Obahi chuckles. "Nice find. A big hammer for a big man. Perhaps it will earn a name, even?"
Then he turns his gaze towards the altar and the now disposed undead. He gets a little more serious. "I wonder what's the story here. I don't know about you folks, but the dead shambling through old shrines sounds like a bad omen to me."
He pauses, and holds that thought. "And I'm not even a devoted."
Virgil straps his Earthbreaker to his back. The Orc hefts the magical Warhammer, using both hands.
A bit short, but should still do the work.
Virgil looks at Obahi.
...dead shambling through old shrines sounds actually about right.
Virgil scratches his head.
Somewhere feeling we should head south...
Obahi stands up. "Hands on wall? Or one, at least?"
He looks at the altar and the corpse in the room. "Not sure how I feel about taking the money and the belongings of that man."
The passageway leading south from the Abandoned Temple continues for about 3,000 feet (at a speed of 15 feet, this takes about 40 minutes to navigate) before ending after a gradual rise in elevation of 30 feet into a cavern.
Stone figures are carved into the walls of this cavern. Each depicts a different crusader clad in armor and wielding weapons, but their carved stone features contain expressions of sadness.
Obahi walks up to the incline. "I'll climb up and drop a rope?"
"Sounds like a fine idea by me!" Solras shouts at the monk.
"Alright, stay back in case there's a rockslide, I guess. I'll toss a rope when I'm on top.
He starts moving, then stops.
"Actually, anyone can hand me their rope? In case we need more than 50 ft? I'd connect them."
~~~~~~~
Paolo nods. "Here, you can use mine."
Virgil watches as Obahi begins speaking about Ropes, climbs and such. The Orc glances at the before ending after a gradual rise in elevation of 30 feet into a cavern .
They work elevation differently from where you're from, Obahi?
The Magus grins, as he walks up the gradual rise of elevation the 30' to stand at the caverns entrance.
Placing both hands on his new Warhammer, the Magus repeats his Shield spell, as he enters....
From out of nowhere, a sphere of inky blackness descends on Obahi. The rest of the party sees a squid-like creature descend from the cavern ceiling, moving into the black sphere.
Before it can act, you notice the Red squid-like creature on the cavern ceiling, 30 feet up.
➤ Paolo Vital │
➤ Niall │
➤ Obahi │
➤ Avenger of the Green │
➤ Solras Pirhatya │
➤ Virgil │
Red 'Squid'
Green 'Squid'
Virgil just smiles at the Red Squid above.
The Magus casts Shield, Enters Arcane Cascade and Steps under it.
Paolo moves in and sees what is happening. He is a bit concerned for Obahi, but for now, he focuses his attention on the nearby creature.
◆ Stride
◆◆ vs red squid - spirit damage
◆ Reach Spell
◆◆ Telekinetic Projectile 90 ft range
The Amurrun mercenary gets a mischievous grin on her face as she realizes she still has a bullet loaded in her Harmona Gun, screaming "WATCH OUT BELOW!" as she fires at the creature twice in rapid succession, reloading quickly like her life depends on it between shots.
Paolo's Divine Lance skewers the creature above.
Niall throws various cavern debris directly into the creature.
Solras kills it, and it falls to the ground.
Paolo Vital │
Niall │
➤ Obahi │
➤ Avenger of the Green │
Solras Pirhatya │
➤ Virgil │
Red 'Squid' │
Green 'Squid' │
Virgil frowns at the Dead red squidbilly.
That seemed sudden.
The Magus winks before Striding (twice) into a Flank with Obahi on Green!
He Strikes!
Avenger will move up and try to listen to the battle and figure out where the creature is. If he gets a good idea, he'll shoot into the darkness.
Virgil walks to just before the black sphere
Peering through the inky blackness, Virgil sees that the creature is flying five feet above the ground. He swings but cannot connect.
Obahi -- please take your action. While not flanked, the creature is within melee reach.
Avenger squints their eyes, but cannot make out where the creature is. -- You still have one action left if you don't blast.
Paolo Vital │
Niall │
➤ Obahi │
Avenger of the Green │
Solras Pirhatya │
Virgil │
Red 'Squid' │
Green 'Squid' │
As soon as the creature descends into melee range, Obahi unloads a series of strikes.
Obahi manages to connect with one of his stikes.
The squid like creature bludgeoning damage, and
The squid-like creature than constricts Obahi bludgeoning damage.
➤ Paolo Vital │
➤ Niall │
➤ Obahi │
➤ Avenger of the Green │
➤ Solras Pirhatya │
➤ Virgil │
Red 'Squid' │
Green 'Squid' │
Virgil begins his arcane kata!
He Strikes!
Thought it would hit harder.
The creature descends, Obahi gets a hit in, and is suddenly enveloped. He attempts to break free. He scratches at the creature from both inside and outside.
Niall moves closer to get an unobstructed view of the foul creature.
Undaunted, Avenger tries to find it again. He strains his senses to figure out where it is. If both of his allies are talking it should be between them.
[dice=Fortitude]1d20 + 6
Obahi successfully escapes from the creatures grasp.
Niall moves closer to get an unobstructed view of the foul creature.
