins with a smirk on his face. The other sees you all storm into the room and topples backward with a crash, sprawling out on the floor.
The winner stops smirking and looks up, fear and agitation visible in his eyes. "What's the deal? It's just a little gambling, no reason for all of this!" He says, defensively.
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The winner stops smirking and looks up, fear and agitation visible in his eyes. "What's the deal? It's just a little gambling, no reason for all of this!" He says, defensively.
"Just a little gambling? Behind a Serpent Ward? That's a good one!" Haunt's fur puffs out and he lets out a growl. He walk into the room slowly and glares at the gamblers, then uses the tip of his blade to flick a few of the cards off the table. "How about you two sit back down and start telling us what you're really doing here!"
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"How about you two sit back down and start telling us what you're really doing here!"
Much steps up next to Haunt and growls, hoping to help sell the point that sitting down truly is the best option.
The man on the floor slowly picks himself up and sits back down at the table. "Serpent ward? The trap thing on the door? Yeah, we avoid that completely ever since . We take the long way through the secret wall. Between that and the trap, this is an excellent place to hide from the teachers, right Mtembe?"
The other, who must be Mtembe, tries to shake off his shock. "That's right, Oyo, it sure has been. What even brings you all to this place? Nobody comes this way - there's nothing here."
Well, that seems believable. “Right, sure. But “ever since” what? And how did you get past the animated statute? Why are you hiding from the teachers, anyway?”
“Ever since we set it up. It's a real testament to what you can put together from the books in these libraries and a little effort and skill. And we hide from the teachers because the teachers are boring! They always teach the same things, over and over! We have Teacher Orwallu, and she's the worst.” Says Oyo.
Matembe jumps in. "The statue outside? We give it some room. When it tries to activate at the front door we counter it and hustle in while it's disabled."
Laesah considers the scene. Tipped off by Maddox's intuition, the anadi gestures at the suspicious pile of clothing on the ground.
"What's hidden under there, I wonder?"
Oyo looks over and seems surprised. "Under there? No idea..." he says. He pushes some of the clothes aside and exposes a trap door.
"What is that? How'd you know that was there?" He asks Laesah.
While nobody has detected any outright insincerity in what these two are saying, some of the facts don't line up...
Laesah remembers that all the footsteps leading into the building went straight past the statues. Nobody was giving them a wide berth at any time.
Haunt also thinks it's VERY unlikely that two students would be capable of creating that serpent ward OR casually disabling the statue at the front. That's much higher level magic than a typical student could manage.
Much leans and sniffs at Mtembe and Oyo, she does not believe nor approve of their story.
Laesah finds a particularly wise and brave looking spider along the floor in a corner. "There are only ever Oyo and Mtembe." She says, then pauses thoughtfully before adding, "Yes, just those two. Even sometimes they look like snakes, I don't think they are different, they just appear different. I am not so easily fooled." She says with a note of pride.
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”Are you two sekmin?” Laesah says - seemingly out of the blue - whirling from her crouched position in one of the dusty corners of the room. ”I myself am anadi - Much is kholo, Haunt there an amurrun, and Maddox is an android.” She dusts off her knees as she strides to Mtembe.
Thank you, arachnid friend.
”We know a thing or two about marginalisation. The enemies of my enemies are friends - isn’t that how it goes?”
Mtembe and Oyo share a confused glance. "What's a 'sekmin?'" Mtembe asks.
“That doesn’t seem like anything we should care about," says Oyo. "Why don't you should go bother someone else with this and leave us to our game?”
"Yeah," Mtembe echoes. "That's a great idea. Why don't you get out of here, and take your friends?"
Much is unsure why they aren't exploring the trap door, but she follows her packmate regardless.
Laesah is as wily as a bonekeeper. She must see something I do not.
Haunt snarls at the two gamblers and points at the formerly trapped door. “Do. Not. Put. Deathtraps. On. School. Property. I mean, if that was you guys.” He turns and, following the others, stalks out of the room and slams the door behind him.
He stretches his neck and relaxes. Turning to the anandi, he says, “OK, Laesah, what’s the plan?”
Haunt goes to close the door and sees a flash of light over his shoulder, spinning around and alerting everyone else. He looks back and sees multiple copies of the two students - they have cast Mirror Image - and they are drawing weapons from under their cloaks.
"Oh, I don't think you should leave just yet. You've seen way too much to just get to walk away," says Mtembe.
Mtembe goes first and pulls a shortsword, then advances to Haunt and feints.
Haunt, shocked by this turn of events, follows the short sword up high, and leaves himself open to Mtembe's teeth, which now include a set of long fangs.
The bite stings, and the bloody rend has a greenish tinge.
Maximum Duration 6 rounds
Stage 1: 1d4 poison damage and enfeebled 1 (1 round)
Stage 2: 2d4 poison damage and enfeebled 1 (1 round)
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EXPLOIT VULNERABILITY [one-action]
ESOTERICA MANIPULATE THAUMATURGE
Frequency once per round
Requirements You are holding your implement.
