Zarzuket gasps in pain as he is stabbed by multiple iron spikes.
On the bright side, he somehow avoided any rust getting in the wounds.
”Krachton, can you please give us some healing? I’ll probably cast a healing spell too, but I don’t think it will be enough by itself; all of us except Quatar appear to have been injured quite badly.”
Krachxton feels glad that his armor took the worst of it, but he starts conjuring soothing waters to get everybody better.
"Wow! That's some great healing! We're still not quite fully healed, though. Should I expend a healing spell, or do you think it would be better if you took another ten minutes or so to heal us? I want to conserve resources for emergencies, but I'm worried that someone might have noticed the trap being sprung."
”We should move!”
Quatar, not wanting to be caught twice, prepares to leave the area, but carefully, rubbing his lucky ruby.
Once everyones wounds have been tended to, the party pushes north through the double doors into a larger room that holds long benches and tables. Single doors lead to the north, east, and west.
A pair of guards in here catch sight of you as you enter and call out "Intruders!", raising their weapons and moving to attack from each side.
The guards both each deliver a well-placed strike on their first attack against Krachxton and Dredd, with the attack against Dredd critically striking him!
"Where is Elder Ordwi?" Quatar demands "We are not leaving here without him!"
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.
◆) Exploit Vulnerability
◆) Strike w/ Recovery
◆) Strike
↺) Amulet's Abeyance (3)
Our plucky hero's first launch fails to connect, spinning back quickly which he catches with a deft chuck. Meanwhile, the amulet on his body glows, inuring anyone nearby him from Red Guard's attacks!
Madaxa sees the guards flanking the table and starts moving. He tries to slide past to get behind the white guard before spinning to stab it with his rapier.
◈
◈ for and
◈ for and
Is the map right?
"Oh dear. We really should have taken time to heal."
Zarzuket casts two spells on Dredd.
Dredd is far too distracted from the spear trap to even notice the guards before one thrusts their sword through a gap in his armor. He lets out a booming grunt, but before the pain can fully settle, he feels a warmth from behind. He nods to Zarzuket before quickly stepping aside and attempting to return strike.
"You have chosen your path" he claims before attempting to strike [white] twice quickly with his guisarme.
◈
◈
◈
Krachton calls upon the elements, summoning his armor around him. He then slams at the enemy with a stone club that forms in his hands.
Quatar's second attempt with his boomering hit home, injurying the cleric with the white cape.
Madaxa deftly moves through the room and gets behind the same guard Quatar attacked, burying his rapier in the guard's back.
Dredd moves in to try and finish off the wounded guard. His attack should have missed, but because the wounded guard's being flanked with Madaxa it opened up an opportunity at the last second for the paladin. His sword strike brings down the white (and blood red) caped' guard.
The second guard takes a faceful of Krachton's stone club, but remains standing.
The guard swings three times at Krachton and misses twice, but some strange luck allows him to hit the dwarf on his neck with his sickle, critically wounding him.
R: 11
Quatar's lucky ruby glows, protecting his ally.
↺) Amulet's Abeyance (3)
◆) Interact to Draw
◆) Strike w/ Personal Antithesis (and Recovery)
◆) Interact to Draw
↺) Amulet's Abeyance (3)
Wrapping an around his boomerang, he sends another the Gorumite's way!
Seeing his new ally take the brunt of the remaining guards attacks, Dredd wastes no time moving over to assist, trying to strike twice with the long reach of his weapon.
◈
◈
◈
Madaxa ◈ slides across the floor to get behind the other guard, trying to stab it as he comes to a stop.
◈ for and
◈ for and
With a quick prayer, Zarzuket casts stabilize on one of the guards. He will do the same to the other guard if nothing interrupts him.
The guard doesn't stand a chance against the party and is quickly taken down. Zarzuket stabilizes the fallen Gorumites so that they will not die.
”This time, let’s fully heal ourselves before we move on.”
Quatar slaps one of the guards in the face after he wakes up.
