Round 9
Mukluk realizes that blue might be a bigger jerk than the sticky jerk and shoots a stream of mule piss at him. He moves to get a clean shot.
touch to hit;
divine fire
[ dice=Trepanator]1d20+2[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d6[/dice] cold iron piercing damage
[ dice=MuleBite]1d20+4[/dice] touch to hit;
[ dice=Divine]1d4+2[/dice] damage
[ dice=MuleKicks]1d20+4[/dice] touch to hit;
[ dice=Force]1d4[/dice] damage
[ dice=Divine Mule Piss]1d20+4[/dice] touch to hit;
[ dice]1d4+2[/dice] divine fire
touch to hit;
acid
touch hit;
fire damage
AC: 12/12/10 + 1 w/shield
Fort/Ref/Will: +2/+3/+9 +2 vs spells, poison
HP: 27/27
Resist 5 cold/acid
Focus: 0/3
Hero Points: 0/3
Speed: 20'
Luck? 0/1 used
MuleFire: 0/7 used
Rory and Storm both miss, but Rory is close enough to strip her remaining mirror image! Mukluk moves into a good line, and launches fire! Sadly, blue deftly dodges the effect. Kisaiya misses blue as well, leaving the field open for Durgan to hack away and finish them off! Ameiko steps up on the leader, and does what she can to aid Rory in his attacks on her.
(fire)
She continues to miss with her heavy blade.
Omoyani smiles as the dagger cuts deeply enough to administer the poison, but she’s disappointed that there’s no immediate effect! Annoyed, she flicks her wrist again for a fresh dose of poison (swift) and she switches targets after dropping back to avoid flanking.
She too misses her swings!
Storm bites the woman and drags her lowered dexterity ass to the ground where Rory stabs her! Still very much alive, she's still prone and hurting after the dual blows.
Durgan moves up and smashes the woman with his morningstar.
Round 7
Mukluk moves up, putting away his wand and drawing the Trepanator. It’s going to see use soon.
Kisaiya advances on the downed ninja and adds a slash of her own to the storm of blows.
HP: 46/49
AC: 22/12/20
Saves: F7/R4/W7
Hero Points: 2
Smite Evil Used: 0/2
Lay on Hands Used: 3/4
Divine Bond Used: 1/1
Second Chance
Spells/Effects Active:
[ dice]1d20+10[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d6+4[/dice] damage.
Rory and Storm both hit as the remaining opponent is dragged to the ground. Mukluk moves into position and prepares his favorite weapon. Kisaiya piles on, and even manages to score a blow against the prone, dex reduced opponent! Durgan too lands a heavy blow. Ameiko tries her hardest as she lowers and drops into flank (5’ step) with Durgan.
(flank)
(fire, sneak)
She manages a hit! For the first time whilst wielding the blade, she scores a solid blow.
Omoyani, bloodied and battered, spits a wad of blood and phlegm - and turns invisible!
Durgan will move and attack the identified location of the ninja.
Storm sniffs out the opposition, and Rory snuffs it!
You all hear as she collapses on the ground.
Durgan can finish her if he likes.
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Durgan will finish the ninja while Mukluk attends to the monks.
He will then channel to heal the party.
He follows that up with a healing spell on Ameiko.
As the party heals, I expect you will also search...
The three monks each had
Amulet of natural armor +1 (2,000gp ea, x3)
Their leader had some good stuff too!
Deadly Kiss (+1 dagger with blue blade, swift action poisoning) (10,302gp)
Earthfire Shuriken (+1 flaming burst & DC 15 reflex or catch on fire) (400gp ea, x6)
Shozoku of the Night Wind (+2 armor, +5 stealth, invisibility 1xday, 2xday with ki) (12,000gp)
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"Wow, good job Stormsy! That's exactly what Moose woulda done! So I know it's excellent work. You're a regular ass-istant with the way you help out with what Moose thinks is best," Mukluk cheers Storm's nose as he does trepanate each of the ninja skulls, and especially the head jerk.
