Remaining in her position just above the fray, Ness continued to keep her shield raised and began to cast, gesturing and vocalising in order to stir the spirit powers into granting her the magic she needed.
From her hand, a vine covered in sticky sap appeared. Flicking her hand toward Xulgath #2 , it lashed itself to the stinky creature.
===
Round 2
Leo begins to give the Evil Eye to the xulgath facing Airi!
The #2 Xulgath seems a bit cursed by the Witch!
The Witch then expertly drops, tosses, and hits the xulgath with his trusty Everbuning Torch!
Nyswyn raises her shield and then calls Nature to tangle the #2 Xulgath's foot(s)!
The #2 Xulgath (who has apparently peed his pantaloons) shakily raises his club at Airi!
The #3 Xulgath (with a nice new shiner) decides to pay back Tannakin!
*swooooon*
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===
Seeing her wild elf companion fall, Ness immediately tapped into the natural magic surrounding her, feeling her connection through Verdi as the leshy shivered with life restoring energy inside her cloak pocket. Speaking and gesturing, the druidess directed the healing spell toward the unconscious Tann.
hp returned
Ness then moved/strode 5ft (◆) to the very edge of the cliff to get closer to her friends taking the hits from the Xulgraths; just in case she needed to jump down and help out as best as she could.
===
===
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Round 3
Nyswyn Steps forward better to see the combat. Seeing that Tannakin has decided to take a nap, the druidess slaps him with a Heal spell.
Leo decides that if it ain't broke, toss another projectile!
Tan's eyes flicker open. She says, "I just saw my life flash before my eyes. It got really exciting right at the end there!"
She ◆ grabs her sword, ◆ stands, and ◆ stabs.
Round 3
After a few dinners, movies and an appointment with the dentist, our budding Heroes are surprised to find the Narrator once more amongst them!
The family of mice still watching the show from the sidelines seem to be grossly rotund due to the free refills of popcorn and soda.....
Sansaárë winks at her former #2xulgath date, while striding around to better strike at his cheating (it has be known) #3xulgath card shark!
The rogue feints, but it appears that the #3xulgath is prepared for such shenanigans!
Her shortsword still proceeds to pierce said #3xulgath in the card holding hand! He apparently was bluffing, since only a hodge-podge of suits and numbers fall to the cavern flooring!
Tannakin opens her red-rimmed eyes. The swashbuckler smiles, as she grabs her rapier, stands up and thrust into the place where the #3xulgath was holding his cards.
Round 4
The former cardholding #3xulgath shrieks in pain and anger! Mostly anger at having been outed as a bluffer.
#3xulgath decides that he has lost the upper hand in this fight, so he looks prepared to leave suit....
He attempts to Trip Sansaárë with his free hand!
Surprised look on his reptilian face, Stumpy (as he will be called) then excitedly begins to ◆Stride away from the violent card game crashers!
Stumpy then attempts to Climb down the next ledge to a lower platform and tunnel.
Stumpy appears to be stuck trying to figure out how to climb with only one hand and a club in the other....
#2xulgath looks a bit jealous of anyone messing around with his blonde beauty!
He decides to rejoin her and let her know how much he likes her!
He ◆Strides.
He then swings twice at the rogue!
The initial strike lands flat, and but his follow-up was a Hit! barely miss because of Leo's Hex!
He smiles fondly at her.
Seeing that her two fighting friends were quite injured and there was still a xulgath remaining, Ness began to draw upon the natural energies around her, weaving the light into healing power to channel out into her friends. With Verdi's help at the top of her pocket, Ness called upon the spirit's grace and strength to exclude the wounded xulgath from the natural healing she was weaving and giving.
Tannakin hollers, "Illegal gambling will not be tolerated! Buy some stocks or find a casino!"
Her witticism may fall a bit flat this time...
She ◆ rushes towards the xulgath and tries to kill him before he fritters away his life savings on cards.
"Invest... this!"
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Round 4
Stumpy can't recall a time where he felt so disliked! Both Sansaárë and Tannakin decide to kick a xulgath while he is down!
The lifeless Stumpy continues his climb down to the lower landing by falling without grace!
Leo redirects his projectile at the lone remaining xulgath!
Neswyn calls upon the healing powers of Nature to soother her friends' wounds!
The remaining xulgath looks at his former card partners, makes a face and decides to run and jump off a cliff!
The fleeing xulgath accidentally trips as he jumps off the cliff, falling face first in the dirt 15' below! He appears to be still moving, although from a prone and aching place.
"Thanks, Ness!"
Tannakin feels much, much better after Ness' healing magicks.
Has she learned to protect that feeling of wellbeing?
Has she matured enough to appreciate that Leo will probably end this from a safe distance?
No.
She's only level one, yet.