"Hey you. Where have you taken Elder Ordwi? Tell me now!" uncharacteristically and indelicately blunt!
Unfortunately, our lithe-framed and gentle-voiced hero hardly cuts the imposing figure; akin to being threatened by a newborn kitty. However, what he lacks in gruff, he makes up for in pluck - and feigns provocation of serious injury to the compromised guard!
Dredd helps Zarzuket assure the guards are completely bound before preparing to move off. "Witness Iomedae's mercy today." he proclaims to the guards before helping tend to the wounded. "I agree Zarzuket. We must not proceed until we are prepared." He gets to work helping with the wounded, between kneeling and praying to Iomedae to recover his wits. "Madaxa, please check the doors for traps while we recover. I'd prefer to not get spiked again."
This is what I gather from the posts:
Dredd: 18/20
Krachxton: 2/22
Zarzuket: 15/18
Madaxa: 18/20
Quatar: untouched!
Doing it myself with 'free' passive healing I will need an hour to bring everyone to full. If anyone else has any sort of free passive healing, we can rock this out much quicker. I am not sure on everyone's healing capabilities.
The Gorumites aren't particularly interested in conversing with the intruders, but one of them grunts out "Find Sister Vanda, she knows. Down below" He vague motions to the north with his head.
Madaxa nods to Dredd and moves over to the north door, examining it for traps and listening for any noise coming from behind it.
He gives Dredd a thumbs up, "looks good!"
Dredd opens the door once the rogue has affirmed it's clear.
A long 5' corridor runs west to east, with doors on the southwest side, northwest, two north, and one northeast. On the far east end of the hallway, a set of stairs ascends to an upper level. A door southeast is located adjacent to the stairwell.
Madaxa sees all the doors and realizes, "these must be bedrooms. Let me see what I can hear."
He stops to listen at each door starting in the middle and moving quietly counter-clockwise before ending up between Quatar and Dredd again.
Madaxa does not hear movement beyond any of the doors, reporting back to his companions without any problems.
”It makes sense, I suppose. If there was someone behind one of those doors, they would probably have intervened when we were fighting the guards. So, which door should we take? Or maybe the stairs? There’s something to be said for confronting Sister Vanda as soon as possible, but also for trying to get a better sense of what’s going on first.”
"We must not leave any stone unturned here. Let us proceed. "
given the all clear from Madaxa, Dredd makes his way to the far west end of the hallway before turning to the southern door and opening it. He holds his weapon ready just in case, as to not be caught off guard.
Inside C9 you find a kitchen. Dirty pots, pans, and knives litter this grimy kitchen. The pantry stands open with a cloud of flies surrounding the spoiled food stored within.
Searching this room, you find a grime-covered piece of parchment on one of the crusty countertops. It has lists of food needed, distances, travel times, and supplies needed for a two day march over the mountains, as well as a sketch of a journey to the hills north of Osprey Cove.
C11a/b are both small rooms that contain a mannequin, weapon rack, and stool.
In C11a, a rusty (broken) set of scale mail still clings to the mannequin. The weapons on the rack are all ruined.
In C11b, you find a suit of armor that must have once been a magnificent suit of full plate, but most of the armor
now sits in piles of rust on the ground. The breastplate remains attached to the mannequin, but it’s marred with streaks of rust; it has the broken condition.
However, the bronze bull pendant talisman affixed to it is fully functional. Most of the weapons on this rack have been destroyed, but a single rusty greatpick remains; it has the broken condition.
In C12, you find a storage room that contains foodstuffs, tools, and supplies for the daily operation of Stonehome, but it’s all starting to decay.
”This whole area feels abandoned. Which is odd, because there were guards. I wonder if there’s some sort of magical cause for all the rust…”
Looking around at all the rusted gear, Madaxa has a worrying thought. He pulls out his rapier and thoroughly examines it for any signs of rust or unusual wear. "I don't have a sense of how quickly metal is breaking and becoming useless here."
