Yeah, I opted for more heals, seeing as they are so useful and the other spells leave me a little meh.
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"Don't fret, we are not leaving you with them," Shaserai addresses the halfling, "Yet." After having settled the charau-ka and checked that the magically induced unconsciousness hadn't had a visibly negative effect. "Don't be hasty my friend, our warriors are injured and I cannot channel more of Torag's divine healing for today. We should rest and tomorrow finish up exploring the basement, hopefully finding Alak's ring in the process." The priest settles in and takes out his rations, and saving a little for the next day, offers to share the rest with the goblins, if they need. "I'm up for taking first watch, once we're ready to rest."
"Good idea on getting the tribe to help, we can only hope that Mazmord is ready to let Highness take over, or alternatively, is amenable to grant us their help." As they get to the courtyard the priest looks up and gives a little wave to the goblins, but for the moment says nothing, letting Highness take the lead in this matter.
Happy new year! We should take shifts as night watch, so we don't get any surprises and also to keep an eye on the prisoners.
We could take the goblins up to the tribe and go back to the citadel jail and see if we can keep calmont and the charau-ka we subdued there while we rest and explore the last wing of the basement.
As Ragna deals with Pib and Zarf, Shaserai wraps us the healing on the goblins. He turn to the half-elf and listens intently as he cleans up.
So many criticals... I supposed battle medicine can be used outside of combat, if not, the recovery part would be only dealing 1 damage.
As soon as Highness relays his words to the gathered goblins Shaserai gets to work. He first treats any open wounds he finds, and then applies the appropriate salves and cataplasms. As he dispenses his remedies, he keeps an ear on the conversation, even if he doesn't really understand anything. The distraction makes him slip as he's cleaning one of the goblin's injuries, but he recovers admirably with some quick bandaging and medication. When he hears the names "Pib" and "Zarf" as the goblin Highness is interrogating points to the makeshift tents he looks up. "Warbal tolf us Pib and Zarf would be here, are they okay?"
Seeing the poor goblins all battered tugs at the priest's healer instincts, so he crouches down beside Ragna and trying to look as nonthreatening as possible he asks Highness for help. "Can you tell them I can heal them? Nothing scary, just some salves and bandages."
Shaserai takes the black stone figurine and stashes it in his sack, to be appraised of it's magical properties at a later time. As Ragna passes by the priest, he follows the warrior to the decorated door. "Okay, if there's a grauladon in there, it's all yours. Just... please be cautious. I have no more magical healing and your body is still recovering from the last time I had to treat your injuries in a hurry. "
"I agree, we still have a portion of this floor to search, and presumably Pib and Zarf are still here somewhere." The priest lets Ragna and Jonagher deal with Calmont and starts for the other room. "One of the boggards had some magic on them, I'll go investigate while you finish here."
"Something tells me they are not looking for the same ring. Alseta... where I've heard that name before..." The priest mulls it over, until he finally recalls one of the lessons on non dwarven pantheons his father taught him as part of his priestly training. "Alseta is a liminal deity, a minor goddess who presides over doorways, portals and thresholds and the changing from one year to the next one." the elf explains "And I very much doubt she is Alak's great uncle or her ring the Stagram signet." He pauses for a moment and then continues, in a pondering tone. "The charau-ka, the boggards, the grauladons, the emperor birds... all come from the Mwangi Expanse, and from what we got out of Zort they used an elf gate in a temple to get here, and they appeared beneath the citadel. Alak do you know if perhaps the hellknights took over and built upon an Alsetan holy site? I think this Alseta's Ring Voz was looking for might be the aiudara that links Isger and the Mwangi Expanse itself and not a jewelry item as you think, Calmont."
A little distracted by the magic on the other room, Shaserai takes a moment to mentally mark it's origin and quickly strides to the other room. Seeing the familiar halfling in the box he takes a moment to place him. "Calmont, isn't he..." He steps up to Jonagher and switching to the elven language he whispers to him. "Remember, Calmont was a person of interest in the arson of the town hall. We'd be wise to be wary." Again in common he agrees with the mage "Yes, there were no sings that the boggards went anywhere, so you had to be pretty close for them to snatch you." The priest looks at any signal that Calmont may try anything untoward, ready to use his last spell to make the halfling drop the the ground.
The boggard's croak awakens a kind of primal fear in Shaserai, but luckily the would be goblin king chases it down and finishes it off. As Ragna and Jonagher hurry into the now deserted room, the priest stands at the door, focusing on his inborn affinity for magic to scan the room.
The priest sees the boggard fall for their trap and attack Ragna, hoping they can put it down before it gets help, he calls on his inner fire. Once his hand is aflame he gestures as menacingly as he can at the frogman and calls out "Death to the cultists!", before lobbing a small fireball at the creature.
