Aily swims around the Ceceka-eating beast and stabs it twice in quick succession.
Too angry to realize he ought to escape its stranglehold first, Ceceka instead focuses all his efforts on ending the foul crocodile's unlife.
Mithralline and Aily team up to slice and stab the second crocodile. Caraid blasts it with divine energy, then Telvir and Smoke rend and bite it. Ceceka finishes it off with a powerful blow!
However, no sooner has the rotting reptile expired than the western door opens, revealing a hideous sea hag--Sahni Bride-of-the-Sea! "How rude of you!" she chides. "To come into my home uninvited, to slaughter my minions! You must be the ones who have slain my sisters in the coven. Now it is your turn to die!"
Sahni points the ring on her finger toward Telvir, which gleams as it opens up into a basilisk's eye!
Aily slips through the water toward the pointing woman, no banter or reproach, though she did consider formally introducing her mistress like this was a social call for tea. Her mistress being invited for tea is almost as ridiculous as doing so underwater with a sea hag, so Aily ignores the urge and simply attacks.
Sahni throws more fuel on the blazing fire which is Ceceka's anger, causing the warrior to start frothing at the mouth. He rushes forward and starts whaling away at the hag.
The part of his brain that is still active knows they must give this devious caster no quarter, or else her magic might turn the tide.
Telvir feels his limbs start to drag through the water...
...but he shakes off the effect.
"You'll pay for that!"
He weaves magic around the hag, hoping to hinder her while his companions take vengence for him.
Smoke swims up to chomp at her.
for
HP 84/84
AC 23 (25 with shield raised)
Fort +12, Ref +10, Will +11; poison resistance 3
Hero points: 2
Focus Points: o/1
Effects:
Mithralline snarls, and taunts Sahni, "Your power is feeble!"
Raising her shield, she charges toward the hag, scythe raised
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Caraid finds himself very glad that they're here to kill this one. The Annoyance and the target getting together would be far too much to bear.
With that thought in mind he fires off a powerful blast of energy that nearly (oh so nearly) burns Mith's wings off but does strike Sahrini full in the face!
Telvir's spell slows Sahni down as you converge on her. Aily, Ceceka, Mithralline, and Smoke all land good hits on the hideous hag, and Caraid burns her with searing light, though she is neither a fiend nor undead.
Shrieking in pain, the hag fixes Caraid with her gaze, attempting to curse him!
Critical Success: The target is unaffected and temporarily immune to Sahni's Curse of Futility for 24 hours.
Success: The target is stupefied 1 for 1 round and then temporarily immune for 1 hour.
Failure: The target is stupefied 2 for 1 minute.
Critical Failure: The target is stupefied 2 for 1 hour and is doomed 1 as long as it is stupefied.
Caraid has nearly limitless self-confidence and merely flips Sahrini the bird when she gazes at him.
Since the hag has so far achieved precisely nothing he does nothing else, content to let those more stabbily inclined work out their own issues.
Ceceka strikes at the hag, fooling himself by thinking the fight is already won.
Aily, who is stabby, very stabby, continues to stab. Precise, methodical, but still with the grace of someone who enjoys her work.
Sahni shrieks as Aily and Ceceka perforate her with extreme prejudice. The sea hag simply is not tough enough to withstand the onslaught, and within a few moments, her lifeless body floats limply in the red-stained water.
Upon her death, all of the trophies Sahni has collected melt away into sea water as the deals they represent are unwound. You're quite certain that all of the curses placed on the people of Sallowshore have now been lifted!
You can take the stony hag eye from Sahni's body. A strongbox beneath the bed in this room contains various gems worth 80 gp.
Caraid plucks the ring from Sahni's body and examines the eyeball set in it carefully.
"Nasty magic." He says flatly. "And useful for a coven. But given that we've slain all three of them it should be safe to use."
He slides the ring onto a finger, watching as the eye spins frantically for a few seconds before settling down.
Aily eyes the ring with a frown that says he WILL be taking that off anytime he wishes to touch her with that hand.
Mithralline smiles toothily, showing her fangs as Sahni falls. "Serves you right, sea cow," she gloats, not noticing Cariad taking the ring.
