The pair of Velo and Ishmael rush forward to try to fell one of the giant skeletons as Rorlu stands up covered in his own blood.
The blackened skeleton will rise.
The pair of skeletons lashes out at those around them.
Velo fends off the attacks from the beast to his west, but a lucky claw gets past Ishmael's defenses and drops him precipitously.
Round 3/4 - Bold Can Act!
---
Rorlu @ 14/15 HP + 4 Temp HP - Wounded 1, Shield 'Dropped'
Orangish - 11 damage
Blackened - 6 damage
Ishmael @ 9/26 HP + 4 Temp HP
Bustral + 4 Temp HP
Jeremiah + 4 Temp HP
Velo @ 5/25 HP + 4 Temp HP
Tris + 4 Temp HP
Anhaku + 4 Temp HP
Active Effects:
Runic Weapon - Ishamel (from Bustral)
Plant Banner - Rorlu (+4 Temp HP at start of turn)
|
Tris finds herself in the unexpectedly advantageous position of not having to drink the potion she had obviously drawn to tend to her own anticipated wounds. Seeing a skeleton fall but her comrades only be moderately successful on the attack, she decides that fewer skeletons is be the quickest way to get out of this sticky situation.
The gnome reaches out with the steel from her flint and steel set. Three shards of razor-sharp metal separate, flying in the direction of the black skeleton.
Anhaku has neither time nor inclination to comment on her companion's less than stellar attempt. A fleck of gold continues to dance around the orange skeleton, occasionally crashing into it with abandon.
"Abomination! I will crush you, like the Lady crushed the forces of the Vile Tyrant!"
It would seem Iomadae is still not quite back yet. Perhaps she's shining her armor?
The group sends out a flurry of attacks though most end up missing. The only creature to actually succeed is Anhaku on their follow-up strike, sending the skeleton back to the boneyard.
Round 3/4 - Bold Can Act!
---
Rorlu @ 14/15 HP + 4 Temp HP - Wounded 1, Shield 'Dropped'
Blackened - 6 damage
Ishmael @ 9/26 HP + 4 Temp HP
Bustral + 4 Temp HP
Jeremiah + 4 Temp HP
Velo @ 5/25 HP + 4 Temp HP
Tris + 4 Temp HP
Anhaku + 4 Temp HP
Active Effects:
Runic Weapon - Ishamel (from Bustral)
Plant Banner - Rorlu (+4 Temp HP at start of turn)
|
|
Rorlu will fix his grip on his shield (one action).
Use Gather to me, granting Anhaku a free reaction to react if he wishes.
Squadmates can use Gather to Me! while Burrowing, Climbing, Flying, or Swimming instead of Striding if they have the corresponding movement type.
Rorlu will use his reaction to stride.
And strike out with his shield
|
|
As his allies move around, Velokraxis roars at the skeleton to attract its attention. He then strikes at it with his shield and places said shield defensively.
Your enemy remains taunted until the start of your next turn, and you can have only one Taunt in effect at a time. Taunting a new enemy ends this effect on any current target
With a roar and a prayer, Velo sends his shield directly into the last skeleton, shattering it and sending the spirit back to the Boneyard as its corporeal form crumbles into ash.
---
As you explore around the room, Bustral notices monstrous faces hidden amid the flames, howling in rage or pain. The imagery is largely consistent with what you saw in the sewers, highly troubling.
Tris, in her self-congratulatory celebration with Anhaku, nearly slips on a rogue piece of parchment: a single pamphlet that escaped destruction. This pamphlet is an advertisement for the Blakros Museum’s latest exhibit that features Cyclopean relics from Iobaria. Inside the pamphlet is an image of an obelisk that looks similar to the obelisk depicted on the drawing you found in the room with the fire-eye zombie in the sewers.
Jeremiah the Ever-Curious searches the room even further and seems to stumble upon a hidden cache. The thin plaster hiding the cache from sight burnt away in the fire, revealing the stash. Jeremiah finds a scroll of flaming sphere.
After-Action Report
---
Rorlu @ 14/15 HP- Wounded 1
Ishmael @ 9/26 HP
Bustral
Jeremiah
Velo @ 5/25 HP
Tris
Anhaku
|
|
Velokraxis looks around after the last skeleton crumbles, looking for more threats. When he doesn't find any, he sinks down, tired and hurt. With a claw, he points out something he spotted during his look around.
"Rorlu," he says with an exhausted smile, "I'm the one who is supposed to go down, not you."
|
|
"Ah, my large friend. You are too hard on yourself. I am glad you kept your feet this fight. As it was our allies had me back on mine swiftly!"
Taking a closer look at the pamphlet.
Ah, it looks like those that burned this place did not know that the Blakros Museum uses alchemically treated paper to resist fire and water damage.
Looking over the mural Velokraxis pointed out.
"Well, knowing what to look for, due to our esteemed Countess, I can confirm that is a depiction of Urxehl."
|
|
Jeremiah hands the scroll of Flaming Sphere to Whisper, who inspects it and hands it back. Jeremiah shows it to the group. "A very useful spell but I am unable to cast it. Is one of you interested?"
If not, he will pocket the scroll for now.
"The connection to Urxehl seems undeniable. I assume we continue our investigation at the Museum?"
|
|
Tris casually slips the healing potion back into her pockets. Who knows what awaits her next! Better not be too liberal with one's possessions! But others' possessions on the other hand...
