"Make her stop! Make her stop!!" cries Clareg covering his ears.
As Clareg and Hru fall back, I growl in frustration. No plan survives battle. Deciding it is time to be more proactive, I cast enlarge upon myself, irritated at having to use the spell twice and then I attack.
My first attack misses as the thing rolls and I strike the floor, sending off massive sparks from the impact.
I try again and this time I connect.
Hru and Clareg are out of commission . The wailing woman, now facing three giants and what she perceives to be a devious dark elf, decides to retreat back to the safety of the room. She does not return all the way to the well but slips around the corner, out of range but able to attack anyone who enters the room.
"She is after gettin' smarter," I say to Rellios.
"Shall we be chasin' 'er or should we be waitin da ya think?"
"I hate to attack at less than full strength, but if we want to end this quick before she recovers it looks like we'll have to take a chance."
"I hate to attack at less than full strength, but if we want to end this quick before she recovers it looks like we'll have to take a chance."
Not a chance to sneak in. She's waiting for you around the corner. You can hear her hissing angrily from where you stand.
"Well, let's be gettin' 'er afore our work thus far is wasted. Give me a moment..."
I cast Mage Armor, and Magic Weapon and then move to attack her using my greater reach to smash my hammer around the side of the door.
Attacking with a big hammer: (1d20+3+1=14)
If I can draw her out and back into the room I do so.
Hru backs up as far as he can stoppering his ears with his hands, after half a minute he regains his composure and calls on Gorum's aid. "Gorum aid your chosen!"
With a set jaw and a look of determination across his bestial features he starts toward the room again
If she attacks Klyndak, then Rellios will take a shot from behind. Otherwise he'll followup the dwarf and also make a strike.
Spear (1d20+5=20)
Damage (1d6+3=4) Sneak Attack (if applicable) (2d6=9)
As Klyndak enters the room, she leaps out of her 'hiding' place and slashes him across the neck with one hand but misses with the other.
Rellios, attempting to get past her must pass within reach but she does not manage to sink her claws into him.
Clareg, seeing Klyndak attacked, rushes forward and lands a solid attack with his axe.
Rellios takes advantage of his new position to strike the cold hag from behind while she attacks Klyndak. Spear (1d20+5+2=22)
Damage (1d6+3=7) Sneak Attack (2d6=10)
With the elf having moved into a flanking position, I take a step back, away from the foul creature, trusting in my longer reach to keep me in range.
My arcane hammer falls towards her.
Flanking attack: (1d20+3+2+1=22)
Large hammer damage: (2d6+4+1=13)
Between Rellios and Klyndak, ding-dong the witch is dead.
"Hru," I say, "She ain't after movin' fer the day. Some o' us are after bein' injured. Do ya think there may be any way fer ye ta be layin' this poor soul to rest. I be thinkin' she was after bein' 'orribly abused, likely by a wretched family member. It is 'e that she is wantin' though I would be guessin' 'e is dead or worse."
Then I proceed to use my arcane powers to lift the gems out of the well, one at a time.
Hru looks a little abashed at the cowering fit, but mutters a quick prayer to Gorum. " Iron Lord, make fit this warrior so he may return to battle again" as he lays hands on the dwarf.
As a small part of my pain leaves me I acknowledge Hru's contribution with a nod of my head.
wnad of clw (1d8+1=4)
ANother clw for Klyndak (1d8+1=4)
Hru takes the healing wand out and attempts to restore Klyndak to battle-readiness with a chuckle "She likes you.."
"I'm beginning to think that maybe cutting the chain (if its possible) would be a good way of keep her in that well."
Rellios will proceed to search this area and the two other empty rooms for anything unusual or hidden. If no one minds, I'll take twenty to do the search while Klyndak is fishing gems and bones from the well.
The rooms to the right and the left remain much as they were last time you were down here. The one to the right (the NorthEast) contains the remnants of various picks and shovels. The one to the left (the SouthWest) is currently empty. The difference visible now is in the main room where you have just had a fight. There is an opening in the western corner of the main room. It almost appears as if the corner has been opened with picks of some sort. Rubble is strewn around the floor in this corner.
Klyndak is able to lift another 10 garnets out of the well. I'm not sure who is keeping track of your treasure, but that makes 40x50gp in garnets total.
Are you going to raise the bones of the Dwarven Princeling as well?