"You did well. Now let us see if there's anything here of use, since this ... thing ... certainly was not. We still need to find out why they were trying to murder my people."
The room that Sahni emerged from features a round black cauldron that rests over a nest of coals that magically glow with heat despite the surrounding water. Stone shelves line the walls, filled with ingredients for alchemical crafting and mundane cooking. Sahni’s cauldron is an extraction cauldron.
South of here is a long chamber lined with shelves that serve as storage for Sahni's alchemical ingredients. You can gather 60 gp of alchemical materials in addition to a lesser winter wolf elixir, a lesser elixir of life, and a moderate antidote. Sahni’s business records are also here, in a book with sealskin pages. You can give these records to either Gishkar the Fishmonger or Stana Keystone for a reward.
A small chamber on the opposite side of the temple is dominated by a single feature: a sarcophagus rising about four feet high in a massive basalt column. Its lid lies cracked in half on the floor. The only thing that remains in the sarcophagus are some scraps of flesh that twitch with remnants of unlife and some accouterments, including a diamond set in a golden ring. This matches the description of the heartstone of the night hag Nepenthe, Tobias Highridge's wife. There is no sign of Nepenthe herself.
The main plaza of the temple is paved with flat marble blocks now covered with sand and slime, between which grow tough clumps of seaweed. Columns rise fifteen feet in regular rows, but some have toppled and lie in broken fragments. At the west end of the plaza is a thirty-foot statue of Urgathoa encrusted with barnacles, now home to a flourishing ecosystem of crustaceans, eels, sea plants, and fish. Two large braziers, each roaring with flames despite being submerged, flank the statue.
Two golems of stitched-together hunks of meat and bone shards stand around the edges of the plaza. They resemble the goddess Urgathoa in form. They stride forward and kneel before Mithralline.
The two constructs speak in perfect harmony, resting the butts of their bone scythes on the marble stones. “The Bride-of-the-Sea shames the Pallid Princess and uses this temple to worship the Shadow in the Sea.” Each construct lifts one arm and points to a dark archway leading north. “Show your love for the Pallid Princess. Find the shrine to Dagon and destroy it.”
Even though she barely even twitches from her place standing calmly behind her mistress, Aily is obviously near bursting in pride. Oh, she knows her lady doesn't deserve being knelt to by anything, much less servants of the Pallid Princess, AND that this will make Mirthalline even more insufferable for quiet a long time, BUT this is what Aily had been tirelessly working toward, even since she helped dig out the discarded sprite from the pile of leftover bodies.
She truly hoped she didn't screw it up.
"A shrine to Dagon? Disgusting." Telvir is more than happy to search for and destroy such a vile altar.
Mithralline smiles at the two obsequious golems. Finally something besides Abli that recognizes how she should be treated.
"The Bride-of-the-Sea dared? She's already been punished for such impertinence with death -- and not unlife! -- but this will not stand."
She turns to lead her companions back out to where the giant waited for them. "If it gives us any trouble, we will kill it, then destroy the shrine," she orders.
You return to the back porch of the temple, where the marsh giant continues to laze by the shrine to Dagon. As you approach with malicious intent, however, the giant bellows angrily and raises his hook!
Ceceka is under no illusion the marsh giant will back down but he speaks anyway. Perhaps the words will sow seeds of doubt in the giant's mind. Perhaps not. "The hag is dead. This shrine will be destroyed."
With that said, he strides forward and throws his entire weight into one massive strike.
A small chamber on the opposite side of the temple is dominated by a single feature: a sarcophagus rising about four feet high in a massive basalt column. Its lid lies cracked in half on the floor. The only thing that remains in the sarcophagus are some scraps of flesh that twitch with remnants of unlife and some accouterments, including a diamond set in a golden ring. This matches the description of the heartstone of the night hag Nepenthe, Tobias Highridge's wife. There is no sign of Nepenthe herself.
Caraid seems oddly interested in the coffin and collects not only the ring, but also the scraps of flesh without a word to anyone else.
The sight of the golems kneeling before The Annoyance makes him roll his eyes. "She'll be even more insufferable now." He murmurs softly
------------------
Uninterested in the battle Caraid flicks a spell lazily towards the giant, before remembering his new ring.