"Oh, an interesting scroll! I'm sure I could make use of it!" The gnome steps forward, holding out her hands greedily, only for Anhaku to hover in between the Divine spellcaster and Jeremiah, blocking the way.
"Rude. Whatever."
Tris looks at the parchment again, her large milky eyes squinting. Cyclopians! Urxehl! If she can figure out what horrible situation they're getting into here, perhaps she can convince the group to ask the Society to reassign them and send someone more capable - or at least more expendable!
|
|
Tris can't make sense of all this and is in the process of formulating an alternative "creative interpretation" suggesting further answers may be found in the gambling halls of the Second Labyrinth. Unfortunately, she loses interest before she can produce a sufficiently coherent tale and Anhaku, that golden snitch, would ruin the fun, anyway. So the Summoner simply shrugs and begins to reapply her makeup.
|
|
The surprisingly successful healing has come at the heavy price of Tris describing her various supposed feats of medicine at length. Apparently, she has successfully separated conjoined Tengu twins born to parents from the Sodden Lands while still together in one egg, helped patients of various draconic ancestries from Andoran look "more like imposing dragons" ("for a very small price", she makes sure to add, looking somewhat hopefully at her current patients) and has recently helped a wealthy patient from a noble background in Osirion with a "very nasty" skin condition. "Bandages everywhere! You can't imagine!"
The Blakros Museum is a basalt building located in the Wise Quarter, a district known as a center of learning with streets thronged by students, professors, and government officials. As you near the museum, you feel a sense of unease growing as wind starts to whip down the street.
Turning the corner, you see the cause for your unease. An unnatural storm spirals around Blakros Museum, battering the building with torrential rain and a barrage of lightning that strikes just outside the doors and windows. The gardens around the building are aflame, burning despite the deluge. Crowds flee the deadly storm in a panicked, chaotic stampede of tears and screams.
yells a man in the crowd. Several guards are wincing as if they are being beaten as they hunch over women, children and the elderly. The rain clangorously beating off of their metal armor.
As you approach closer, you start to feel the rain as well. It is hitting you with the force of a fist and leaving welts and bruises on your bodies.
As you start to make towards the throngs of people and the Museum entrance, a man runs out from the Museum. "Hellll..." The man appears to be yelling, but his voice is barely audible over the roar of the storm. The heavy wind at his back makes it hard for him to control his movements, and he’s tossed into and trampled by the stampeding crowd, sustaining an injury to his leg in the process. He will likely die if nothing is done.
Tris and Anhaku follow Îshmåël.
While on the move, Anhaku is trying to direct the crowd and stop anyone else from getting hurt.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Fear not! For the light of the Lady of Valor will guide you to safety! Steel yourselves against that most insidious of feelings, despair! None must suffer if each..." Someone bumps into the winged helmet and sends her spinning for a short moment. "...right... GET OUT OF THE JINGH-FORSAKEN RAIN AND YOU'LL BE FINE. WE'LL TAKE CARE OF THIS!"
The group aims to help the man on the ground as Anhaku tries to calm the crowds, but the relentless rain just causes them to avoid you, slipping and tripping over themselves.
Crowds of citizens stampede away from the area in fear. To get through the crowd, you must attempt one of the following skill checks: a DC 16 Perception check to spot a path through the crowd, a DC 16 Diplomacy check to calm the crowd, or a DC 15 Intimidation check to scare the crowd into parting.
Critical Success - The PC makes it through the crowd unharmed, and any PCs who rolled a critical failure receive the results of a failure instead.
Success - The PC makes it through the crowd unharmed.
Failure - The PC makes it past the obstacle but is trampled by the crowd, taking 1d6 bludgeoning damage.
Critical Failure - The PC is trampled by the crowd, taking 1d6 bludgeoning damage. The PC must try again to make it through the obstacle on the following round.
Round 1!
---
Ishmael @ 25/26 HP
Rorlu @ 14/15 HP
Velo @ 25/25 HP
Tris @ 19/20 HP
Anhaku @ 19/20 HP - Made It Through the Crowds!
Bustral @ 21/22 HP
Jeremiah @ 14/15 HP
As the group presses onwards through the crowd, Velo takes flight and leaps over the group, wings outstretched. The rest of the party makes it through, but Jeremiah and Rorlu get jostled by the crowds!
As you get closer to the man, the throngs of people have made haste away from the locus of the unnatural storm and you are being battered by the winds!
The fallen man from the Blakros Museum's leg is much more gruesome as you approach, twisted at the wrong angle and the lower leg bones sticking out of his calf. The brutal rain continues to beat him down and you can tell that he is running on fumes at this point, ready to pass out from pain. "Help... me..." you hear weakly over the din of the storm.
Round 2
---
Ishmael @ 24/26 HP
Rorlu @ 9/15 HP
Velo @ 25/25 HP
Tris @ 18/20 HP
Anhaku @ 18/20 HP
Bustral @ 20/22 HP
Jeremiah @ 9/15 HP
Fallen Man - 2 rounds left to save him!
As Tris is making no progress at all, merely hanging on for dear life while cursing like a tiny sailor in
Anhaku fails to control her flight, slamming headlong into the face of a statue of Hamaria Blakros. This interrupts Tris' endless litany of very dirty-sounding Sakvroth words. The gnome giggles gleefully for a moment, remembering to hold on just in time and immediately returns to swearing in
As Tris' short legs sprint to the next safe-ish looking spot in just the right moment, Anhaku unfolds her wings and tries to soar.