As the would be goblin king sings his goblin song, Shaserai grasps his holy symbol of Torag, ready to cast a spell as soon as the boggards arrive.
Hearing what seems like frogmen talking, Shaserai goes back a little down the corridor and warns the others. "I think there are more boggards in that room, let's get ready for another battle." The priest returns to the door and stands behind Ragna, ready to cast protective magics on the warrior.
The priest follows the group and nods at the half-elf's words. "I agree with Jonagher, our primary objective is finding Alak's family ring, anything else we can accomplish is a bonus." As Shaserai advances towards the door with Ragna he cautions her, with a quiet voice. "Also remember I don't have any magical healing left for today, so please be careful." When they arrive at the door at the end of the corridor, he listens attentively to any sound coming from the other side.
As Highness hands him the books Shaserai sees the same symbols on them as in the other Hellknight books, so he passes them along to the wizard. "I neither speak nor read the languages of the lower planes, Ren, you might find something interesting in these... maybe." The priest moves to the door to the next room and opens it cautiously, listening attentively to any sounds on the other side.
Shaserai presses past Ragna and follows Highness into the room previously inhabited by Big Bumble. As he draws near, the stench of the room nearly makes him retch, but he goes inside nonetheless. As Highness is checking the gruesome carnage, the priest mutters a prayer to Torag and then sends out a little pulse of magic, trying to detect the presence of any magical aura nearby.
As Alak puts two closed doors between them and the bear Shaserai lets out a sigh of relief. "Well, we've survived our first bout with Big Bumble.". The priest starts walking out to the main corridor, still looking at the group. "We could try to use the carcasses of those mwangi birds we slew earlier as bait, hopefully it's still hungry and it follows the trail..." the elf nearly trips over Highness as the goblin is hurrying along the corridor, and he stops there.
Shaserai thinks that he much prefers Jonagher's strategy to being mauled by Big Bumble, so after a brief prayer for protection for both he and Highness, he hurries after Ragna.
Not wanting to upset the bear Shaserai retreats slowly, trying not to distract the beast from it's meal. Once safely behind Highness and Ragna, he bolsters the spell protecting the goblin and weaves a shield of force for himself.
"I don't think Big Bumble finds being the tribe's pet to his liking." Shaserai adds his chunk of graudladon meat to the one Jonagher has tossed to the bear, hoping it makes a more appetizing meal than the goblin. Although in case it's not, the priest weaves a spell to protect Highness from Big Bumble.
A little apprehensive at the strike on the door, Shaserai nonetheless wants to help clear the debris. He tries to lift a piece of rubble out of the way before moving behind Ragna and taking the piece of grauladon meat from his satchel. He stands ready to throw it at the bear and appease it's hunger.
At Highness' gesture Shaserai lowers his voice to match the goblin's volume. "That's might be a sensible option." states the priest "We might have to move some of the rubble out of the way first." The elf approaches the northern door and tries to go over the debris and see if the door can be opened without too much work.
Finding runes he can't read carved on the second door, Shaserai takes a step back to let Highness enter the small space. "With a little luck, this room is where they kept the grauladons before they tried to go above ground." The priest takes one of the pieces of grauladon meat and stands at the ready " No reason not to ready though."
As the northern door is blocked by the rubble Shaserai tries to open the door on the western wall.
Momentarily bewildered by the dashing and screaming monkeys Shaserai nods at Ragna's words. "I concur. Our first priority is to rescue the missing Bumblebashers." The priest looks at Alak and with a nod towards him adds, "Next to finding your ring, of course." He steps further into the room, intent on continuing the search "Let's not waste any time."
Feeling the protective magic dissipate with as they vanquish the boggard, Shaserai advances into the room and checks over the goblin. "Are you okay Highness? Did the boggard rough you up?" Once he's certain the would be king is in no worse shape than before, the priest peers around the room looking for more threats.
Being prepared for the horrible sound the boggards are capable of emitting, Shaserai easily shakes off it's influence. He strides past Ren and into the room, stopping behind Alak. As Highness is in the clutches of the frog-man, the priest takes his holy symbol in had and invokes Torag's protection on the goblin, trying to impede the boggard's aggression.
"I hope the others are ready to enter from the other side." Shaserai makes sure that Alak and Ren have his back and with a hand on his holy symbol to be ready to cast, he tries to open the door at the end of the corridor.
As he hears what he presumes is Ragna kicking down the door, and seeing that their patron and the human mage are following him, Shaserai heads down the next corridor.
Shaserai walks out of the room and waits for the others to take the next corridor in line, all the while trying to be silent as Highness had recommended.
We've heard what I suppose is the bear roar, so I don't think we have much time to save Pib and Zarf before they are gobbled up. The nonmagical healing would take 10 minutes each on Ragna and Highness, so I think this is the best compromise. I can still use battle medicine on Highness if necessary once in combat.
