Arrian shifts position to flank the creature with Juriya and strikes with his rapier!
Persephone begins sharing her Ferocious Loyalty with her friends!
Arrian well maneuvered! Juriya, why what big dice you have! Ano, dear there seems to be a bit of your blood staining your boots.
Unfortunately, the Shaman is not educated in the many, various aberrations that they will most likely be encountering ....
Zeldrith draws his blade, slashing at the bizarre creature as arcane fire flares down his blade. "What are Thassilonian creatures doing here beneath Sandpoint? Perhaps there are ruins nearby or something - I know a bit of the tongue."
He casts his mind back to see if he remembers hearing anything about Thassilonian ruins east of Magnimar - his thoughts distract him, however, and while his blade strikes true, his distracted lunge at the bizarre creature ends with him snapping his fanged jaws shut a good foot from the sinspawn's face.
"Hey, Donimah, you're an studying Thassilonian ruins, right? Uh, these guys are sinspawn, did they have anything to do with them? I don't know much about Thassilon, but I know they had a big focus on sin so... this might be related?," she says, turning to the mage. Juriya read up on quite a lot of topics, but she never got too into depth about any of it, so she knew the basics about pretty much everything...
Donimah, shocked at the sudden appearance of the creatures, starts wracking her brain for information to answer Juriya's questions.
In the meantime, she tries to cold-cock one of the sinspawn with another telekinetic fist.
Juriya remembers some things about these creatures.
They have SR 13. Its special abilities are:
- Martial proficiency (Ex) (martial weapons, armor and shields except tower)
- Sin-scent (Su) - They can smell creatures whose nature reflects its sin (should tell you outright which sin they are based on who they went for)
- Sinful bite (Su) - A creature bitten is overwhelmed by sinful thoughts. The emotion is so strong that the affected becomes sickened for a few minutes. Calm emotions, Remove curse or Break enchantment negates the bite effect.
Zeldrith and Arrian work together to attack the sinspawn that bit Ano. Their flurry of blows works well and, distracted by the tiefling's powerful blow, it fails to dodge Arrian's thrust. It dies making angry sounds.
Donimah successfully punches the other sinspawn at a distance.
Juriya stows her rapier, seeing only one sinspawn left, and fires her preloaded light crossbow into melee, hoping to not any of her friends with the bolt.
Donimah remembers that sinspawn were used as foot soldiers, somehow. However, she doesn't recall anything more specific.
The sinspawn is clearly hurt but relentless. He continues clawing and biting Ano.
The creature is clearly mad at Ano and lands a bite. One of its claws scratches her arm while the other punctures Ano deep.
Ano tries to block the bite and claws, but she feels something hot slash against her abdomen, then her whole body feels cold. With a shudder, she falls to the ground, her whole world becoming dark…
Cherry shrieks, fluttering down to her. He looks up at the sinspawn, puffing up his feathers in an attempt to scare off the creature, yelling,
Zeldrith steps up to Ano's aid, his blade raking a bloody line across the bizarre creature's chest as his red eye flashes white with arcane power. "Nobody does that to one of my friends! Hold on, Ano - this won't take a minute!" He lunges at the sinspawn, his teeth clamping around the creature's forearm, before withdrawing, spitting to get the taste out of his mouth as he grins at the creature's mangled wrist. "Not so tough now, are you?"
Persephone only grins, as Ano is momentarily sacrificed for Ferocious Loyalty to really aid Zel's attack!
The Varisian rushes to her side to lay her hand upon the fallen Amurun.
Zeldrith chops off the head of the sinspawn. It falls down lifeless on the ground.
Ano gasps as Persephone's magic saves her from death. She shakingly gets up, inspecting the new slash mark across her chest. "I hope that doesn't scar..." she grumbles. Cherry nuzzles up to her, "DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!!!"
Zeldrith draws his blade, slashing at the bizarre creature as arcane fire flares down his blade. "What are Thassilonian creatures doing here beneath Sandpoint? Perhaps there are ruins nearby or something - I know a bit of the tongue."
"Yes, they were used by some in the ancient empire as footsoldiers!" Donimah explains. "There's a Thassilonian tower just on the edge of-"
Ano tries to block the bite and claws, but she feels something hot slash against her abdomen, then her whole body feels cold. With a shudder, she falls to the ground, her whole world becoming dark…
Cherry shrieks, fluttering down to her. He looks up at the sinspawn, puffing up his feathers in an attempt to scare off the creature, yelling,
Her explanation is cut off by the monster striking Ano down.
she bellows.
It seems her sentiment is shared by the rest of the group as the sinspawn is killed before she can even fire off another spell. Then, before she can even react to Ano's apparent death, she is revived and she breathes a sigh of relief.
