Pen blasts the three undead monsters with lightning. Briar charges in and scores a critical hit with her spear but misses with her bite. Visna turns to dispatch the flanked foe with two slices of her axe!
The remaining two mummies remain where they are, assaulting Visna with their tentacles.
Visna's Last Coin gleams even in the murky water as desperate fortune shields Visna from the undead's wrath. One foe falls, and Visna turns her fury to another, grasping at its tentacles to pull herself closer for the killing strike!
With her companions ripping the tentacles to bits, that hopefully do not grow into new enemies, Pen concentrates on precision instead of power.
Tahi manages to recover from the shock, and calls out, "Hei Feng, destroy these mockeries of the natural world!"
Tahi's watery blasts pummel both mummies and Pen's magic missiles batter one of them. Briar and Visna then swiftly dispatch the undead foes with furious attacks!
Visna smiles fiercely at Briar's approach, then gestures around her, as if to suggest that they continue their search for any other sources of corruption.\
You pass through the force field through the gatehouse. Once you emerge on the other side, you find yourselves in the garden of a submerged villa. This room’s sloped crystalline roof would’ve functioned well as a greenhouse, were the chamber not flooded. Nonetheless, large growths of seaweed and other aquatic plants flourish here, growing without regard to paths or planter boxes. Some of the gently swaying flora stretches toward the translucent roof above but stops well short of it. Smaller walls cordon areas from the garden, while two large doors stand in the eastern wall. Some of the plants appear to be native to the Plane of Water, while others exhibit clear signs of corruption caused by influence of the Shadow or Negative Plane.
You move through the garden and through the doors into a large cistern. This rectangular chamber has walls reaching to a glittering crystalline ceiling overhead, but gloom has dulled any light drifting down from above. A long pool shimmers in the center, its depths filled with deeper blue water that strangely refuses to mix with the water flooding the rest of the room. Stone benches line this pool, steps lead into it, and a crystal stands at either narrow end. The crystal to the north pulses with cerulean light, while the one to the south thrums with darkness, giving off wisps of murk.
A terrifying undead creature floats in the center of the room. He appears to have once been a marid genie, but his flesh is withered and drawn tight over its bones. His mouth is full of razor-sharp teeth, and seething masses of distorted ghostly shapes surge within his hollow rib cage. He greets you with a sinister smile.
"Welcome to my domain. For your trespass, I demand you pay a tribute--a soul for me to devour. Do so, and you may depart in peace."
Tahi laughs softly at the request, but her eyes show the depth of her sadness.
"A soul to devour? Really? Aaah, it's a shame you've been reduced to such a state. I suppose the last true kindness we can show you is to end this cruel undeath you're locked in."
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Ferrying the two slower swimmers in the group doesn't seem to tax Briar too badly since she can easily breathe through her gills down here. And she finds a bit of wonder taking in the various sights of the underwater villa. It's almost intoxicatingly beautiful despite the dire circumstances that called them here.
When the strange creature floats not too far from them and tempts them with an ultimatum she assumes the worst that this is the source of the troubles here. She froths in anger at the gall of such a being to demand a spul in payment and doesn't wait for a chance for it to respond in kind, surging towards it with menace in her eyes.
"How disappointing," the undead genie grumbles. The waters around him begin to swirl and churn as two more mummified quoppopaks emerge from hiding spots nearby to fight at his side!
The genie prepares for combat by casting blur, causing his form to become indistinct. The mummies swim forward to attack Briar and Visna, but neither one is able to hit.
Pen doesn't waste words on a creature such as this. Instead as the creatures attack, she concentrates on casting a spell to increase her companions speed.
Inwardly she does wonder at what methods of mummification was used to withstand being submerged for eternity. Academic interest only.
Recognizing that in the void of the Marid's hunger lies power as well as weakness, the huscarl chooses him as her foe. Limning Maiden's Smile with soul energy she plunges into the vortex of his doom, using her Last Coin to ward her as she struggles against the current.
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Briar dodges the oncoming octos as her form begins to swell to a size larger than even the mummified creatures. A billowing bloody gurgleing roar, as ripped flesh bleeds into the water and Briar swells into her gigantic hyena form jaws snapping at the left-most mummified creature.
Requirements: Your last action was a successful Strike, and either you have a hand free or your Strike used a grapple weapon.
You grab your foe while it’s distracted by your attack. The foe you hit becomes grabbed, as if you had succeeded at an Athletics check to Grapple the foe.
