Aroden can always act in the surprise round, as a Diviner.
He cannot see, and is not sure what is going on.
Cecily cannot make the perception DC and so will be surprised.
"Eep!" Thawm explains as she sees the darkness appear.
Ahmose watches the two stealthy stalagmites wiggle it just a little bit. The Alchemist takes out a vial.
Dissecting lubricant
You two just stay up...ouch! F~!@ b$%!@es!
As the group nears the crusader statues, Dorek's gaze runs over the mournful sculptures, taking in their varied attire and their unity in their misery as he calls back to the others. "T-there's something here - you s-should come..."
Just then, a shroud of darkness, so thick as to almost have a physical force, falls over the cramped area, extinguishing the feeble glimmer of the torch Ahmose carried. His Abaddon-touched vision cuts through the gloom with ease, casting his surroundings in a dim red light, but as he looks around for his kobold companion, he notices the stalactite creatures attacking his fellow scout. "H-help! There's s-something on the ceiling - it's t-trying to eat Ahmose!"
Tandyn is distracted by the strange crusader statues.
Aroden with his foresight senses danger a moment before it strikes but his body and senses don’t allow him to do anything about it. Ahmose also sees the danger in time but isn’t quick enough to do anything other than pull out a vial.
The creature ignores Ahmose's protests, slams him, taking the kobold in its hooked embrace and begins to squeeze the life out of him.
The other ceiling-octopod scuttles forward ignoring Dorek and seems to be waiting for something.
Aravashnial yells out, What's happening?
"Follow me. I'll try to draw it down."
Tandyn raises his shield over his head and walks forward to lure the scuttling thing on the ceiling into falling on him.
"A darkmantle grabbed Ahmose!" Thawm explains as she gets just close enough to cast Grease on the kobold's armor, weakening the creature's hold.
Dorek's head whips around to follow the tentacled creature as it scuttles overhead past him. "D-don't come in, Arvashnial - I d-don't think it s-sees me, but you w-won't be so l-lucky!"
As Tandyn strides forward, Dorek moves up behind the creature skulking in the shadows, slashing his claws across its leathery hide. "H-here - let me h-help!"
Aroden cannot see anything, and unlike his many demon-touched or angel-touched allies he cannot see in the dark.
He sends his Dancing Lights forward, to no effect.
Seeing her teammates surrounding the nearer beastie but leaving Ahmose alone (albeit lubricated) against the other, Cecily lunges forward into her serpentine combat crouch and sprints toward the beleaguered kobold with her tail whipping out among her skirts behind her.
Ahmose laughs!
Actually she seems to be holding me tight!
The Alchemist does the only option open to him (because no suicide bombing allowed)!
The kobold begins dreaming of being a bit higher level, so this type of s!** doesn't happen....
Tandyn walks forward and the other darkmantle tries to get the drop on him, but the crusader is ready and the creature bounces off his shield .
Thawm greases up Ahmose, allowing the kobold to wriggle free of his darkmantle’s grip.
Dorek slashes both his claws at the darkmantle harassing Tandyn, his right is dodged as the creature scuttles to the left, but this puts it right in line for Dorek’s left.
Cecily rushes forward and brings tremendous pain to the Darkmantle.
Beyond the darkness you hear the sound of chanting from a gruff low voice.
The darkmantle's trun to the sources of their pain but Dorek and Cecily maneuver out of the way of the clumsy attacks.
Aravashnial seems conflicted, hesitating. Anevia and Horgus watch the darkness unable to help.
Ahmose sighs.
The Alchemist then Steps 5' toward Dorek. He then tosses the Dissecting lubricant at the Dark mantle confronted by Cecily Dorek!
He then takes out an Alchemist Fire ...
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"Leave him alone you... cave squid?"
Tandyn attacks!
"I said Darkmantle! Don't get grabbed and you'll be fine." Thawm explains.
She circles around and watches carefully, ready to cast Grease on the next potential victim's armor.
As Tandyn strikes down the bizarre creature between them, Dorek steps in to menace the creature attacking Cecily, fading into the shadows only to appear behind the tentacled monstrosity and jam a claw deep into where he thinks its brain is. "S-stay away from them, you b-boneless lump of kenelit!" Despite his apparent bravado, the young locksmith trembles like a leaf in a gale, and his strikes are clumsy and uncertain, made lethal only by the wicked edge to his talons.
Aroden draws forth the healing scale of Terendelev and prepares to heal anyone who requests it (will take a 5' step as part of the readied action if needed).
In a flash of steel, claws, and lubricant the party puts an end to the darkmantle’s threat. Their hooked tentacles twitch violently but with no direction they are easily avoided. Eventually they lay still as the creatures bleed out.