With a "YEEEHAAAWWWW" and a flourish, she backflips down to the prone xulgath's side and offers it a swift blade and last rites:
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Round 5
Tannakin seems to be auditioning for the circus! The daring swashbuckler sumersalts off the 15' cliff, flips and lands on her feet, sticking the pointy end of her rapier into the prone xulgath! With a deft manuever, Tannakin's rapier still pierces the ear of the struggling xulgath!
The card-cheating xulgath band all fold!
Leo looks on from up high to witness the fanciful acrobatics of the 1/2 elf! The Witch then also realizes that the distance and angles disallow his usage of that particular spell.
Our Heroes look about, take a breath, and decide where to go next....
After the fight, the heroes can check whether the xulgaths have any treasure. If they do, they find a small bag tied to the waist of one of the foul creatures. Inside the leather pouch is a handful of strange coins, minted in some faraway kingdom deep underground—the coins show a tower inside a cave on one side and a sinister-looking elf’s head on the other. These coins amount to 38 sp and 4 gp.
Two passages lead out of this room, other than the way the heroes came in. One leads off the map, heading steadily down, deep into the earth. This tunnel leads into the Darklands, a vast subterranean realm deep underground filled with all sorts of deadly creatures and sinister monsters. This is where the xulgaths came from, but it’s beyond the scope of this adventure.
The other passageway exiting this room looks like it was dug recently. This tunnel curves up and around before ending in a thin wall of loose stones and dirt. A tiny hole in the wall allows creatures to look into the room beyond.
Tannakin buzzes around, yammering about how cool that fight was, hugging Ness and thanking her again for yet another save, high-fiving Sansaárë and congratulating her, and saluting Leo's expert telekinetic thwackings. But she doesn't search for or find any treasure.
She finds the little hole in the wall and takes a look. Kobolds. More Kobolds. She slinks back to the party and reports that they seem to have some kind of "pet" and that the wall looks smashable.
"I'd run through a wall for a chance to run those kobolds through."
The bloodthirst is strong with her today.
Tan sighs. Sighing, she realizes that she's still panting with effort after the fight. And still injured. "Thou hast reason in thy speech, Leo. And yeah, that makes sense, Airi."
She tries to repress her desire to bend the kobolds to her will and instead turns with the rest to find some rest.
After defeating the card shark xulgaths, plundering them, and holding an excitable swashbuckler from breaking down a stoney wall, our Heroes decide to follow the wisdom of the Fey and retrace their steps back to the initial chamber and go the other way....
Nyswyn calls upon the power of Nature to heal everyone prior to continuing.
Mermaid Fountain
While much of this rectangular chamber is in ruins, the center contains a fountain of pristine water with something glittering at the bottom. In the middle of the fountain is a marble statue of a mermaid, her lips pursed as if she were about to blow a kiss, or maybe whistle. Each corner of the pool has some sort of mechanism embedded in the stones, but the one in the southwest corner appears to be smashed.
===
Still concerned with her depleted store of berries, Ness mumbled under her breath yet acknowledged Tann's and Airi's gratitude for the healing she'd provided.
Hearing Tann speak of walking through walls to kill kobolds, Ness clicked her tongue at the sheer lack of self-preservation the dear half-elf possessed. "Lass, stem your wild abandon, I beg thee. My healing work taxes me and Verdi - think of us before you go walkin' through walls. Have mind where you tread. You have my leave to kill the baddest of the kobolds, but do so mindfully." The druidess' eyes twinkled and then she winked at Tann; knowing full well the girl ran at full steam and not have at half sail.
Ness then glanced at the mermaid statue at the centre of the pool and was caught by the lovely marble creature's features to notice much of anything else.
Tannakin smiles and nods at Ness. "I will be more careful soon, I promise! Someday! Thanks for not letting me die!"
Tannakin walks straight into Leo, three stooges style...
The sudden sounds of grinding and an immense pressure of water echoes within the Mermaid Fountain chamber!
The statue in the middle of the fountain spins around, shooting a stream of high-pressure water from its mouth. The exact effects are different each round and target random parts of the room.
Nyswyn turns to look at the suddenly dangerous Fountain. The druidess reacts a bit faster than it, but she knows that it is about to release that pressurized water!
Notice DC 20 Perception check
Initiative Stealth +10
Disable DC 20 Thievery on each corner mechanism (must disable all three working corners to disable the trap)
AC 18; Fort +7, Ref +5
Corner Mechanism Hardness 8; Corner Mechanism HP 15
Routine Each turn, the fountain uses 1 action. Roll a d10 and look up the result on the following list to determine which action it uses that round.
1–4 Single Target The statue spins about and sprays water at a single random target in the room. Roll a d4 and count to the number you rolled, starting with the player on your left, to determine which hero gets attacked. The spray is a ranged Strike with +10 to hit. On a hit, it deals 2d6 bludgeoning damage (doubled on a critical hit as normal).