Tahi swims closer to their foes and attempts to knock them away with the waters that are swirling around them.
One of the mummies avoid some of Tahi's blast, but the other one and the undead genie take the full brunt. Briar bites one of the mummies and grabs a hold of it while Visna swims up to the marid.
With Visna up in his face, the marid stabs at her with his trident and slashes with his claw.
The grappled mummy attacks Briar with its tentacles and beak. The other one moves to defend the genie, flanking Visna and stabbing with its tentacles.
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Attempt an Athletics check against the foe’s Fortitude DC. You take a –2 circumstance penalty to your check if the target is one size larger than you and a –4 circumstance penalty if it’s larger than that. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to your check if the target is one size smaller than you and a +4 circumstance bonus if it’s smaller than that.
Critical Success You throw the creature the desired distance and it lands prone.
Success You throw the creature the desired distance.
Failure You don’t throw the creature.
Critical Failure You don’t throw the creature, and it’s no longer grabbed or restrained by you.
Briar gurgles but clenches her jaw as the mummified beast stabs and tries to bite at her thick hide, blood, oil, and rotted flesh quickly making the waters even murkier. With a thrashing snap of her neck she lobs the great creature through the murk into the other Mummified squid-creature, tearing one of the less important tendrils free from it's rotting body in the process. Rushing with a full body undulation sending her canine body hurtling through the water with shocking speed hungry jaws gnashing creating loud clacks. Showing them both that she was the main threat to them not her ally.
Visna stands strong against her chosen dueling partner, but the cuttlefish's cunning strike cuts deep. A scant few bubbles emerge from an exclamation of her blowhole, but more precious oxygen escapes her through the flowing blood itself. Time is not her ally, but fortunately Pentella is, and her magic lets Visna make quick work of axe-strokes that might otherwise be slowed by the watery prison around her.
She hacks and tears and grabs at the fallen genie, trusting to luck and friendship to keep the mummies from her flank.
Pen sends a beam of unnerving green into the fight to help end Visna's opponent as quickly as possible.
Tahi attempts to finish off the undead abominations, once again sending the swirling sea to pummel them.
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The mummy Briar is grabbing takes a brutal blast from Tahi's waves! The other one and the marid avoid the worst of it. Briar hurls her foe into the other mummy, then she rips it to pieces! Pen hits the undead genie with a disintegrate beam but he resists some of its potency. Then Visna tears into the marid, scoring two critical hits! Her axe bites deep into the creature's neck, and with an anguished shriek, the Ulfen warrior separates his head from his body! The headless body thrashes in the water as the soul trapped in its ribcage fades away, finally freed to move on to the afterlife.
The remaining mummy puts up a bit of a fight but you quickly finish it off as well. You are able to claim the genie's treasures: jewelry worth 2,000 gp, a +2 greater striking shock thundering trident, and another Harrow card: The Beating.
Studying the crystals in the flooded chamber, Pen determines that the blue one supplies fresh water at a constant rate, while the shadowy one has been corrupted to infuse the area with negative energy siphoned from the Shadow Plane. The blue crystal has been pushed to its limit and is likely the source of the flooding in the Upper City, while the shadowy crystal is powering the dome over the villa.
Pen sets her hand on Briarthorn's shoulder, patting in a light 'I can do this' motion and gets to work. Her magic infuses with the crystals, her brow furrows as her will works on the spells inside. Slowly she reforms the connection to the plane of water, halting the corruption and reduces the output of the blue crystal which will reduce the flooding above.
Reducing the output of the gloomy crystal takes much longer, the strain of nearly an hour of concentrating showing on the elven wizard's face. Eventually she gets it (if she doesn't shatter it in her second to last attempt)
As the last of the undead falls, Tahi shakes her head and tuts. "What a shame...but at least their corruption is over.
"Nice work there, Visna! Now hold still a moment, let me call on Hei Feng's healing currents to soothe your wounds."
She holds gestures, and a tiny whirlwind forms around her hands and then starts to erase the worst of Visna's injuries.
She follows it up with some good old fashion (waterproof) bandages to stem the last of the bleeding, and a poultice to ease the swelling.
Pen adjusts the crystals, confident that, in time, the flooding problem in the Upper City will subside back to normal.