In the cavern beyond more rough chanting can be heard.
"I wonder what that rough chanting could be."
Aroden will use the healing scale on Ahmose if requested, although Thawm's fiery healing may be a better option.
"The darkmantles won't bother us anymore." Thawm explains as she emerges from the darkness again.
"Let's come back after finding out about the chanting, just follow the wall." she adds, disappearing into the darkness again.
As the last darkmantle falls, Dorek approaches the source of the chanting cautiously, his claws raised defensively. "W-who's there? Friend or f-foe? Show y-yourself!" His crimson eye lances through the darkness like the beacon of a lighthouse, showing him the way forward as he edges towards the source of the noise.
As the splat squish shattered sounds of dead dark mantle reach his ears, the Alchemist takes out that Extract of Cure Light Wounds and downs it!
Tandyn walks towards the opening with chanting sound. He gestures for Cecily to stay close.
"Well struck," Cecily compliments the other tiefling when he strikes down the last darkmantle.
She puts a hand on Ahmose's shoulder. "Do you require any further aid?"
She walks forward with Tandyn, nodding her understanding.
You round the corner:
A small campfire and a well-used bedroll, along with a few utensils and tools, sits near another cave opening in the far wall of this cavern.
At this camp a dwarf with fiery red hair stands there with wild mad eyes. He yells out, ”You’ll not capture me alive! Move no closer!” He’s hard to focus on, as he moves the edges of him trail and drifts randomly. He’s holding a potion in hand.
Ahmose stands in the back of the stalled group. The Blue-scaled Kobold is seen not looking like a tank....
As the mad dwarf appears, Dorek stops in his tracks, raising his hands in a gesture of peace. "W-we're not here to h-hurt you - we're j-just passing through. C-can you tell us h-how to get to the s-surface? We s-seem to have lost our w-way." His scorpion-like tail twitches back and forth, uncertain, and he motions to Tandyn and Cecily to wait so as to not startle the madman.
"Were you trapped down here too?" Thawm asks from around the corner.
Tandyn sheathes his sword and stows his shield.
"Some of us are injured. Can you help us get these people to safety?"
The dwarf hesitates at the parties honeyed words and seems confused for a moment and says matter of factly, "The surface? Behind me a shaft leads upwards but doesn't reach."
His mood swiftly changes to anger, "No! I won't GO. You killed HIM when you came to Nchuanthumz to arrest ME. I won't let YOU!
His mood suddenly changes again as a deep despair takes him over. He slumps to the ground and begins to weep. He manages to say, "Just go. Leave me."
The darkness in the previous cavern clears allowing you to examine the statues:
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.
Concern returns to Dorek's features as the mad dwarf begins ranting. "N-nchuanthumz? I t-think I know that n-name... let me s-see..." He wracks his brain for any mention of this strangely named city.
He clears his throat, gesturing back into the darkmantles' room with one claw. "J-just give me a moment to g-get my friends, and we'll l-leave you be. T-thank you, f-friend." Leaving the dwarf to his insanity, he returns to the other room to help guide Aravashnial to safety. As he returns, his crimson gaze is drawn by the strange statues, and he nods to them, glancing at Tandyn. "T-this is what I w-wanted to show you - before the c-creatures attacked, I m-mean. S-statues. The c-carvings are poor for K-kenabres, rich for G-gundrun - but here... they're an i-impossibility."
For a moment, he gazes at them, lost in his thoughts, but after a second, he speaks again. "A s-smuggler I once knew told me of t-tunnels under Kenabres, which he and his f-friends used. He s-spoke of c-crusaders who lived d-down here - d-demon-spawn, like me and L-ladyship. N-near as he could f-figure, when the T-third Crusade s-started, they couldn't s-stay in Kenabres, or they'd be k-killed by those v-vultures the i-inquisitors - but they d-didn't want to leave either, in c-case the d-demons attacked. They c-came down here so they could f-follow their g-goddess's will without people s-spitting on them or t-trying to set them on f-fire."
He glances around at the rest of the group, his brow furrowing. "I a-always thought that old s-smuggler just made them up, p-part of his t-tall tales. S-still, someone has to have m-made these statues." He shrugs. "E-even if these demon-spawn c-crusaders were real, they're p-probably all dead now - the T-third Crusade was m-many, many y-years ago. Still, m-maybe if we f-find any of their bodies, we can g-give them a decent burial. T-they deserve that much for their l-loyalty, I think."
"These statues date to the First Crusade, I believe, not the Third. So forty years earlier, and ninety years before now.
