As Luurg leads the group onward, you pass through several halls containing numerous alcoves that hold human remains ranging from 300 to 800 years old. In many cases, the only remnants are the skulls carefully arranged on shelves. Several dozen other bodies were interred whole, and the perpetually chilly catacombs have dramatically slowed decomposition such that many of the bodies still have some skin and hair remaining.
As Luurg leads you up the northern set of stairs, you come to an area much like the corridors you just passed through. However, all that's left of the remains that were stored in this area are smashed fragments. From here, the sound of battle further into the catacombs echoes off the chamber walls, pierced with the intermittent sound of a roaring beast.
Just as the latest of these roars resounds through the catacombs, a figure, dressed in tattered Ulfen garb and wielding a menacing axe, steps out of the shadows ahead of you. As he steps into the eerie half light, you see that the figure is that of a man whose neck ends in a mangled, tattered stump. The figure reaches up and tears at a loose piece of flesh hanging from its wound, and a gurgled voice cries out in pain and fury, "Die....beast...." The figure raises its axe and moves toward you!
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"Well, this isn't gruesome." Sheela quips sarcastically.
Watching the probable king, she shrugs. "And neither is this. The king, I presume?"
Sheela shrugs and begins cast Summon Monster 2 to summon Flamie, the small Fire Elemental.
The Unseen Servant continues to follow her, still holding the wand of Burning Hands. Sheela still holds her wand of Cure Light Wounds.
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"Oh my gosh, are you actually going for the no-head look? Like, how are you supposed to gain any favors when you can't even smile?" Tiffany folds her arms together. "That's not gonna work!"
She performs what might pass for a divine gesture, yet it somehow involves fluffing up her sparkly purple coat. "Hey Luurg, how about the strength of a bull to help you take Sir No Head down?"
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Thanks. That was brutal, but we triumphed! Great job, team!
He finishes with wand. But the wound is deep, and drew more than blood I am afraid.
***
He stares at the headless barbarian approaches.
Oh no...now what? And how in the blazes can it even see?
Luurg, buddy, this has "you" written all over it.
Once again, Sheela begins to call upon external forces to aid in the fight. Spackle, on the other hand, begins to sing to inspire the allies around there with him.
The undead king walks deliberately toward Luurg, raises his axe, and lets out a long croak of a moan as he strikes.
Tiffany tries to increase Luurg's strength by calling on her connection to nature, but the spirit haunting Frostbreach still gives him a deep aversion to the spell, and he resists the intended benefit.
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Luurg's body makes a sickening sloosh as the axe rips through fat and muscle as he lets out a painful moan "OOwwwiieee dat axe real big n sharp." He squints his eyes and concentrates a bit, the axe cut sealing shut a little bit.
Luurg lunges forward with leafy hoping to return the favor.
You Be Goblin Whelp: Happy Beat (1/2): When you are hit by an attack, you can check one of this badge's boxes to gain DR5/- against that attack.
Luurg shrugs off part of the attack, but the pain still throws off his aim, and his attack goes wide of the mark.
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Sheela's spell completes and Flamie, the small Fire Elemental appears!
It begins trying to smash the undead thing immediately.
Sheela takes a step back. "Well, I can't exactly reach back there. So I'll summon something smaller to help out."
Sheela begins casting Summon Monster I to summon Princess Sparkletrot, the Celestial Pony
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Watching Luurg have the worst day of his life continues to be painful to watch. "C'mon now, let's try 'n finish this up an' get the lad some proper help." The bard hopes that the undead has few other options to attack with as he magically coats the axe with grease.
Omar steps to the south and just misses with his attack, as does Flamie. This foe is a mighty one indeed!
Spackle aims to help make the foe a bit less mighty, though, as he weaves a song of grease dripping off of steaks and bacon and all sorts of delicious halfling-y things! A coating of grease appears all along the haft of the undead king's axe...
But he manages to hold on to the weapon. In his time, the axe was often drenched with the blood of his enemies, but he never let the weapon go.