He will then cast Detect Magic and see what interesting stuff might be about.
”That was a good scrap, wasn’t it? The suckers are tough to hit but they were no match for us, especially with Moose on our side,” Mukluk grumbles.
Mukluk will help gather and identify the loot left by the ninja(GM) and then move to support Rory at the next door.
Kisaiya attends to Ameiko. ”Are you holding up okay? I could tell you were having a rough time there. I know it can’t be good for your nerves to have to worry about all these assassins popping out of nowhere aiming for you.” She pauses as she realizes that she probably shouldn’t be putting that worry into Ameiko’s head. ”Sorry, I just mean, I worry about you. I want you to know you can rely on me. And not just in the samurai honor way. I know I get worked up about that stuff and formality isn’t your thing. So just think of it like someone who cares about you wanting to help. Anything you need, I’m there for you.”
Kisaiya attends to Ameiko. ”Are you holding up okay? I could tell you were having a rough time there. I know it can’t be good for your nerves to have to worry about all these assassins popping out of nowhere aiming for you.” She pauses as she realizes that she probably shouldn’t be putting that worry into Ameiko’s head. ”Sorry, I just mean, I worry about you. I want you to know you can rely on me. And not just in the samurai honor way. I know I get worked up about that stuff and formality isn’t your thing. So just think of it like someone who cares about you wanting to help. Anything you need, I’m there for you.”
Ameiko smiles warmly, "Why thank you! I see us as all in this together really." She cleans the blade somewhat clumsily and starts lining up at the next door. "Still, thank you." she says seriously as she climbs back into the air.
"Say, as no one seems to want them, I'll take one of those amulets of natural armor. Be good to get hit less."
Rory checks and then opens the door to reveal a short hall. Shrugging he moves to the next door and, after checking it, opens it as well. There's a long hall, leading to some downward stairs, and another door. This new hall is clearly fresher construction. Likely after the complex was transferred from Snorri Stone-Eye to the Rimerunners Guild.
Mukluk lets others take the defensive magics, and the offensive magics, knowing that he would be mostly in the back from such things.
”Don’t suppose we want to check on these cubbie-holes first,” Mukluk points to the north at the four doors. ”No sense going down if there are more of them invisible types around to stab me in the back. I prefer my backstabbin’ to the front, if you know what I mean.”
Mukluk moves over to the first door and will examine it, then open it.
Perception
Backing up… you quickly search the remaining monk cells. A few straw pallets, an odd trinket or two, but nothing much to speak of. However, there are more cells than monks. At least here...
Storm sniffs at the next door and whines, but Rory can find nothing wrong, so he opens it!
A brazier in the corner of this room glows faintly with red coals, its smoke reminiscent of the stench of scorched flesh. A short bed with a headboard carved with the image of an open-mouthed demon stands against one wall, and a small table cluttered with books, scrolls, and a stuffed and mounted stirge sits across from it.
A magic circle has been scribed in center of the floor with chalk. Torn papers, bits of old food, and other debris are scattered about the room, collecting in corners and under the bed and table. Quite a mess!
Giving the room a cursory once over, you’ll find a partially scribed scroll of planar binding. The scroll is unfinished, and looks very much like a work in progress. The circle on the floor is a protective circle for that spell. Also, there’s a stack of dried flesh next to the brazier to get that oh so nasty smell. It’s on purpose!
Rory also spies a secret panel on the headboard - hidden in the demon’s mouth. But he can’t find the trigger - at least not with a glance. You could force it I suppose.
"We can take our time here to search, I think.
Rory, I see you are still injured. Do you have more magic of your own? Or now might be a good time to use that wand. I am entirely out of spells, aside from orisons. However, if we take time, I can bandage your wounds so that they heal properly."
"I can still fight, but I cannot counter our foes' tactics. If we were to fall back and rest when we finish exploring this level, I could prepare magic to thwart Invisibility or to protect us from flames.