And yet these statues do not seem to have fallen from above. They were carved here. With an expression of sorrow. Someone is, or was, down here. You are right about that, Dorek."
Aroden looks at the statues for a few moments, thinking and empathizing with the mournful stone faces.
"Someone also built that Temple of Torag. Maybe the same artisan? A dwarf, seeking refuge in the earth after the First Crusade and carving these to memorialize his fallen comrades?"
Pragmatism pertinent pertaining to play and practice, Ahmose simply walks to each statue, frisks each and sighs disappointedly.
Just statues. Not a ruby in a single eye socket. Bummer.
The Alchemist does take a minute to mix up another Extract of Cure Light Wounds, prior to bringing up the rear.
The Blue-scaled Kobold slides around the Cravy Dwarf cave without any shananagins.
Tandyn listens quietly to Dorek's recollections while carefully inspecting the crusader statues. "You paint a grim picture. While it's never been mentioned to me, it sounds a little too likely. It's difficult to find anyone who's fought demons without some deep trauma. It's understandable that they'd panic around demon-spawn. It's horrible.. but it makes a terrifying sort of sense." After a long thoughtful pause, he looks around the rest of the room. "Aren't carvings like these usually around something significant? Are we in a tomb or a meeting place? Someone spent a lot of time on this, so why isn't there anything else?"
After hearing Aroden's further explanation Tandyn begins to look concerned "Supposing you're both right, then you're probably talking about different tunnels. Just how many tunnels are under Kenabres?"
After looking at the statues and hearing Aroden's explanation, Thawm has an idea.
She goes to the morose dwarf.
"Let's see if this helps." she says as she sprinkles some holy water on the dwarf, wondering if he's possessed.
"Would the one who was killed have had a gold ring and a rather nice hammer?" Thawm asks.
"If these rumors are true, it would speak to their sense of duty in the face if their curse. Surely they would be old by now though, if they were alive."
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The name is unfamiliar to Dorek.
Ahmose finds nary a clipped copper.
When Aravashnial is told about the statues he smiles intrigued. ”As you say Aroden, the right story but the wrong decade. I’ve heard tales of a group of first crusaders who became infected with Abyssal energies. The story goes that they fled into these caverns to raise their deformed children in peace, and that their descendents live on today in these tunnels. That would explain the sadness inherent to the works. The statues were likely carved by their children of their parents.
Grief and anger flash through the dwarf’s eyes as Thawm can’t help but try to assist him, despite his warnings. The holy water splashes him to no apparent physical effect. The dwarf reaches for power, and subtle arcane energy builds around him and he screams. Thawm is in danger.
Round 1
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Aroden moves forward and uses Total Defense.
"Supposing you're both right, then you're probably talking about different tunnels. Just how many tunnels are under Kenabres?"
Dorek shrugs. "It's l-like I said earlier - K-kenabres is a river c-city. Water c-carves paths through the r-rock - this was all a r-river once, I t-think. These old t-tunnels are probably bigger than the c-city above. P-probably go on for m-miles."
At the enraged scream from the other room, Dorek lets go of Aravashnial and rushes into the domain of the mad dwarf. "W-what's going on? Is e-everyone okay? I heard s-screaming..." As he spots the lunatic mustering arcane energy, he raises his claws in conciliation. "C-calm down, friend! I'm s-sure she didn't mean any h-harm - nobody has to get h-hurt..."
"Eep!" Thawm explains.
I guess I can't help everyone...
She steps back and takes a defensive stance.
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Cecily perks up when the dwarf begins casting threateningly at poor innocent Thawm and she springs into action. Crouching a little more naturally into her combat stance now, she dashes up behind the cover of the dwarf's campfire and then carries on into it. She stomps into the center, sending a shower of cinders and licking flames at the dwarf as she screams at him, "DON'T EVEN TRY IT!"
The dwarf’s eyes go wide with fear and he steps back. He lashes out at the source of his fear and two bolts of sickly green hue strike unerringly into Cecily. A coppery tang lingers in the air afterwards.
Round 1
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Round 2
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Dorek rushes towards the madman menacing Cecily, raising his claws to try and restrain the dwarf, but as the mage attacks him, he jerks back, his tail flailing out instinctively. Its stinger nicks the dwarf's leg, but the mild venom doesn't do much more than make the wound itch.
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Aroden moves forward and uses the healing scale on Cecily.
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Tandyn hears the screaming and gives a small sigh. Iomedea help us, things were calm... He dashes into the next room hastily redrawing his sword...
...and sees a wet dwarf and Cecily on a campfire.
"What on Golarion happened here?"