That remains true now as well, as the king takes a step back and displays his awesome power with two deadly strokes of his axe, directed at Flamie the Unfortunate. With just the first strike, the elemental gutters out and fizzles.
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"Wow. Okay then." Sheela finishes casting, and Princess Sparkletrot, the Celestial Pony appears.
Princess Sparkletrot bears down on the undead king.
Sheela takes the opportunity to exchange wands with her Unseen Servant, so she is now holding onto the wand of Burning Hands while it holds the Cure Light Wounds stick.
Both of Princess Sparkeltrot's hooves fail to connect with Alvard, and he scoffs at the summoned beast. This provides an opening for Luurg to jam his spear into the king's side, however. The undead warrior turns toward Luurg and croaks at him through his bleeding throat, "Your tooth has grown dull, beast! I slayed you once before and became king in the land. You will die again and give me peace!"
Strangely, the spear wound does not seem as deep as Luurg would have expected!
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I know what you mean, Luurg. I was sure I would have made a dent.
Omar figures it might be better to aid the party rather than swing again.
He starts a rousing song, trying to get more to join his bloodrage.
"No one knows what it's like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫
No one knows what it's like
To be hated
To be fated
To telling only lies ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫
♪♫♪♫ ♪♫
Inspired Rage (Su) At 1st level, affected allies gain a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +2 morale bonus on Will saving throws, but also take a –1 penalty to AC. While under the effects of inspired rage, allies other than the skald cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration.
Note: Each willing participant also gains *SCENT* and *2xCLAW* attacks(d6)
Omar begins to sing again to inspire fury in his allies once again, while Tiffany follows Sheela's lead and begins calling on an otherworldly friend of her own.
Spackle, on the other hand, tries once again to force the weapon out of the beheaded king's hands with another layer of grease.
This time, the weapon grows just too slippery, and the king loses his grip on it!
In his fury for this affront, the king heedlessly pursues the halfling and brings down a powerful fist to strike him.
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Princess Sparkletrot pursues, filled with rage and courage!
Meanwhile, Sheela frowns as he closes in. "Well, that's too close to use this wand. Back to summoning!"
Sheela casts Summon Monster 2 to call Queen Rainbowprances, the Celestial Horse again!
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Luurg's gotten mad. He's not 100% sure why Omar makes him so mad, but he's mad. As the headless king moves past him he tries again to bury Leafy up into the man's keester.
Luurg watches the King drop his axe. He looks at the axe. Thinks about it. Then reaches down and picks up the axe. Luurg drops leafy and swings that big ole axe at the king... Luurg not used one of deez in long time!
Luurg stabs Leafy into the king once again as he rushes past. Yet again, the undead warrior shrugs off part of the blow. With Omar's song in his ears, this is more than Luurg can take, and he puts himself at risk by throwing down his trusty spear and picking up the king's might Butchering Axe!
As Luurg reaches for the axe, the king realizes his mistake, and lashes out in anger at the half-orc.
His aim is still off, though, perhaps due to the grease covering his hands and arms.
Luurg reels back with the massive axe, and brings it down on the king, seeking vengeance for the harm he has suffered. The axe bites deeply into the king's shoulder, and the warrior seems truly wounded by the attack!
Tiffany concludes her spell, and a snake begins to materialize out of the aether, foot by terrifying foot. The grippli ensnares the beheaded king in a net and distracts him from the threats appearing all around him, but the snake is still unable to penetrate his armor.
Omar takes a swing at the king as he moves to attack Spackle, but is just too slow, and the king moves beyond the reach of his weapon before he can land the attack. Once the undead horror stops moving, though, Omar is able to reposition himself and land a telling strike on it.
Spackle the small, but distinctly gnomish bard continues his singing to inspire his allies in the ongoing fight!
The beheaded king finally realizes his mistake in not picking up his weapon again after Spackle disarmed him, so he turns to retrieve the axe from the half-orc who just used it to carve a slice out of him. In the attempt he tries to swing through and catch Princess Sparkletrot as well.
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Luurg watches the fist bang off his breastplate, his body starts to shudder, and epic tsunami created across his fat. The aftershocks and miniquakes last for days. "Hehe look at that flubber fly!" He lashes out with the overgrown axe in a much better mood than earlier.