I fear that we have greater foes ahead. That raven that escaped has likely gone to join the leaders."
Ameiko looks at the headboard while you chat about whether to continue or break.
She shrugs, "I can't find it. Maybe we'll have to break it up."
Ameiko suggests, "I too am out of spells, but won't they just come at us if we rest? They still don't know we're coming, I think. I dunno what to do."
Mukluk leans towards rest, thinking about how little he has left to give.
”I wouldn’t mind some downtime,” he utters, hoping to take a step back from all the bloodshed. He does take at look at what might be a trapped mechanism.
Perception -
Durgan will Take 20 searching for the mechanism.
Durgan, after some little while, finds a pressure plate and opens the demon’s mouth. Inside is a small compartment with three scrolls - magic circle against evil.
Ameiko gets really excited about a spell she just learned. ”It’s called Calm Emotions! It’ll stop most of the fights back at the ‘Dragon! I mean, we don’t get many, but this will keep the idiots from doing too much damage before I kick them out.” She laughs, looking forward, or perhaps into the past - to a simpler time when her aspirations are/were merely to maintain the Rusty Dragon.
With a bit of Read Magic, Mukluk examines the scrolls, offering 2 to Durgan and keeping one for himself.
"These are kind of interesting, I think. More your thing than mine, but good for the wolfsy-twins over there, maybe," Mukluk points to Rory and Storm.
"Now we need to find a place to relax maybe," Mukluk says, looking for agreement.
The party seems to have decided to stop for the day. But where do they go to rest for the remainder of the day and night?
"Maybe we retreat all the way back down the stairs? Might find a good place down in the woods, or the like," Mukluk suggests as he likes sleeping outside, but then he's usually with Moose and that is always a delight.
"That hidden valley offered another entrance, and could lead to other places to camp. Maybe we can hide our trail somehow and keep them unsure where we went?"
Hearing Durgan speak of the hidden valley, Rory asks, "You mean out the back door over the narrow bridge, farther down the defile, where the sheep were grazing?" Rory smiles quickly, "Storm likes to chase sheep."
”Oh yeah, that sounds like a plan, let’s do that,” Mukluk agrees and begins to move back to a spot for some restful rest.
The party trundles down the trail (how far?) and makes some sort of camp (fire?).
Mention is made of hiding tracks, but I'm not sure how you'll do that...
Kisaiya assists in obfuscating their tracks as they look for a place to camp.
”We may want to avoid a fire, lest this work erasing our tracks be for nought.”
"I think I can ward us against the cold so that we can skip the fire."
Durgan will take advantage of the sudden empowerment he feels to have two additional spells prepared - both of them Communal Endure Elements.
The party trundles down the trail (well, not much of a trail at that!) some distance, turns off said trail and makes a quiet, and cold, camp. Durgan will be able to warm you up overnight, but the few hours of dusk and early darkness are bitter.
Further, around that time, the delay poison will wear off and Durgan and Rory will have to suffer the consequences of their earlier failures. Durgain, should he continue to fail, is merely paralyzed for a time, but Rory is still facing death itself!
Rory, Fort DC 20 or suffer
In case you don’t make it, you’ll have to keep saving. Each time you fail, you take Con damage. However, succeed once, and you're done.
Maximum damage:
Sometime during the first watch, Durgan and Ameiko are keeping their eyes open. Ameiko uses the blade to give herself see invisibility during the watch, 'cause why not!
At one point, she looks up, and she swears she saw something bulky fly by. She can't be sure, and Durgan didn't see it. However, she's not sure whatever it was saw the party either, as they had no fire, and there was no other activity during the night.
You awaken refreshed, and still warm for a time.
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Ameiko approaches Kisaiya after breakfast (cold), with her katana sheathed and held. She looks uncomfortable at first, but overcomes it quickly.