"If anyone sees something that might be useful, I can try and repair it once we have some downtime." He uses a rag to retrieve the bronze bull pendant talisman for a closer look. "This bull looks angry, kind of like you!" He imitates the face as he turns to hold it toward Dredd, "not really sure what it does though."
"This place seems mostly empty now. I agree, it all feels strange. Some of this gear may be useful though. We should bring what we can with us if it is something you think you can fix Madaxa."
Dredd looks over a lot of the gear, eyeing some of the full plate. He then makes his way towards the southern door. "See anything?"
Zarzuket has never seen anything like this before. They don't know what exactly is going on here, but it appears to be some disease that involves rusting not just the body but items as well. In hindsight, you recall Brother Blanton having some rust-colored blotches on him as well.
Madaxa isn't sure of the rust origins either, but agrees something unnatural is occurring with the metal breaking down around here.
A broken item still imposes penalties and limitations normally incurred by carrying, holding, or wearing it. For example, broken armor would still impose its Dexterity modifier cap, check penalty, and so forth.
If an effect makes an item broken automatically and the item has more HP than its Broken Threshold, that effect also reduces the item's current HP to the Broken Threshold.
Zarzuket picks up the parchment with plans for the journey, trying not to touch the grimiest parts.
”We might not want to touch the rusty weapons and armor too much. Something about the rust makes me think of some kind of disease rather than normal oxidation processes.”
He then begins walking towards the southern door.
Madaxa eases past Dredd and gently places his hand on the door, leaning in to see if he can detect anyone, or anything inside.
He steps back and slaps Dredd on the shoulder, "all good my man!" Madaxa readies his weapon just in case.
IF nobody else is ready, Krachxton will lead the way in.
As the party steps into the smithy, the room greets them with the robust scent of iron and soot. The glow from the forge casts long shadows across the floor, where various weapons and armor pieces lie displayed along the walls and upon a nearby rack. The far end of the room is modestly sectioned off as living quarters, signified by a cot draped in grimy clothes, standing in stark contrast to the tools and artifacts of war that dominate the space.
Two doors offer silent promises of escape or deeper secrets within Stonehome, but it is the room's sole occupant that captures the party's immediate attention. Smith Trygve, caught in the act of weary existence between hammer and anvil, turns toward the intruders. His eyes, reflecting a mix of fear and resignation, quickly harden with the resolve of a cornered warrior.
"What business do you have here? If it's my life you're after, know that I won't go down without a fight," Trygve declares, his voice a rough echo amidst the clangor of his forged prison. His hand tightens around the hammer's handle, the only ally in his continuous battle against despair and the looming threat of a dishonorable death.
”We’re not here to kill anyone. We’re just looking for a friend. We might also be able to help other people here, if we had a better idea of what’s going on. What’s with all the rust? And those dead bodies in the middle of the hallway?”
Zarzuket's diplomacy attempt pushes the smith over the edge, and he grows defiant and takes his hammer and turns it on you and shouts"NO! I didn't kill them! I won't be tricked! I'll take you all with me!"
Zarzuket sighs at the smith’s impulsiveness and paranoia. Seeing no alternative to fighting now, he casts guidance on Krachton with a whispered prayer. He then casts needle darts, shooting pieces of cold iron at the smith.
Dredd rushes into a flanking position, giving himself a clear view of this foe and new new allies. "You have chosen your path" he proclaims before swinging his guisarme twice in action.
◈
◈
◈
Madaxa is about to speak when the paranoid blacksmith raises his hammer in anger. He ◈ steps forward and tries to duck under the hammer to get a good angle with his blade.
◈
◈ and
Kratchton steps in past Madraxa and strikes with a hammer of stone.
Quatar isn't sure that they want to strike the smith, and hesitates, holding their attack.
The rest of the party has already decided to engage in combat. With a substantial show of force, one blow lands after another, and the smith is pummeled before he can even strike a blow.
Zarzuket casts stabilize on the smith. He doesn’t search the smith’s person himself, but if other party members do, he doesn’t object.