Stairs lead up out of the submerged villa into a tower. At the top is a rectangular stone room full of dry air. Windows shimmer with held-back water. Within the room stand stone furnishings, including a desk, a stone slab, and shelves. Scrolls, baubles, tools, and containers of differing types line the shelves, along with a few blackened derhii skulls.
The room contains another cache of onyx gems worth a total of 1,000 gp, along with 100 pp, 2,300 sp, two potions of flying, and a wand of prismatic spray as well as one disintegration bolt on a display stand.
It looks like your work is done here. You can return to the Pactmasters' enclave to report your success and rest up before looking for the remaining two Harrow cards in Kho.
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After the team extracts themselves from the watery depths Briar moves to make a fire to dry their gear using the oily secretions skimmed off the top of the water as a wuick ignition source.
"Hmm shame they were underwater, bet fire would have dealt with them very swiftly. A good battle to rid the world of more defilers of the spirits. May they now rest easy in the boneyard."
It doesn't take long for her to switch gears to what comes next, "We should speak to our emissary friend to inform her of our success and see about the remaining sections of this place. I don't want to spend overlong in this... seeming paradise world. Something about it doesn't sit right. Like we're trespassing in a place not meant for us."
Pen nods, a little tired from her focus making her even less prone to prolonged verbal expression. "Hopefully they will be safe now."
Usilket tells you they have sensed the presence of a Harrow card in Kho's Lower City, in a hole at the heart of the region known as the Pit of Endless Night. The jungle has reasserted itself in the Lower City, which has the fewest intact ruins in Kho. Animals and plants are common. Constructs are also numerous here, some barely whole enough to move—damaged sentinels of structures that no longer exist.
As you draw near the Pit of Endless Night, you can hear the sounds of battle and combat. A moment later, a thunderous voice fills the air, calling out in Undercommon.
The pit’s edges are smooth, but jungle creepers and other plants have found purchase on the shaft’s walls, making for natural ladders, paths, and resting spots. On several points in the pit, water cascades from gaps and plummets into the dim depths.
Sounds of intense battle boil in the gloom. The thundering croak of the amplified voice echoes from the bottom.
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Pen quickly casts tongues on Visna and then telepathic bond on all of them so they can understand as well. Unfortunately this is after the bellowing.
Once the others reach the bottom (and doesn't ask about spells to help), Pen will create an opening in space (not time) and step through to the bottom.
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Briar offers to carry Pen down in the same method they had made climbs before if she wishes to save her magical energy. That is like a tiny baby monkey clinging to it's mother's back. But either way she begins her trek downward. The descent is quite speedy and Briar doesn't seem to have any issues even clinging to the completely vertical or sheer upside-down segments of the wall. Digging her very fingers into the rock with ease although she leaves no traces as she does so. Even the roof of the cave makes no significant dent in the Barbarian warrior's journey allowing her to make a safe descent into the Dark Heart of Ko.
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Visna's climb down is simple, her strong fingers easily clinging to the wall no matter how narrow the crevice. When she runs out of wall, she simply hammer a rope to a piton and descends the remaining 20'. Pentella's arrival makes her smile. "Normally I would tell tales of what wonders may be missed by taking such a path, but in truth this wall was less memorable than your appearance."
[ooc] a 19![/dice]
Pen's eyes widen, a simple comment making her mind to simply stop for a moment, then she coughs, hiding her own smile in her hand. "The, um, mouth of the mother should be this way." the wizard points to where the sounds are coming from.
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Briarthorn looks to Visna after Pen deflects the compliment, gives her fellow warrior a smile and nudge with her shoulder.
"Like a Runt gnoll and sweets, you'll have to be direct."
She strides forward pulling free her armament as Pentella weaves armor around her. "Stand behind me, the ancestors protect us all."
She makes some idle chatter while they walk, "I ever tell you about me and Sanjana's time in Nantambu? When we went to the school?"
Pen's ears twitch a little, like perking up, at the prospect of learning more history of her companions. Her heart warms also at the mention of her hallmate and most frequent tea timer. "No." the upper lilt of her voice says she would like to know though.
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"There was the sweetest little runt gnoll there. Anchor Root, a real joy to be around cute as a button, but she was such a timid thing. Shouldering the burdens of her entire people. So young and destined to be the next bonespeaker. Wonder what ever became of her actually."
She shrugs, "Anyway prime example that looks can be decieving even with small adorable things. I think she had a real beasty spirit hiding under all the nervous chitters and shyness."