5–7 Corner Spray The statue spins about, firing a spray of water at each corner of the room that still has a functioning corner mechanism. This hits any creature adjacent to the corner mechanism, dealing 2d6 bludgeoning damage. Each hero must attempt a DC 15 basic Reflex save, taking no damage on a critical success, half damage on a success, full damage on a failure, and double damage on a critical failure.
8–9 Half Room The statue spins about, spraying half of the room with water. Roll any die. If the result is even, it sprays the west half; otherwise, it sprays the east half. This deals 2d6 bludgeoning damage to each creature in that half of the room, and each hero must attempt a DC 15 basic Reflex save.
10 Full Room This works just like the half-room attack, but it targets everyone in the room.
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◆
Peering past Tannakin's waist, she saw the fountain spin around and water-jet leap from its mermaid mouth.
"Careful, all! The fountain spins and shoots water, although I've no idea how it works."
Ness raised her shield (◆) in her off hand in order to better protect herself.
Then she began to cast (◆), her voice clear, calling upon the nature spirits in the Sylvan tongue, to guide the mind/hand of her nearest companion half-elf. "Le do ghliocas agus do ghràs, stiùir i, Wights of the Land, gus an urrainn dhi cruinneachadh an aghaidh a ’chunnart ùr seo."
Round 1 Fountain of Death!
Nyswyn decides that shields are only useful when used. The druidess also offers Guidance to Tannakin.
The Mermaid Fountain seemingly glares across the chamber at our nervous Heroes!
Half Room The statue spins about, spraying half of the room with water. Roll any die. If the result is even, it sprays the west half; otherwise, it sprays the east half. This deals 2d6 bludgeoning damage to each creature in that half of the room, and each hero must attempt a DC 15 basic Reflex save.
So, it appears that this particular Mermaid Statue is blind! She uselessly spray the West side of the chamber, which no one seems to be occupying!
Tannakin, feeling well-guided by her friend Ness, rushes forward and starts trying to break the statue somehow. "It looks like a trap, maybe it works like a trap... Airi?"
She ◆ rushes into the fountain and starts trying to wrestle it into submission.
She's not sure it's working.
"Airi, this is your kind of puzzle, not mine! Can you jam her tail in her mouth or something? Make her explode?"
Round 1 Fountains of Doom, Doom,Doom!
Tannakin thinks that putting a square whatchamacallit where the thingamabober would solve the problem.
Sansaárë thinks putting the thingamabober into the whatchamacallit would work.
Well, not a peep when our Tannakin does it, but a strange lessening of the water pressure does occur after Sansaárë does her fiddling.
Leo scratches his himan hairy head, while backing away.
Dot
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Sansaárë smiles.
Guess who's back....
====
Seeing Airi had done some good with her fiddling of the mechanisms, Ness called out, "I'm not good at such fiddlin', so I'll leave that up to you and Tann! I'll try to aid ye in another way."
◆ Raising her shield in place, again, in order to better protect herself (she has shield block), hoping the spot she was standing on within the doorway would grant her further protection from the immediate water spurts, ◆ Ness began to cast, again, calling upon the Wights of the Land to guide Tann's hand or mind against the fountain's foul folly. The druideess then ◆ cast a second time, this time targeting Airi, hoping to aid her in the cause of fiddling with the new whatchamacallit.
Round 2 of The Fountain of Blind Dooooom!
Nyswyn wisely stays in the small hall between the chambers. The druidess calls upon the Natural powers to grant Guidance to Sansaárë.
Guidance
The Fountain of Blind Doooom begins to vibrate, throttle, shaky, shakey heart about to burst in the direction of...
Full Room This works just like the half-room attack, but it targets everyone in the room.
Sansaárë and Tannakin get sprayed by the angry, boisterous, gleefully laughing (well rattling) Mermaid Fountain!
The Heroes are all wet behind the ears!
Julril looked upon the port of Otari with weary eyes as the ferry pulled into dock. He was returning home from his first tour with the Eagle Garrison, driving off the Whispering Way and their hordes of undead from the Isle of Kortos. He had left home two years ago a mere acolyte, but is now returning a full fledged Cleric of Iomedae. But, memories of the horrors of the battlefield humbled any sense of pride. As he stepped off the ferry and back onto solid ground, all he could think of was the simple pleasures of home, a warm meal and soft bed.
His stomach growled, and before making his way to his childhood home to see his parents, he opted instead for the Fishery with a craving for Tammy's famous trout almandine. But, as he arrived, he noticed a crowd had gathered around the large warehouse, with some further commotion inside. He stepped up to the nearest bystander and politely asked, "Excuse me, but what's all this ruckus about?"
Tannakin takes the full force of the water jet straight to her face. She splutters and laughs, "Oh my gods, Airi! Don't break the mermaid, she's too fun! At least... don't break her permanently!"