"Rise, sunken dead!"
Telvir exerts his power over the sea floor and a dipping corpse springs up, clutching a greatax.
for
Smoke circles the giant to flank on the other side.
The giant bellows as both Ceceka and the summoned draugr land solid blows. He swings his hook at Ceceka's midsection, delivering a devastating blow as he twists and yanks to leave behind an awful wound. Ceceka barely parries the follow up strike.
HP 84/84
AC 23 (25 with shield raised)
Fort +12, Ref +10, Will +11; poison resistance 3
Hero points: 2
Focus Points: 1/1
Effects:
Mithralline charges toward the giant, shield raised. She alights on the giant's shoulder, like an evil demon, and slashes with her scythe.
Aily swim dashes toward the Giant's ankles. Under normal circumstances cutting the hamstring of anything that big would make it all come tumbling down, but underwater she believes it will have a lesser effect. Still it is a tried and true attack strategy.
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Ceceka is foolish enough to go toe to toe with the giant and commits to the slugging match. As the giant lights up his world with pain so vibrant that it makes Ceceka sees colors, the warrior returns the favor by aiming at the giant's upper thigh with a vicious strike.
Telvir commands his undead minion and precious puppy to attack the giant, then casts shield on himself.
and
and
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Caraid's divine lance is off the mark. Aily and Mithralline move in, each one delivering a solid strike to the blubbery giant. Ceceka gets angry as he stabs the giant again. Telvir's minions fail to land a good hit.
The giant swings on Ceceka again, hitting the fighter twice!
Unfortunately the Annoyance doesn't have the good manners to be splatted first so Caraid has to wait and hope that Ceceka is sensible enough to retreat so that he can heal the man.
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HP 84/84
AC 23 (25 with shield raised)
Fort +12, Ref +10, Will +11; poison resistance 3
Hero points: 2
Focus Points: 1/1
Effects:
Mithralline considers draining the giant's blood, but is pretty sure it's far too salty, and could destroy her kidneys. She settles for slashing him more with her scythe.
Trigger: An enemy within 15 feet damages you.You put an impertinent foe who dared harm you in their proper place. You command your enemy to kneel before you in obedience. If they dare to refuse, they must pay the price in pain and anguish. The foe must choose one of the following options.
* The enemy kneels, dropping prone as a free action.
* The enemy refuses, and you deal 2d6 persistent mental damage to it. This damage increases to 3d6 at 9th level, 4d6 at 12th level, 5d6 at 16th level, and 6d6 at 19th level.
In addition, your Strikes against the triggering creature deal 1 extra damage until the end of your next turn. You choose whether the damage type is evil or negative each time you use this reaction.
Aily slices, then pauses, looking at the cut through through the bulbber that did NOTHING. Irritation blossoms, but she tries an experimental STAB, but the four inches of knife does about much as the slice. With a firmly set mouth, the maid get into slamming the knife in and working it, digging it, and hoping she can make a hole.
Telvir's minions continue to attack, and the elf rips at the giant with a spell.
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for
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The warrior roars with anger when the giant continues what it had started - tearing Ceceka to pieces. He throws in one last jab and then falls back through a mist of red.
Caraid slogs forwards through the water and places a flat hand on the warriors back. Thankfully everyone else is busy and he tamps down hard on the usual light effects that come with positive energy.
Mithralline and the draugr both land a hit, and Telvir's spell proves quite effective at ripping into the giant. However, neither Aily, Smoke, nor Ceceka are able to get past the giant's defenses. Caraid heals Ceceka as the warrior falls back.
The giant angrily turns its wrath on Mithralline! It rips into her, leaving a bleeding wound behind, then follows up with a critical strike! The giant refuses to kneel, its mind wracked with anguish from the tyrant's iron command.
Ceceka darts forward and then falls back.
The good thing about fighting a giant from behind is you don't get to see how badly the fight is going in the front of it. Aily continues to tryand dig her blade into the creature.