"Oh thank every spirit in the land and every god in the sky!" she says. She leans on her whaling spear for a bit, watching to make sure Ano's okay before turning her attention to the sinspawn. She crouches down to take a closer look, and see if there was any identifying marks on them apart from...what they were.
Arrian casts a spell to aid Ano's recovery.
"Wow that was scary. So were these things just here waiting or are they part of this plot against Sandpoint?"
His healing spell was as shaky as his hands; him changing the topic of their enemies belies his nervousness over what almost happened.
Anyone observing Arrian will notice he is sweating profusely, his eyes are darting, and his breathing is rapid and shallow.
the "human" says as she rushes to her twice-healed friend's side. "Oh for all the gods' sakes, are you okay?"
She takes a cursory glance at Zeldrith before nodding to herself, realizing that the tiefling's fire resistance might come in handy... later. Her mind keeps fluttering between making sure Ano is okay, even if her healing skills leave something to be desired.
"Hopefully that heals," she says, a bit guilty that her studies of anatomy pretty much have only covered where to hit to make her strikes hurt, in lieu of the harder-to-accomplish bombs.
As the others heal Ano's wounds, Zeldrith extends a hand to help the amurrun up, working his mouth and spitting to get rid of the lingering taste of the sinspawn's blood. "I was worried about you - I'm glad to see you're feeling better. As a side note, these Thassilonian creatures taste terrible."
At Arrian's words, his brow furrows. "I wouldn't imagine so, but I could be wrong. The way I see it, though, Thassilon was an empire of mages, right? Therefore, it would make sense most of their things were meant to be used by their ruling class. I don't think goblinoids of any sort would be able to use Thassilonian magic well - hobgoblins are too loyal to their ancient code, goblins are too stupid and/or insane, and bugbears aren't disciplined enough." He shrugs. "Like as not, they just took advantage of a tunnel that already existed. Still, I've been wrong before, and it's probably best that we keep searching this area in any case - most Thassilonian artifacts are not exactly the kind of thing you would want under a town."
At Zel's statement about As a side note, these Thassilonian creatures taste terrible." , the sound of giggling erupts from Isabel! The colorful raven squawks at Persephone!
That would be effective although not quite proper, my dear!
The Varisian woman shrugs.
Best I can do not having Access to Prestidigitation.
The Shaman offers soap to the Tiefling.
Bite this just a little and tilt your head up a bit and say ahhh...
Persephone seems to be preparing to proceed to pronounce the proper syllables to an orison....
Ano gladly took the tiefling’s hand, stumbling a bit as she regained her footing. “Might need to consider better armor when we get out of here…” she muttered to herself.
“You all said these things were from Thassilonian times? What are they doing under here, like, alive and all that? I thought most things from that time were dead?” Cherry asked, clearly unnerved by the sudden appearance of the sinspawn.
The way forward is the group's choice. The cave separates three ways. One is the cave from where the sinspawn came from. Its end is visible for those with darkvision.
The tunnel also continues to a dead end further north. Also, just north of the sinspawn cave is a corridor that leads to a messy room.
His breathing starting to calm down Arrian says, "Let's check around us first so we don't have anything behind us when we go forward. Is everyone healed up?"
Belying his feelings he makes sure Ano is slightly behind his large frame.
At Arrian's words, his brow furrows. "I wouldn't imagine so, but I could be wrong. The way I see it, though, Thassilon was an empire of mages, right? Therefore, it would make sense most of their things were meant to be used by their ruling class. I don't think goblinoids of any sort would be able to use Thassilonian magic well - hobgoblins are too loyal to their ancient code, goblins are too stupid and/or insane, and bugbears aren't disciplined enough." He shrugs. "Like as not, they just took advantage of a tunnel that already existed. Still, I've been wrong before, and it's probably best that we keep searching this area in any case - most Thassilonian artifacts are not exactly the kind of thing you would want under a town."
"Or next to a town either. As I was saying during the fight before...what happened...that tower on the cliff by the edge of town? The locals call it 'the Old Light.' It's a Thassilonian structure. Most think it was a lighthouse, but Brodert is convinced it was some kind of magical strategic-use tower, capable of launching rays of fire at the old Empire's enemies. It's...an interesting hypothesis, but there's very little evidence for it. Even less now that the last goblin attack torched a bunch of Brodert's books and notes. Regardless, there's remnants of Thassilon right on Sandpoint's doorstep, and all signs are pointing to it not having a good influence."
She thinks on Ano's questions and resumes examining the sinspawn. Did they bear the mark of one of Thassilon's kingdoms? How old did they look? She doubted they could truly have survived down here for thousands of years seemingly without food or water, and only just now crawled out of whatever hole they came from, but she'd seen enough things in this week alone to find nothing implausible anymore.
