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Hadha repeats his trick and gets the unconscious Lo'laan up the shaft. But the extra delay costs you as rubble continues to fall, striking everyone.
You rush through the sewer and climb slowly up the well but make it back into the marketplace in the dead of night. Serenity the cheetah slinks over and sniffs and licks Lo, her unique bond with him bringing him back to consciousness.
You rush through the tunnels, hearing crumbling and crashing all behind you, carrying Amari's corpse. Then you reach the second shaft that you climbed down, your rope still tied to it.
Shalazat nods quietly and steps back with the others. At first, Zaza fumbles with the spell then a thin green ray springs from her finger and hits the large support column, removing a massive chunk from it. The column falls and the ceiling begins crumbling...
This chamber you are in currently is large with only one column supporting a high ceiling. It would serve.
Even in the dark, Hadha can tell that Amari's spirit has moved on. Jackdaw retrieves the body back to be with the others.
Amari: The old monk nods, smiling. <It is indeed. Come in. It is meal time.> He beckons welcomingly and turns to walk back into the monastery himself.
The drow sneers and begins to retort but then Hadha's ray catches him while Jackdaw runs him through. The sneer frozen on his face, he slumps forward onto the Jackdaw's spear.
Hadha's ray misses! The drow struggles to break free of the entanglement.
He rips himself free and sidesteps slightly.
Jackdaw misses while Hadha lands one ray
but his second ray misses! The angry and desperate drow has no more hostages to exploit. He whirls and jabs his rapier at Jackdaw!
Brave Amari's body falls in the tunnel, bleeding from the neck. The Drow looks to make his escape but a vengeful ray shoots through the darkness. Amari:
You open your eyes to see nothing but blue above you. You blink at the brightness of the sky and look around, finding yourself in the desert. Some distance in front of you, it seems you can make out your old Al-Fahd monastery. Confused, you walk forward and notice some things are different. Gorgeous fig trees and flowers are sprinkled around the monastery. Birds sing throughout the gardens, songs that are comforting and haunting at the same time. Haunting because of how deep inside you they reach. Bees buzz through the garden. The stone itself looks old and new at the same time. Every crack or corner worn by sandstorms comes together to add to the majesty of the edifice. Out of the front arch steps your first mentor, a wise and kind monk of great age. He walks with a spring in his step and a warm smile, his eyes crinkled at the corners. Looking at him, you grow more confused, unsure if he is your age or extremely old. He extends his hand and signs Welcome home.
Hadha surprises the Drow and pins him to the wall. Jackdaw also has a momentary window to seize.
Sorry, Amari. I guess I'm destined to kill your PCs. But this was a noble death and a sacrifice Amari chose. I'll update more later. We'll see if you are avenged.
GM screen:
As Amari tries to twist out of the way, the Drow stabs him in the neck! Perhaps the doughty monk can withstand the blow?
The Drow leads Amari back down the tunnel with the rapier point pressed to Amari's throat. He heads around one corner with the monk then another into pitch blackness, leading the human slowly and warning him not to stumble on an uneven step from time to time.
The drow nods. "Fine. You will be my hostage." He draws a knife and holds it to Zaza's throat and holds out his rapier. "Bring your throat to my blade and I will step away from your friend. You and I will head back into the tunnel."
The drow eyes Jackdaw warily but doesn't like his offer or Hadha's poor attempt at assistance. "No. I'll drag her with me into the tunnel then leave her when I feel safe enough. How about that!?" He keeps his rapier right on Zaza's throat.
The Drow's eyes narrow at Amari's question and he sneers but keeps his rapier close to Zaza's throat. "Isn't it obvious, desert-peasant? The weaker your nations become, the easier it will be for us to rise up and take what we want."
GM screen:
The drow does not notice Jackdaw's threat as he again repeats his threat. "Stay back or I will kill her!"
Jackdaw: Yes I'm ok with that if you guys keep him talking in the meantime. I'll roll opposed perception and if he notices you start to move, he might CDG before you move, as readied actions do.
The drow 5 ft stepped out of Amari's reach so no, he doesn't provoke from you. You can try to rush toward him but you're pretty sure that would trigger his readied action.
Amari and Jackdaw finish off one of the drow with a blow to the other. At the same time, Shalazat strikes the drow spellcaster multiple times with her blade, dropping him to the ground. The last remaining drow snarls at you and steps over to the sleeping Zaza, his blade pointed immediately at her neck. "Stand back or she dies, now!"
Some reasoning:
GM screen:
Amari lands one of his shots while Jackdaw lands a jab with his spear and Hadha misses once. Suddenly, the drow leader tumbles away from Shalazat and fires a spell at Jackdaw, Amari, and Hadha, lances of fire shooting out and striking into you (17 fire damage each as the scorching rays hit you). Shalazat responds quickly by throwing a dagger that strikes one of the drow and manages to luckily deflect off it into another. The dagger continues zipping around the room with incredible speed, striking three drow and downing one of them, before returning to her hand (startoss shower) then she steps to engage with the drow leader once more, spells and blades flashing back and forth between the two. The remaining drow try to recover from their wounds and step around Amari to jab at him, each striking at him twice, but the monk dodges every attack!