You scour your experiences and learning to identify something that might repel your foe. You retrieve an object from your esoterica with the appropriate supernatural qualities, then use your implement to stoke the remnants of its power into a blaze. Select a creature you can see and attempt an Esoteric Lore check against a standard DC for its level, as you retrieve the right object from your esoterica and use your implement to empower it. You gain the following effects until you Exploit Vulnerabilities again.
Critical Success You remember the creature’s weaknesses, and as you empower your esoterica, you have a flash of insight that grants even more knowledge about the creature. You learn all of the creature’s resistances, weaknesses, and immunities, including the amounts of the resistances and weaknesses and any unusual weaknesses or vulnerabilities, such as what spells will pass through a golem’s antimagic. You can exploit either the creature’s mortal weakness or personal antithesis (see below). Your unarmed and weapon Strikes against the creature also become magical if they weren’t already.
Success You recall an important fact about the creature, learning its highest weakness (or one of its highest weaknesses, if it has multiple with the same value) but not its other weaknesses, resistances, or immunities. You can exploit either the creature’s mortal weakness or personal antithesis. Your unarmed and weapon Strikes against the creature also become magical if they weren’t already.
Failure Failing to recall a salient weakness about the creature, you instead attempt to exploit a more personal vulnerability. You can exploit only the creature’s personal antithesis. Your unarmed and weapon Strikes against the creature also become magical if they weren’t already.
Critical Failure You couldn’t remember the right object to use and become distracted while you rummage through your esoterica. You become flat-footed until the beginning of your next turn.
You can attempt to Exploit Vulnerabilities in one of two ways: either by invoking properties that repel that type of creature, or by attempting a more improvisational, ad-hoc method with your esoterica that can impose a custom weakness on any creature, albeit one that usually isn’t as dire as a creature’s existing weakness.
Mortal Weakness After identifying a creature’s weakness, you use a thematically resonant bit of esoterica to attune your attacks to your discovery. Your unarmed and weapon Strikes activate the highest weakness you discovered with Exploit Vulnerability, even though the damage type your weapon deals doesn’t change. This damage affects the target of your Exploit Vulnerability, as well as any other creatures of the exact same type, but not other creatures with the same weakness. For example, when fighting a pack of werewolves, you might use silver shavings or crushed moonstone to deal damage that applies their weakness to silver to your attacks against any of the werewolves, but you wouldn’t apply this damage to any other monsters with a weakness to silver.
Personal Antithesis You improvise a custom weakness on a creature by forcefully presenting and empowering a piece of esoterica that repels it on an individual level; for instance, against a tyrant, you might procure a broken chain that once held a captive. This causes the target creature, and only the target creature, to gain a weakness against your unarmed and weapon Strikes equal to 2 + half your level.
“I’ve read that snakes are among the favorite foods of many large birds of prey, is that true?”
Haunt pulls something from one of his vest pockets and fits it over the tip of his rapier — a broken talon, left behind by one of the griffons the Pack had to fight off on the day the anandi arrived.
Haunt's attacks destroy two of the images surrounding Mtembe, leaving two remaining. Oyo, too far away to draw their short sword simply runs up, gets into flanking position, and bites.
This, however, allows Much to lash out with A Bull in the Heather.
...Shattering an image.
Oyo's teeth sink in deeply, tearing away a piece of Haunt's neck. Haunt's amulet flares, but it's not enough to stop the critical damage.
Haunt falls to the floor, bleeding out and dying.
With Haunt down, Oyo tries to bite Much.
...and is turned away by sturdy kholo armor.
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Laesah is officially irked.
Having realised that her will was dominated and her deduction of their serpentine nature was correct, not to mention that despite the fact that they were going to leave, the obvious miscreants chose to attack....
Laesah's 'Mama Spider' instincts kick in. She raises her hands in the air and gestures at the serpentfolk.
The silent spider spins a stickier web...
Laesah's form then blurs as she rushes past her colleagues and between the foes, flanking the buffeted and drenched one between herself and the kholo.
"Maddox, Much, do what needs to be done. This building seems to be infested with vermin."
Much's stone rope flicks out on instinct, but sails through an image without damaging her attacker. Then Haunt hits the ground, fangs strike her armor, Laesah flits past, and the chaos of combat surrounds her.
I can't even tell which one is real. Nothing fancy for now, Much.
She lashes out at Mtembe;
Then again;
Before stepping back to take full advantage of her reach.
Oyo tries to avoid the gout of water that flows beneath him.
He avoids the bulk of the blast, but still takes some with a grunt.
As for Much, her first swing destroys the final image around Mtembe, then the second crashes into their shoulder with a satisfying crunch.
Mtembe advances, stepping forward and feinting before going to work on Much with fang and shortsword.
Mtembe's body moves in a surprisingly boneless manner and snaps out with his jaws. Much, blocks the bite with her own teeth, a horrifying clash of enamel, and Mtembe uses the distraction to slash Much deeply across the belly and hip.