”Kisaiya, I know you seem to prefer a sheath to a blade, but perhaps this one will suit your honor. I find it too unwieldy for me and it feels odd in my hands. I favor the lighter blade - my mithral rapier has been my companion for many, many years.” She looks guiltily at Suishen, but firm in her resolve.
”Will you take this blade and wield it with honor? I could retrain over time, but it feels like wasted effort when you could use him properly. I’ve talked to Suishen, and he is willing to work with you.”
”So what do you think?”
Mukluk watches over Rory as he suffers from an acute hangover.
"It's too bad Moose isn't here. Might have made you a nice boilt mule fur tea, woulda cleared this all right up, I should think. Yeah, that would have been the ticket. Just what you needed. But also, you might not have wanted that, and so your sufferin' just like you woulda."
He will help with kitchen cleanup, and will even cook if there is need for that. He's not bad in the kitchen if you don't mind an endless supply of vegetable stews.
In the morning, he'll be wishing that Moose was around, but will be ready to return pretty quickly.
"Now the thing we have to do, the thing we have to do is to make sure that we don't die. We don't want to do that, okay? That's the plan."
Durgan waits to see how Kisaiya responds to Ameiko.
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Ameiko approaches Kisaiya after breakfast (cold), with her katana sheathed and held. She looks uncomfortable at first, but overcomes it quickly.
”Kisaiya, I know you seem to prefer a sheath to a blade, but perhaps this one will suit your honor. I find it too unwieldy for me and it feels odd in my hands. I favor the lighter blade - my mithral rapier has been my companion for many, many years.” She looks guiltily at Suishen, but firm in her resolve.
”Will you take this blade and wield it with honor? I could retrain over time, but it feels like wasted effort when you could use him properly. I’ve talked to Suishen, and he is willing to work with you.”
”So what do you think?”
Kisaiya stares with her one eye, trying to figure out what she should say. What would her grandmother say, if presented with such a boon by her future sovereign? She knows Ameiko does not hold these ideas of honor in the same high regard that she does, so she cannot expect Ameiko to have already considered them. It may seem like a silly unreasonable line, her self-imposed restriction on swords, but it is those silly unreasonable lines that are how she makes sense of the world and her place in it. They are how she shows her respect for those that came before her and how she gives weight and grounding to that history. By swearing that oath to not use a sword until her family’s honor is restored, she was saying that she remembered how they lost their honor and would not carry on as though it didn’t happen. It made it real for her, and so much of her family’s history felt so unreal, a nice story to tell but so far removed from the realities of day-to-day.
All that said, if your future liege offering you the use of the royal sword is not a sign of restored honor, what is? And the sword himself agrees. It feels vainglorious to consider this could be a sign of favor from the Empress of Heaven, but the thought lingers. She wants it to be true, and her life has taught her too many times that she will never get the things she wants. It all seems to have begun changing recently with this adventure, but will it stay that way? Can she try to remain open to the thought that maybe something will work out for her?
She slowly begins to nod. At least for today, for this moment, she bring herself to believe that something better is possible. That will have to be good enough. ”I will do as you suggest, Ame. All I ask is that I am able to kneel and receive this honor with a touch of ceremony. It’s important to me. Please.”
Mukluk will stand and bear witness to the blessing of the sword. If such things are important, he would treat them as such.
"Aye aye."
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Ameiko quickly draws Suishen, Guardian of the Amatatsu, from his sheath.
"Kneel please." she commands, if politely.
"I am, apparently, of noble blood. More noble even than I knew. A Princess, and nothing less." she takes a deep breath.
"You have, over the years, served me well, and with honor. For all that hard work, I am grateful, and appreciative. I know you will continue to serve with honor, and for that, I grant you Suishen, the Guardian of the Amatatsu."
"Arise, and fight beside me!"
Once the brief celebration is over, he asks, "Shall we head back to the basement?"
”Aye yes, Roresy! Let’s get back at it,” Mukluk agrees, readying his wand, but not his pick yet.
”We’ll want to close out this, we will. I don’t want to go back to Moose without the job being done.”