One of those untimely aftershocks throws off his aim as the axe misses its target. "DOH!"
A hail of hooves, fangs, spells, and weapons fly at the beheaded king, but only a few blows fall on him.
Princess Sparkletrot is unable to land a blow on the the king, but Queen Rainbowprances makes another appearance and lands two punishing blows on him.
Luurg swings the mighty axe once again, but fails to connect.
Spackle once again hurls a ball of flame at the king, and the fire rushes around him, but the king laughs off the flames. "Your breath is foul, beast, but not bad enough to harm me," he croaks through his severed throat.
Tiffany follows up fire with ice, and strikes him. The snowball chills the corpse to its bones. As Tiffany hurls the snowball, her constrictor friend lashes out at the king with its fangs. The serpent bites the undead warrior deeply, but much of the wound is resisted.
Finally, Omar brings his bec de corbin high overhead and slams it down on the king again.
After the constant stream of attacks, Omar's hammer completely crushes the king!
As the king falls, he lets out a final croak of fury and defeat, "...cannot rest. Dragon..."
by some supernatural affliction
From further within the catacombs, you hear the sounds of battle continue even as your own fight comes to a close.
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Luurg nods as Omar mentions the axe, it hasn't left his grip and it doesn't look like it will any time soon either. Luurg bends over to retrieve Leafy when he gets goosed in the rear. Luurg feels the magic attack his soul and he fights it as best he can.
"HEY! Stop magikin' Luurg wid yer magik sticks! Luurg need few minutes, fix up real gud." He plops down and takes out a dirty cloth bundle and starts treating his wounds the best he knows how.. the old fashioned way. "Luurg real good med'cin man."
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"Thank you for your help, once again." Queen Rainbowprances and Princess Sparkletrot move up to Sheela to receive her thanks before running off together back home.
"Huh?" Spackle's accent confuses Sheela for a bit. "Do you mean he's cursed or something? He wouldn't be the first." She huffs. "Who is fighting in here, anyway? More undead? Ugh." She holds onto her wand of Burning Hands.
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Luurg smiles and puts away his med'cin kit, most of his wounds are stitched up nicely between his work and the unauthorized magical attack by Omar. Luurg points his finger at him and waggles his finger 'no more!'.
He approaches the battle with all the silence and stealth of an obese cat wielding an oversized great axe.
Luurg leads the way further into the catacombs, the very model of stealth, and soon rounds a bend to his right that opens up into a chamber. The noise in this chamber is ear-splitting, as an ethereal woman and an enormous serpentine dragon are locked in combat, each countering the other's strikes. The beast briefly looks toward the chamber's entrance with curiosity, and the woman takes advantage of its distraction to tear its throat open with her axe. The dragon rears back in pain and sinks into the floor, but the warrior's apparition remains.
The woman stands panting and leaning on her axe for a moment, then turns to look at what drew her foe's attention away for the crucial moment that ended the fight. She spots you all gathered at the entrance, watching her, and nods toward you. "Thank you, strangers," she says breathlessly, "The beast took longer to slay than usual that time. I must be getting rusty." A coy smile crosses her lips as she enjoys some private joke with herself.
"Tell me, what has brought you to these caves? Did the villagers send you on a quest to quell the spirit of the fearsome Jarlsblood Witch?" Her smile falters, and she almost stumbles as her axe loses balance beneath her.
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Sheela looks around a bit. "Be careful! Maybe you've been cursed more than Luurg and I."
"We were sent here to discover the truth about the supposed witch, Kolvi. I suppose that's you, whom used that axe to kill the king. He's still bitter about that beheading, by the way."
"We met a few protectors of the forest, Olissara and Moss-on-South-Trees. They told us the king made a deal to hunt a Linworm, but broke his promise. And when you came to broker piece, he attacked. So Moss-on-South-Trees buried them in a snowstorm and you chopped off his head."
She looks at Luurg. "Was it with this axe? We'd be happy to return it if it's yours. Also, please remove this curse if you can."