Are you going to raise the bones of the Dwarven Princeling as well?
"That be ten o' these pretty stones fer each of us," I say and make sure they are divided amongst us equally.
"Any ideas lads about what be makin' that there hole?"
"Chill me 'eart. Tappers. I think we got some tappers," says Clareg. Turning to the half-orc and the elf he explains "Undead dwarves come back to find the gems and gold they still 'unger for. The greed for gold brings 'em back from the grave and they tap away in the mines they knew in life ..."
Clareg shudders and grows silent.
"I 'ope not," I say to Clareg, trying not to shudder, "I 'ate undead. I was after 'opin' it were just an Umber 'ulk or the like."
"Do we go in the hole, then?" Is there room for all of us?
Rellios will examine the hole for further details, cautiously mind you.
"It would be bein' much more convenient if they were after comin' ta us," I say.
But I move behind Rellios, my Warhammer at the ready.
Hru takes Clareg's words in, as he prepares to follow the elf and dwarf into whatever mayhem lies ahead.
"Do we go in the hole, then?" Is there room for all of us?
Rellios will examine the hole for further details, cautiously mind you.
The hole is only wide enough to allow you to walk single file. Rellios can hear the sound of metal scraping stone echoing down the hole.
"Should the priest be goin' in first?"
After Hru digests Claregs words, he pipes up "Wait maybe I should go first. If it is one of the unclean spirits that seem to populate your ancestral halls, perhaps and can fend it off with the might of Gorum, and if not than I test my blade on a neck of flesh and blood!"
Metal scrapping stone... Rellios allows the cleric to pass first. "Do you think this might have something to do with the room we haven't entered yet? That's the same noise I heard from behind the doors..."
It would seem to be the same sound just without being muffled by the doors.
Hru steps carefully over rubble, down twisting paths, towards the scraping noise. In the tunnel ahead, a fire burns. It takes a second to register the shape that surrounds the fire. The fire burns from within a metallic beast with two eyes and wicked mouth and another gaping maw in its belly. With arms like picks, it scrapes away at the rock from which the spire is built and picks up pieces and throws them into its fiery belly.
"A scanderig!!" cries Clareg "... I always figured at them bein' bigger than that..."
Hearing Clareg's words and seeing the red outline of the creature just past Clareg and Hru, I lift my hammer and point. Two streaks of glowing red arcane energy fly from it to strike the thing.
Hru bellows "Gorum, AID ME!!" and rushes the creature with an angry growl!
Rage: attack +1BaB+5STR = +6 damge +5 str +2 HP -2 AC = 14 (1d20+6=10, 2d6+5=9)
The creature shrugs off the half-orc's attack and responds by lurching forward trying to bite with its gaping belly-maw and slash with its pickaxe-like claws. Only one claw manages to hit.
"Lumbering half-orc! I can't get past 'im to take a swing!" complains Clareg before remembering that Hru can hear him. Clareg then calls out supportively, "Uh, ... try to 'it 'im! Knock its fool 'ead off!"
"Rellios, be backin' out. We can be doin' naught but blockin' their retreat!"
And as I wait for the elf to move back out of my way. I draw upon the energies of my warhammer and power two more glowing missiles around my comrades and into the face of the creature.
Rellios quickly backs out of the tunnel.
"Get out of there, fellas! Get out of here where we can take a better shot."
Rellios will then turn off to the side of opening - waiting for others to pass by. Hopefully, the beast will charge out and he can jump it from behind.
Rellios quickly backs out of the tunnel.
"Get out of there, fellas! Get out of here where we can take a better shot."
Rellios will then turn off to the side of opening - waiting for others to pass by. Hopefully, the beast will charge out and he can jump it from behind.
Rellios gets himself out of the bottleneck into a side tunnel. The tunnel continues up and around a bit.
Hru attacks again, a gutteral snarl replacing his normal battle cry of "Gorum!"
rage: attack, damage (1d20+6=12, 2d6+5=14)
As the elf backs up, so do I.
Moving past the side tunnel he has chosen for himself, I move into the sauna room with the idea of seeing if I can move around behind the creature through the other room.
Clareg slips in front as Hru backs up. Swinging his waraxe he cuts a hole in the castiron body of the creature.
"This'll be the stuff of legend!" he mutters grinning.
The creature slashes back at Clareg cutting him deeply.