Telvir commands his minions to attack, then tries to patch up Ceceka.
for
for
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HP 27/84
AC 23 (25 with shield raised)
Fort +12, Ref +10, Will +11; poison resistance 3
Hero points: 2
Focus Points: 1/1
Effects:
Mithralline shrieks as the giant hits her -- and then worse ignores her! "No one makes me bleed my own blood! Nobody!" she screeches. If he weren't quite so big, she would give him a little of his own medicine. Since that's not an option, she decides she'll make him bleed with her scythe .
Trigger: An enemy within 15 feet damages you.You put an impertinent foe who dared harm you in their proper place. You command your enemy to kneel before you in obedience. If they dare to refuse, they must pay the price in pain and anguish. The foe must choose one of the following options.
* The enemy kneels, dropping prone as a free action.
* The enemy refuses, and you deal 2d6 persistent mental damage to it. This damage increases to 3d6 at 9th level, 4d6 at 12th level, 5d6 at 16th level, and 6d6 at 19th level.
In addition, your Strikes against the triggering creature deal 1 extra damage until the end of your next turn. You choose whether the damage type is evil or negative each time you use this reaction. This extra damage increases to 2 at 9th level and 3 at 16th level.
With the fight going... less well, Caraid resorts to direct action.
He has to shoot the cone over the Annoyance's head. But fortunately the giant is a big target.
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Ally and Mithralline deliver solid strikes, then Caraid’s spray of bones impales the giant! He lets go of his hook as he floats belly-up, blood clouding the water around his body. You can claim the +1 striking gaff and the ring of cold resistance he wears.
The statue to Dagon here is made of ordinary stone. Demolishing it is time-consuming, but not difficult. Once it is destroyed, Mithralline can feel the blessing of her goddess rewarding her for removing the blasphemy.
Ceceka pockets a rock fragment after the group has made sure the statue is no more. It's not that Ceceka has anything with Dagon, but who knows, it might come in handy later. If anything, it is a memento.
"We should see to our wounds and then return. The people will surely know that the hag is no more, and the longer we wait, the more time they have to ... act on devious impulses now that they are free."
"And I don't like being underwater." Caraid adds. It's true. Despite the fact that the oceans teem with life his magic feels... compressed in the depths and he genuinely can't wait to get back into fresh air, even if that will mean the Annoyance starts pestering him about having her wounds stitched up.
"Let's get back to the surface." He concludes, leading the way out of the temple and upwards.
-------------------------------------
"Telvir?" Caraid says, taking a seat near the only other magically inclined member of their little group. "What do you know about hags and their heartstones?"
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"Agreed" Aily agrees. She hates being untidy, and she KNOWS all these giants, hags, fish, and things need to use the restroom, and the water they are swimming in IS their restroom.
When you return to Sallowshore, the townsfolk quickly crowd around you once more. But instead of being angry and upset, they are relieved and ecstatic. With Sahni's death, everyone who had made a bargain with the hag is freed of that bargain. Deeds in the past can't be undone, but many of the lingering consequences of the bad deals vanish, and the blight is lifted from Sallowshore. The citizens thank you profusely for what you have accomplished.
You bring Sahni's financial records to Gishkar the Fishmonger. The iruxi is grateful and rewards you with 150 gp.
You also return Nepnethe's heartstone to Tobias Highridge, along with the news that her body was missing. Tobias is stunned by the revelation, and curious as to why his wife hasn't returned to him. “Perhaps she has lost her memory,” he muses aloud, “or is so ashamed of her new undead state that she dares not face me. I must find her! Thank you all. You have served me well. Here, take this.” Tobias removes a necklace of fireballs type I from around his neck and gives it to you.
***
While the three main members of the Graveclaw coven are now dead, the clues you uncovered in the industrial town of Pagked indicate that a substantial amount of alchemical ingredients were being shipped to Nathnelma, a professor at the Twilight Castrum necromancy school in Yled. It would seem that Yled will be your next stop in making sure that the threat of the Graveclaw is well and truly eliminated.
"I'm no expert on heartstones. I prefer not to tinker with the soul trade. Too risky, and impractical."
Mithralline bathes in the adoration of the townsfolk, quite pleased that they acknowledge her supremacy. Once she's finished her business in town, she prepares to move on to Yled. She has business there, to finish dealing with this Graveclaw threat!