Upon examining the sinspawn, Donimah can determine that they are not millennia old. In fact, they are probably a few years old. How they were created is not clear. They do not bear markings of any kind, but given that they were attracted to Ano probably means they are related to the wrath sin. Donimah doubts that they require organic sustenance.
Persephone purses her lips at the injured Ano.
I do have a spell of curing, although it is my only one today.
Persephone purses her lips at the injured Ano.
I do have a spell of curing, although it is my only one today.
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"Well, I can tell you this: these...sinspawn, aren't literal remnants of ancient Thassilon. They're only a few years old at most. Which suggests the means to...make them, I guess? Has outlasted the old empire and they're just the magical equivalent of feral animals, especially since they don't seem to need actual food for sustenance."
She turns to Ano.
"But maybe they get sustenance from something else...since they focused on you to the exclusion of the rest of us, maybe they were...drawn to your power, to your anger. That's why I asked about your friendship with Nualia before: you were possibly one of her only friends. Maybe she was down here some time in the past. Maybe she did something or something happened to her, something where she felt such strong emotions that they left a mark on the place. An echo. And when you came down here, your bond with her allowed you to sense that echo."
"If they were created perhaps someone has either learned, remembered, or still knows how to create them?"
"Well, I can tell you this: these...sinspawn, aren't literal remnants of ancient Thassilon. They're only a few years old at most. Which suggests the means to...make them, I guess? Has outlasted the old empire and they're just the magical equivalent of feral animals, especially since they don't seem to need actual food for sustenance."
She turns to Ano.
"But maybe they get sustenance from something else...since they focused on you to the exclusion of the rest of us, maybe they were...drawn to your power, to your anger. That's why I asked about your friendship with Nualia before: you were possibly one of her only friends. Maybe she was down here some time in the past. Maybe she did something or something happened to her, something where she felt such strong emotions that they left a mark on the place. An echo. And when you came down here, your bond with her allowed you to sense that echo."
“But…But I’ve never been down here. Nor has Nualia…unless…” She looked deeply concerned, like she found a puzzle piece that had been missing for a while.
“Unless, what?” Cherry asked.
The catfolk shook her head, brows furrowing, “Let’s…let’s see if she has been down here first. I don’t know why she would, but…we need to figure out if that’s the case first.”
"Yeah," Juriya says, "we should keep heading forward. Can't find anything out by lingering."
"Yes...I'm eager to get the rest of this place cleared so we can return to the mystery of that wall."
She turns to Zeldrith and Arrian.
"Ready, boys?"
"Yes...I'm eager to get the rest of this place cleared so we can return to the mystery of that wall."
She turns to Zeldrith and Arrian.
"Ready, boys?"
Arrian nods, readies his rapier and shield, and leads the way.
Persephone follows the group to continue exploring this mysterious catacomb....
“Yeah, let’s keep-” Ano started, before Cherry cut her off.
“Look, Ano, maybe you should stay back? I mean we haven’t even explored this place and you almost died! What if that happens again?[/b]”
“Then I’ll die making sure whatever’s down here won’t come up to Sandpoint.” The catfolk stated firmly, much to the cardinal’s chargin.
Zeldrith follows Arrian, his blade raised. "If the secrets of ancient Thassilon are reappearing, that's not a good thing at all. They were powerful mages with a twisted sense of humor - anything they left behind will be dangerous in the wrong hands. I recall one of the carvings I read told of a Runelord who razed the city of Mari - burned it to the ground, with all its people inside - on a bet with another powerful mage. They say dark things about what he did to those who displeased him - he used a tool he invented to twist them every which way, until their insides were their outsides and their minds had no other choice but to serve him. One who found such evil magic would be dangerous indeed."
Juriya pulls out a few unlit torches, asking a simple question, "does anyone here have a means to light these? I forgot flint back home, but I do bring torches with me everywhere out of... precaution," Juriya says, shuddering to remember her former adventuring days.
Juriya pulls out a few unlit torches, asking a simple question, "does anyone here have a means to light these? I forgot flint back home, but I do bring torches with me everywhere out of... precaution," Juriya says, shuddering to remember her former adventuring days.
Ano blinks in thought, before reaching into her bag, pulling out some flint and steel. “I have some. And a few torches as well. Always brought them with me in case I left the farms at night.”
Arrian casts Light on Ano's rapier so she can see better in the dark tunnels.
Donimah brings up the rear of the party as they make their way down the middle.
Ano looks fascinated at the light sitting upon her rapier, before taking the lead, in spite of her injuries.