"...Don't let your guard down if it disappears; it can become unseen at will."
"It disappears? We can't lose our head!"
Seben attempts to grab on to the fanged disembodied head with all her might.
"Nnnnnnnnngh. It's got a nasty bite. Just giving you a heads up."
rounds
Barely beating the effect of the poison and ignoring her bleeding wound, Seben-en-Ra bravely dives at the Doru, grabbing hold of it with a firm grasp. However, she quickly discovers a fatal flaw in an otherwise solid plan.
The Div does not seem to like the idea of being grappled and just as Seben's fingers close tight around its wild curls, it sinks its sharp teeth into her upper arm.
The div's eyes radiate pure panic as it realizes that it it captured, quite vulnerable and unable to cast most of it's natural spells. It's gaze loses focus for a few moments, as if staring off in distance thorough the roof of the manor. Then, it elects to fight its way to freedom. Squirming, it bites down and tears another deep gash into Seben's outstretched arms.
This time, the combined strain of the blood loss and poison is too much for the intrepid tomb raider. She collapses to the sand, the doru slipping from her grasp with a triumphant cry.
Rather than stay and risk getting captured again, the doru spins in the air and makes a straight line up towards the open second floor balcony surrounding the courtyard.
"Nnnnnnnnngh. It's got a nasty bite. Just giving you a heads up."
Seeing the logic in Seben's plan to overpower the head, Indus drops his weapon and tries to catch.
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Indus dives for the hideous head, but the doru, slick with Seben’s blood, easily evades. In mocking defiance, it spits a bloody chunk of Seben’s torn flesh at Indus’ face as it slips past him.
Lueck steps towards the doru and loosens his net. With a practiced toss, he tries to ensnarl the head.
Net attack (ranged touch), to hit
Lueck steps towards the doru and loosens his net. With a practiced toss, he tries to ensnarl the head.
Net attack (ranged touch), to hit 1d20+3
Diorio attempts to skewer the head with his rapier.
Diorio's thrust is not even close to hitting the nimble div, and it zips past the agitated group to the relative safety of the air above the courtyard.
As much as the Sacred Ibis respects the Doru for putting Seben in her place, his award must be a "Wing to the Face!"
Lueck reaches for his net, but curses under his breath when the doru disappears. He notices Seben's condition and darts over to her. With a prayer and a slap of a webbed hand onto her, he jolts her positive energy.
Cure light wounds, heals
As Seben comes to on the tiled floor, she vows to make a conscious decision to do better.
Once more, Seben manages to shake off the effect of the poison before it can take hold and dull her senses. The Ibis continues to distract the doru, leaving it open to further attack, although its current position puts it out of range for melee attacks.
The sound of Sobekhotep's spellcasting echoes from the dining room while the doru hovers in the courtyard, well out of reach of further grapple attempts.
Indus, Seben, Diorio
Doru
Lueck and Sobekhotep
Seben rises up, her hands shaking as she loads her bow.
"I'm going to need to nock this out of the park"
Seben’s shot sails wide as the nimble doru bobs and weaves to evade it.
Lueck darts forward with his net, trying to ensnare the elusive doru.
Lueck darts forward with his net, trying to ensnare the elusive doru.
Seeing the doru flying out of reach and taking a cue from Seben, Indus drops his melee weapon, grabs his crossbow and nocks a cold iron bolt.
Not being sure what this horrific thing will do next, Diorio will keep his blade in hand and ready an attack action.
Floating in the air above the courtyard, the doru hisses an arcane incantation and vanishes from sight.
The doru cast invisibility using an innate spell-like ability.
Without any means to detect it, the Smokin' Bask Brigade can only guess at their enemy's current location.
- Lueck made his knowledge check and has told the party that this is a Doru Div and that it has DR/cold iron. There's more relevant info in the spoiler that Lueck can share when he has time to speak.
- Several of you have already switched to cold iron weapons, and Sobekhotep has offered the use of his cold iron longspear. Lueck's net could also be quite handy.
- The doru is tiny and has a high AC, but manageable CMD. Grappling is an effective tactic that also shuts down its spellcasting ability, but watch out for that AoO bite.
- When invisible, the doru has a significant tactical advantage, but attacking makes it vulnerable. Readied actions are your friends. And sight is not the only way to detect an enemy.
Lueck readies his net, peering around closely.
"Maybe if we can't catch it, we can bargain with it. These things love secrets, and will make crazy bargains for juicy secrets."
Seben's head spins on a swivel.
"Great idea, Lueck! Anybody got one?"
Sense Motive suggested DC 15:
"...Anybody got one? AhhhRHRRHRHRGH!"
Seben cries out as Sobekhotep suddenly aids her with his unusual healcraft.
"Errrgh. . . Thanks! Much needed."
The dust settles slowly in the sunbaked courtyard as a sudden silence fills the air. The doru is nowhere to be seen or heard.
Indus, Seben, Diorio
Doru
Lueck and Sobekhotep
If Seben sees the Sacred Ibis charge at something...
"Follow the bird! The bird has it!"
Seven rifles a shot into the air, hoping to strike a target where she imagines it might be.
Diorio quickly sheaths his rapier and takes up the proffered spear from Seb, ready to stab when the little beast shows itself.
The Ibis flies in a search pattern but does not indicate that it senses the doru.
Unable to see their assailant, Indus bends down, scoops up a big handful of sand and throws it high in the air close to where he last saw the creature, hoping the dust of sand will, at least briefly, reveal its presence.
Lueck says "Cover me. I'm going to cast a spell to reveal it!"
Bluff,
He begins casting detect magic..
Neither the sand, the detect magic nor the Ibis search pattern does anything to reveal the location of the doru.
As the seconds tick by, it becomes clear that whatever the elusive creature is doing, it is neither attackin or casting spells with verbal components.
"Where? Where!?" Seben keeps her bow at the ready, cold iron arrow still knocked. "Could it have left the room?"
Indus moves to stand back to back with Seben, his crossbow at the ready if the foe should reappear.
"Maybe it has fled? Perhaps there was something back here it valued."
Lueck moves back to the dining room where they found the skulls.
"It certainly put great stock in this macabre scene it created. Let's see if we can enrage it some more."
Diorio moves with Lueck and uses the spear to scatter the goblets and other items, generally messing things up.
Lueck and Diorio return to the dining room and proceed to further disturb what's left of the macabre display.
Suddenly, the Sacred Ibis shrieks in alert, clearly indicating that it senses something approach.
Moments later, loud shrieking erupts from the upper floor of the manor and two disembodied heads dive into the courtyard from above.
They are not doru, although they look a bit similar, each a blackened, bat-winged fiend’s head. Tentacles dangle from chin and scalp, and their fanged mouths hangs agape.
Smokin' Bask Brigade
Enemies
Knowledge (planes)
Lueck prays "Sekhmet, grant me blessings to put an end to these abominations!" He moves back towards his other friends. Casting divine favor and moving.
These creature are vargouilles, fiendish outsiders that hunts in darkness. They use a terrifying shriek to paralyze victims, and can kiss a helpless or paralyzed target to inflict its signature curse, which rapidly warps the victim toward becoming a new vargouille if the curse isn’t removed in time.
You also remember it has resistances typical of minor demons. Like the doru, they are tiny agile fliers, so many of the same tactics should apply.