Lo'laan and Zaza have fallen. Agaban does what he can to help but his resources are low and he misses with his crossbow. But Amari, Hadha, and Jackdaw all lash out with disciplined fury, finishing off two of the drow and wounding a third (orange). GM screen:
Seeing Amari launch three deadly arrows, the drow converge on him to attack. Two miss the wily monk but a third lands a small scratch on him (2 dam). The monk begins feeling tired but his training lies deep inside him and he refuses to be fatigued, shaking off the poison (I rolled 14 for his save against DC 13).
Jackdaw, Amari, and Hadha all land solid strikes. Zaza moves forward and tries to trip one of the drow while protecting the fallen Lo'laan.
But the drow warrior shrugs off her whip. The drow leader and Shalazat continue to exchange angry, rapid flashes of spells and weapon blows. You and the drow soldiers seem to have agreed it is wiser to give them space. The drow next to Amari sees Amari has no melee weapon drawn and fires point blank at him (provoking from Amari's feet). The drow on his other side drops his crossbow and draws a rapier. The other three drow all drop their bows and rush forward to thrust at Zaza. GM screen:
Amari is missed but Hadha is struck with the rapier lightly (2 dam) but feels the poison coursing through him. He manages to throw it off, however (botted a 21 save). Zaza is struck three times but strikes one of the drow as he moves to flank her. But she succumbs to the poisoned rapiers as well.
Ok Z. Thanks for the clarification. I'll bot you along.
Zaza moves up behind Lo'Laan and prepares to help trip a drow who comes within her whip's reach while maintaining her song.
GM screen:
Amari and Hadha miss but Lo'laan strikes a solid blow while the Jackdaw recovers from the poisoned bolts. But instead of charging in, the wily drow reposition and level their crossbows at Lo'Laan, who has moved to the front, making himself a target. They pepper him with crossbow bolts but get rather unlucky aside from one hard shot. The damage is not too serious but he begins to feel drowsy...
Ah sorry to hear that.
I think it's still Zaza, who has major life stuff, that we're waiting on. I'll just have to bot her again later today and will start botting her faster.
Still here. I just don't want to bot a large section of the party in the final battle of the campaign.
Agaban rushes over to Jackdaw and casts delay poison.
If someone has remove poison, delay poison, self-perfection variant channel, etc, they can wake Jackdaw up. We can say there's a 50% chance Agaban prepped delay poison in one of his 2nd level slots, as well. Jackdaw can try for that 51+ roll here in discussion if he likes.
Zaza begins inspiring her allies to great deeds.
The one drow aware of the threat launches a shaft at the only clear target he has, Jackdaw. GM screen:
Jackdaw is hit and begins to feel drowsy! Jackdaw:
Save Fort DC 13; frequency 1/minute for 2 minutes; initial effect unconsciousness for 1 minute; secondary effect unconsciousness for 2d4 hours; cure 1 save.
Ok I was reaching that conclusion, Zaza. Thanks for piping up. Will do as soon as I get a chance.
This is the climactic battle so I'm willing to wait for Zaza to be ready to resume posting. Or I'll bot an action she requests if she gets a chance to check.
GM screen:
As you sneak forward, a figure steps from the Shadows. It is Shalazat, your Shadows handler! She raises a finger to her mouth, signalling to maintain silence. She sneaks forward with you until you come to a larger opening cavern. The cavern is very dark and those without darkvision can't see much. But those whose eyes can penetrate the shadows see Drow standing guard while a Drow with an odd staff reads from a book (purple). One of them (orange) snaps his head around, noticing you!
Shalazat disappears then reappears next to the lead drow!
Jackdaw spies a small buckle that seems to have fallen off a bag in the corner against the wall. DC 18 K local: The buckle appears to be of Drow make, based on your earlier experience with Drow.
After Jackdaw weakens it, Lo'Laan finishes off the last of the strange creatures of the Darklands with a mighty blow.
You stop to catch your breath and heal your wounds, if necessary. Then decide where to go next.
Jackdaw stabs the grick but heroically it fights on!
A blast from Hadha kills another of the gricks and the last remaining grick tries valiantly to defend its home territory. Their nest had colonized this new place a while ago, force out from the depths by far worse foes full of teeth and terrifying magic. What joy had overtaken them when they had found a safer place to incubate their eggs! But now these strangers had come, slaying his brothers, sisters, and cousins with great speed and absolute refusal to grant quarter. His sister had frantically signaled for peace but they ignored her Aklo tentacle sign language. Perhaps they did not understand it? No... surely they did... If anything, they had redoubled their ferocious attack when she pleaded for mercy... His family was dead and all he could hope to do was join them with honor... GM screen:
He flung his beak at the nearest attacker and followed up with a masterful sequence of flailing tentacles. But she dodged every last sliver of hope he threw at her... Surely the end was near now...
No worries. Thanks for the heads up, Z.
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