As you arrive at the bottom of the Pit, you find yourselves in a large cavern. A pitched battle is underway between a few dozen morlocks and a throng of lesser demons. It’s obvious even at a simple glance that the demons have a significant advantage. The morlocks have been driven southeast, where they pitifully try to prevent access to the cavern beyond. The booming voice continues to exhort the morlocks to defend the cave.
The demons are clearly enjoying the act of drawing out a one-sided battle as long as possible so they can revel in the growing morlock despair and fear. As soon as they notice your arrival, though, they howl with excitement and hunger and turn to confront you!
On the way down, Tahi is about to remind her new companions that she can easily grant them all flight but she decides they seem to have gotten on just fine before her arrival, and lets them each pick their own path, while swirling winds gracefully carry her down.
Seeing the fiends, Tahi tsks and reaches out to Hei Feng, calling a mighty hurricane to toss as many as possible into the air, and then drop them.
"Ooh sad little demons, it's time to learn the folly of your corrupt ways."
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Briarthorn greets their challenging cackles with one of her own calling forth a swarm of spectral hounds to grab and rip at the swarms of demons after Tahi's whirlpool tosses them. Then she moves to greet them in melee.
(Daemonic)"Break yourselves upon us and see that Daemon flesh easily parts!"
Target a 20-foot burst at any point on solid ground with 120 feet, and the mob of figures rises up from the ground, persisting for 1 minute. Any creature you succeed against is grabbed and takes 3d6 bludgeoning damage. Whenever a creature ends its turn in the area, the figures attempt to Grab that creature if they haven't already, and they deal 1d6 bludgeoning damage to any creature already grabbed. The mob's Escape DC is equal to your class DC. A creature can attack a figure in an attempt to release its grip.
It's AC is equal to your class DC, and it's destroyed if it takes 12 or more damage. Even if destroyed, additional figures continue to rise up in the area until the effect's duration ends. You can Dismiss this effect.
Pen holds her hands together wrist to wrist with her fingers curled in, then shouts arcane words to make a huge fireball fire out to explode in the middle of the enemy.
Visna can't help but smile at the demons' approach. "Foes who have surely earned their coming demise are a gift to a warrior true. Come then, my Smile awaits."
As she stands, blade bared in defense of her companions, dozens of ghostly figures bound to her most recent Harrow card run ahead, hurling debris and ectoplasmic punches into the clamoring hordes.
Your initial assault wreaks havoc on the demonic rabble, battering them with force, blasting them with hurricane-strength winds, and burning them with fire! Briar's conjured mob grabs a hold of the myriad fiends and holds them in place, preventing them from easily retaliating!
The fiends thrash and writhe, biting and clawing at the grasping figures to break their hold. They form up and scatter from the area, though the difficult terrain means they must spend the whole time moving and are unable to attack you yet, giving you another chance to assault them with impunity!
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Since she's already charged into the fray Brairthorn begins hewing down demons with her large sword. Her furious cackle driving quickly up to a storm of battle howls and gnashing fangs as the frenzy takes over her. Grabbing and throwing lesser foes into their allies before driving the blade made of demon's bane through them as she calls for the horde to wash over her in a feeble attempt to strike her down.
Visna whips her hatchet across the serried ranks of gnashing demons as her ghostly attendants join her in wreaking havoc across the battlefield.
Since her companions were in the fray now, Pen grasps her staff of water in both hands and concentrates on a spell that affects less of an area. At the last chant of magical incantations, a powerful geyser blasts up from the ground under a handful of demons, shooting them up into the air.
Tahi calls back her elemental aura, sending a blast of water to batter one foe. Then she builds it further, sending waves over as many as she can.
More blasts of water and energy blanket the battlefield as Visna and Briar wade into melee combat. Two of the mobs of demons are annihilated, while another is on the brink of dissolution. The demons claw and bite at Visna and Briar, but it's clear it is a losing battle on their end.
After another round of attacks, the demons are defeated!
Tahi looks around at their fallen foes, and then at the huge mossy pit they are in, wondering where the card might be.
"The ground here might be slippery. If you'd like, I can grant us all lifting winds that can carry us above the ground."
'That would be nice. Thank you, Tahi." Pen thinks through the telepathic bond. Her boots rise off the ground, hovering just a few feet above. 'Visna." the wizard sends a warm thought over to the warrior 'You should be able to converse with the Mordulocks.'