Maddox takes this moment to treat the injured amurrun with assured battle medicine.
He then continues trying to help Haunt, working to treat the poison. A glow of nanites shines through his face, blue light bathing the room as he accelerates his mind.
Satisfied that he's done what he can, he then attempts to size up Mtembe, who had been set as a lead during the previous conversation.
Confident he would be no help with that attack, he instead tries to Aid the next attack against Mtembe, reaching out and trying to loosen the belt around his waist.
Haunt’s eyes snap open. “What? Oh, crap…” His vision blurs for a moment as the pain from his wounds hits his brain, but he shakes himself awake and jumps to his feet, staggering away from the snake men.
The amurrun yanks a lesser healing potion from his bookbag, and only then realizes that he left his rapier on the floor. Crap!
Hero Point reroll, without overlapping circumstance bonuses
Oyo fakes a step towards Haunt and then turns back to attack Laesah.
Laesah falls for the Feint as Oyo steps in and strikes, biting deeply into her upraised arm. Wincing, she avoids the follow up by a near margin.
"Hey, those are our friends!" Goss screams from the entryway. Flashes of force streak across the room and slam into Mtembe as Goss and Threads fire off magic missiles.
The impacts knock the smirk off of Mtembe's face. He keeps his feet, but now looks near death, and glares at Goss with murder in his eyes.
Oyo looks confused as Laesah destroys his images and narrowly dodges her last strike.
"You move well for a wizard..." He says.
Much seems to wrap herself in a swirling vortex of spinning rope and moves to flank and finish Mtembe with Avalanche in the Forest.
Step ⬗
Slam Down⬗⬗
Much smashes the stone rope into the side of Mtembe's head, caving in his skull. She then sweeps his legs out sending him flipping around slamming face first into the ground, lifeless.
Oyo lets out an angry Hissss.
Maddox runs some angles and can't see a way to land a solid strike.
He decides to heal Laesah and then rushes out to cover a flank for Haunt.
Maddox runs some angles and can't see a way to land a solid strike.
He decides to heal Laesah and then rushes out to cover a flank for Haunt.
Haunt drinks his potion, then unslings his bow and fires an arrow at Oyo.
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"You move well for a wizard..."
"You speak well for a corpse," the anadi counters. She then calls over her shoulder - "Goss, Threads, please stand down."
A shimmer of eight eyes passes across her face as she continues staring at the remaining intruder from her martial stance.
"The wizard will handle this."
Oyo takes the arrow in his shoulder with a grunt, and seems to realize just how bad the odds are for him now. Still, at least here he has his back to some walls. He digs in and keeps fighting.
Laesah falls for his feint, but quickly recovers, and proves too fast for Oyo to get his teeth into again.
Goss and Threads are happy to heed Laesah's words. "Yeah, sure thing, Laesah," says Threads. Goss gives a weak thumbs up and they stay right where they are.
Much rushes behind Laesah as she begins her onslaught, repositioning herself to strike and (hopefully) incapacitate the remaining foe.
Stride ⬗
Slam Down⬗⬗
Laesah's head slams into Oyo and his nose explodes into blood. He tries to get his balance, and then Much crashes in, smashing with the stone rope and then knocking Oyo to the ground.
Haunt rushes over, grabs his rapier from the floor and stabs at the remaining snakeman.
Maddox calculates...
And feels like he still can't find an opening on Oyo, so he readies an action to trigger after Much does an attack of opportunity.
Oyo, looks up and decides it's time to leave, if he can. He tries to stand, incurring the wrath of Much...
...And coming out the worse for it. The stone rope smashes down on Oyo's spine, shattering it and leaving him dead on the floor.
Maddox then begins his own action, but assesses the new situation, nods his head at the state of affairs and is still.
“Nice hit, Much! Do you think maybe these guys weren’t really students?”
Haunt checks the bodies of the students for anything of interest, but looks specifically for beads like the ones the Pack received from different instructors and staff as they advanced .
As he crouches over, he winces and yelps. “Oyo’s bite was nasty. Laesah or Maddox, would you be willing to try patching me up a little more? That potion took care of the worst of it, but it still hurts a lot and I’ve only got the one healing scroll left. If we’re going into that trapdoor, I don’t want to run into their buddies at half strength.”
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Laesah looks at the “dead” students, then sighs. She murmurs to herself.
She pulls out some rope from her pack and calls over the anadi.
”Goss, could you please fetch Master Ot or some other senior teacher here, please? We need to find out what they were doing here. They cast some sort of mind-control on me when we first encountered them so we definitely need to stifle their senses, too.”
”Threads, Ducreyi - we need to see what’s further on in this place. Would you take the honour of guarding these two until a senior teacher arrives?”
Laesah winces at the haughty answer she’s expecting from Dookie. She tries to mask it by getting out her healer’s tools and tending to Haunt.