Avenger of the Green is still unable to make out where the creature is, but, based upon where Avenger knew Obahi was, Avenger moves next to Obahi, and offers a healing fruit.
➤ Paolo Vital │
➤ Niall │
➤ Obahi │
Avenger of the Green │
➤ Solras Pirhatya │
➤ Virgil │
Red 'Squid' │
Green 'Squid' │
After escaping the grasp of the creature, Obahi attempts to shove it outside of the black sphere.
Obahi manages to shove the creature out of the dark sphere (See the side view on the Encounter Map).
At this point Niall And Avenger can see the creature.
Niall hits the creature.
Avenger of the Green hits the creature.
The creature falls limp to the ground (albeit inside the dark sphere).
Aravashnial asks about the statues in the room.
Once told the descriptions, he becomes very intrigued.
He says, [color=#ccaa00]I have a theory. [/color]
[color=#ccaa00]After the First Crusade a group of crusaders who had become infected with Abyssal energies fled into these caverns to raise their deformed children in peace, and that their descendants live on today in the tunnels below the city.[/color]
[color=#ccaa00]The presence of these statues here gives significant credence to the tale. I assume that these statues were carved by their descendents.[/color]
When you go into the next cavern, you see a small campfire and a well-used bedroll, along with a few utensils and tools, near another cave opening in the far wall of this cavern.
You surprise a dwarf who shrieks as you come into his campsite, [color=#2cacac]"Ahhh, Rhaid eich bod chi'n asiantau'r groesgad. Ni fyddwch yn mynd â fi yn fyw!"[/color]
➤ Solras Pirhatya │
➤ Virgil │
➤ Avenger of the Green │
➤ Paolo Vital │
➤ Obahi │
Dwarf │
Niall │
Virgil looks at his newly acquired hammer for defects, before congratulating those seemingly more capable.
This hammer may be cursed. My strikes seem to disappear into the ether.
The Magus winks.
Listening to the possibility of underground hermits hiding hereabouts by Aravashnial, the Orc takes an even longer look at his hammer...
Entering the next cavern, the Magus evaluates the mad-seeming dwar
He seems to be a caster, of sorts. And a bit violent. Probably not a great combination for us.
The Magus seems perfectly reasonable in his response to the dwarfs antics.
He casts Shield, Enters his Arcane Cascade and Strides 25' closer!
Good dwarf, perfectly fine with a simple hello.
Listening to Aravashnial's interpretation while chewing on a goodberry and cleaning his own wounds, Obahi ponders the proposed theory. "I wouldn't know about that. Not a historian, so you're probably more versed in these matters. I'll defer to your judgement."
Obahi walks away from the cluster that is the party, just in case. With his empty hands raised in a calming manner.
"We just fell down here, and are merely passing through. Taldane?"
"Newe?" he tries Orcish as well, see whether anything sticks.
<snip>
He casts Shield, Enters his Arcane Cascade and Strides 25' closer!
As originally written, Arcane Cascade had some issues.
Arcane Cascade [one-action]
Concentrate, Magus, Stance
Requirements You used your most recent action this turn to Cast a Spell or make a Spellstrike. You need to meet this requirement only to enter the stance, not to remain in it.
You divert a portion of the spell’s magical power and keep it cycling through your body and weapon using specialized forms, breathing, or footwork. While you’re in the stance, your melee Strikes deal 1 extra force damage. This damage increases to 2 if you have weapon specialization and 3 if you have greater weapon specialization. Any Strike that benefits from this damage gains the arcane trait, making it magical.
If your most recent spell before entering the stance was one that can deal damage, the damage from the stance is instead the same type that spell could deal (or one type of your choice if the spell could deal multiple types of damage).
So, one must cast a spell or make a spellstrike to enter Arcane Cascade, and, once in the Arcane Cascade stance, it remains for the entire encounter.
The Dwarf's eyes go wide as Virgil moves closer, and his eyes dart left and right as his grip on his staff tightens.
➤ Solras Pirhatya │
Virgil │
➤ Avenger of the Green │
➤ Paolo Vital │
Obahi │
Dwarf │
Niall │
Avenger isn't ready to start hostilities, but does prepare a defense. He begins his elemental aura and readies an elemental blast if the dwarf tries to harm us.
Solras, not understanding a lick of what's going on, loads her firearm and prepares to fire, but holds off and responds in the one language that might get a response.
The dwarf takes a step back as energy begins to coalesce around Avenger of the Green.
He seems to shrink as Solras locks and loads.
[color=#00cccc]"Pam na wnewch chi siarad â mi yn unig? Rydych chi'n groesgadwyr i gyd fel ei gilydd. Rydych chi'n fy hela i lawr. Fe wnaf i chi dalu."[/color] He calls out. Then he begins casting.
➤ Niall │
➤ Solras Pirhatya │
➤ Virgil │
➤ Avenger of the Green │
➤ Paolo Vital │
➤ Obahi │
Dwarf │
Avenger does not have recognize spell, so he'll take his readied action if it end up being a hostile spell. And he's still able to take actions after the spell. :)
Niall listens to the dwarf's incantations, but can't quite remember what they mean. He scoops up some rocks as he ponders this...