Once Zort is unconscious Shaserai hands a length of rope to Jonagher. "Here, could you tie him up? He should be under for some time, but let's make sure he doesn't interfere." "Werrt is a boggard like those two" Shaserai gestures to the dead frogmen. "And he intends to feed your tribesmates to their bear, so if you want Mazmord to aknowledge you as king we should stop him." As they are in a hurry to save the goblins, Shaserai channels the power of Torag and heals Ragna, as she is the most injured. He also rummages through his sack for a moment and hands a vial to both her and Highness. "That was the last of my magical healing for the day, and I can't risk healing you in battle like I did before, Ragna. So take these, they are healing potions." The cleric looks around at the group. "Ready to go?"
Has it been more than an hour since the birds?
The priest touches Ragna's shoulder gingerly. "Don't be hasty Ragna, I think we should keep him alive. If not as mercy to a creature that is no threat to us any longer, then to take him back to Breachill to question him further." Shaserai looks at Zort pensively. "As for him escaping, I think I have a solution for that." The elf takes his holy symbol in hand and with Torag's divine might assaults the mind of the monkey man. "By the power of Torag, you will submit!" He recasts the spell until Zort falls to the ground unconscious. "This should buy us the time to deal with Werrt and rescue the goblins."
Seeing that Ragna has the monkey man well in hand and Highness has started searching around the room, Shaserai returns to the previous room and searches it and the creatures they have felled there. When it seems that Zort's cooperative mood is over the priest offers his rope to Ragna again. "Like I said, we should tie him up and try to find the goblins before Werrt feeds them to Big Bumble."
"They might be trying to feed the goblins to Big Bumble. Warbal said they had their bear down here." Shaserai reminds Ragna. He rummages in his backpack and takes out a length of rope. "I say we tie up Zort and take him with us, rescue the goblins from this Werrt and finish searching for Alak's ring on this floor. Then we can decide what to do about the collapsed stairs... maybe the goblins know another way down?"
"Zort said the gate they came through was in an elven temple in the jungle, and as you say all of the creatures we've fought since the grauladons come from the Mwangi Expanse. So I'd say it all makes sense." The priest looks at the site the boggards were digging "If the rest of them are below us, the arrival gate has to be underground." Shaserai turns to Alak "Did the Hellknights know of this portal?"
Shaserai seems pensive for a moment, then faces the group. "When we first met at the Wizard's Grace I was... evasive on the motive of my journey to Breachill. To be truthful I didn't want you to think I was crazy." He fidgets a little and carries on while toying with one of his braids. "As you've seen I have an innate connection to fire, and that connection has always been strongest in my dreams. Seas of flame consume all while a foreboding presence threatens annihilation. He pauses and gestures to Zort. "I believe the presence that haunts these visions of flame is Dahak, the dragon god of evil and destruction and the entity these "Cinderclaws" seem to serve. Not long ago the dreams became more focused, and now I've seen Breachill burn to the ground, it's people screaming in agony again and again. I fear this Belmazog may have had visions similar to mine, but while I work to avert them they'll stop at nothing to see them become true in the name of their dark god."
After Zort answers Jonagher's questions and mentions an elf gate Shaserai remembers something the monkey man has mentioned before. "You said you used an elf gate to come here. From where? And who are the elves you were afraid had followed you? Also, I don't recall ever hearing of a great dragon so close to Breachill, were you told where it is?"
Concerned that in her agitated state Ragna will disregard the monkey creature's surrender, Shaserai focuses on their newly developed bonds of, if not friendship, at least camaraderie and with a brief prayer to the Forgefather channels his god's magic into the warrior, trying to calm her. "All is fine Ragna, the danger has passed and I need you to lower your weapon and take a deep breath."
Sorry it took so long for me to check in, it's been a hectic week at work with sudden shift changes and I've felt so drained, I've barely done anything that wasn't work or sleep. I can try to counteract the rage with my focus spell soothing words, but what would be the dc?
His confidence a little shaken by the primal sound emitted by one of the boggards, Shaserai moves just until he sees Highness entangled by one of them. Trying to help the goblin, the priest chants a prayer to Torag to addle the mind of the frog creature.
Only 1 away from another crit on Battle Medicine, so close.
The priest looks at the half-elf, "It's your call, Jonagher." Seeing the situation in this room is under control for the moment, Shaserai steps up to Ragna and quickly treats her most pressing wounds. As he works he looks around her and through the destroyed door. Spotting a digging boggard he points at it and with narrowed eyes and a strong voice shouts at it "Don't even think about moving."
Shaserai is starting the incantation for another mental strike when Jonagher manages to communicate with the creature win Draconic, of all things. The priest lets the magical energies of his spell dissipate before they can coalesce and stands by, waiting to see if the half-elf can get any information from the monkey-man.
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