Gashelle is not so devoted to mycology as is the druid. She draws her glaive through the lichens and molds, checking the floors, walls, ceilings (yes, ceilings), and surfaces of every single piece of furniture in the room.
As soon as she runs into her second bump in the floor, she'll quietly cast Detect Magic.
She looks at Tristan, and at the footprints we're leaving in everything. Good luck hiding in this stuff. But at least any fleeing enemy will be easy to track...
The half-elf moves to the south wall of the room. Do we have any idea where the sound is coming from?
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The noise is steady and continuous and seems to issue from the southern tunnel. It doesn't seem to be moving closer or further away.
As Gashelle moves towards the southern wall a number of the bumps rise up revealing hideous creatures of bone dripping with slime. Towards the northern wall a hulking 8 foot tall creature rises whilst from amongst the bunks three much smaller beings move towards you.
Combat positions start round one
Small creature 1 gets initiative of 23.
Sasha gets initiative of 22.
Gashelle gets initiative of 21.
Small creature 2 gets initiative of 17
Small creature 3 gets initiative of 16.
Large creature gets initiative of 14.
Tristan gets initiative of 13.
Avinar gets initiative of 6.
Eltariel gets initiative of 4.
The first small slime thing moves towards Tristan(G7) and slashes at him with its claws missing wildly. Sasha brings his heavenly fire down on the hulking slime creature for 5 points of damage.
Gashelle you're up.
Okay, this is freaky.
Gashelle isn't sure how well her blade would do against a creature without flesh to cut. She desperately casts Disrupt Undead. She would hit a touch AC of 15. If it's undead, it would take 3 points of damage.
"Wh- who has the H- Holy Water?"
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Freaky??...its supposed to be :-}
I'm assuming your casting at the closest opponent.
The bolt of radiant energy impacts solidly with the closest small creature seriously damaging it. In response it closes with Gashelle(D6) and rakes at her with its claws which rattle off her armour.
The third small creature attacks Eltariel(F6) but it's attempt is also ineffective.
The larger creature has difficulty squeezing past the bunks and ends the turn in I 5-6. However its longer reach still allows it to attack Avinar and once again the things claws fail to pierce armour
"Close with that big bastard," I say to Avinar and Tristan, Wand in hand, "I'll deal with the small fry."
Tristan tumbles away from the foe attacking him. Then he moves to the large creature and flanks with Avinar if possible and attacks.
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Avinar takes a five foot step to his left and engages the large creature which seems to be wearing a chain shirt...his blade flashes out and connects hard with the bones shattering them.....
Tristan is unable to find a flanking position though he does avoid the claws of the smaller creature as he tumbles away
I sidestep the thing approaching me and turn to encompass all of the smaller fungus-skeletons in the arc of fire from the wand and let loose a wash of fire that catches all of them.
Gashelle is concerned. The critter is clearly undead, but the spell didn't do enough damage, and now it's too close to --
I let loose a wash of fire that catches all of them.
"Ghah! T- too close!"
Was that her outside voice?
"We're g- good."
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Tristan: yes the 10 attack scrapes over the things armour. In fact now that I think about it the holy fire from Sasha would have burnt all the slime off the thing and you can see that it is just an animated ogre skeleton..now looking somewhat the worse for wear
Eltariel: you got the position of the small skeletons slightly wrong and would only be able to take two off them into any arc. As it is those two the ones attacking you and Gashelle are blasted into burnt bone by the wash of flame(at least Gashelle won't have to pluck her eyebrows for a bit..lol)
The third Small skeleton is hit with heavenly fire from Sasha and crumbles away almost at once.
Gashelle has a flashback to her old Trainer's words on fighting skeletons..."use a club...it's cheap, efficient and it does more damage to them than most blades"
"Ghah! T- too close!"
"Sorry! Are you injured?" I ask, I know I was cutting it fine ...
"We're g- good."
"Then let's kick bottom!" I turn my attention to the Ogre skeleton ...
Gashelle has a flashback to her old Trainer's words on fighting skeletons..."use a club...it's cheap, efficient and it does more damage to them than most blades"
Drolan was, as always, right. Of course, as Gashelle looks about the room, all she can see is slimes and mosses. "I'm sure there's a club around here somewhere," she mutters helplessly. But, barring that, ...
Gashelle casts Disrupt Undead again, hitting touch AC 22 for 6 points of damage!.
I look at the long haft of Gashelle's galive.
"In your hand, perhaps?" I suggest.
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The spell crunches into the ogre skeleton which is now close to falling apart, a couple of good hits should do it.It responds by clawing ineffectually at both of it's nimble attackers
Avinar provides the first of those hits with another solid blow..not quite as good as the last but still enough to smash ribs and crack vertebrae
Quickly skirting wide around the melee in the corner I reach a vantage point where I can attack ... releasing my sickle I impel it into the fight with the force of my mind and strike!
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Tristan sees an opening and lunges chipping a small bit of bone from the skeletons arm
The skeleton slashes at Eltariel as she moves out of its threat radius once again failing to make any connection
Eltariels spinning sickle strikes the thing firmly on the skull and bounces off having done no damage at all
Sasha brings his heavenly fire to bear upon the undead ogre once more and it finally converts into a heap of scorched bone
"Well that was exciting!" pants Tristan puting his rapier away.
Digging in his pack, Tristan pulls out the flasks of holy water. "I have both flasks of holy water here Gashelle. Perhaps someone else would like to carry one of them?" He places one in his belt pouch and offers the other one up.
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Eltariel
It looks like a flat box almost buried in the slime gathered beneath the bunk
You manage to retrieve the Ogre skeletons Chain Shirt which seems well made (Masterwork level)
"What's this?" I hunker down to examine what I've seen. Taking my sickle I scrape away the worst of the moss and slime, careful not to touch the object itself. I cast Detect Magic and call to Tristan:
"Come and take a look at this, I think it may contain something."
"Sasha, th- that was fantastic! N- nice job!"
Regarding Tristan's offer: "Avinar, you're the person w- with the fewest options wh- when fighting undead. Why don't y- you take the other flask of Holy Water?"
"E- Etariel, what d- do you have th- there?"
"Nothing magical," I say with some disappointment. "But it could still tell us a great deal. All the same I'd feel happier if Tristan could check it for traps." I look up at Gashelle and smile. "You know, I'd almost forgotten that cantrip for undead ... but it's very effective. And you are right - Sasha's fire is also effective. We should continue to coordinate our efforts, we make a good team. We need to concentrate a barrage against foes before closing to engage them when we can, I think," I muse thoughtfully, "loosing such attacks while you or Tristan or Avinar are in close combat is hazardous."
"Leave the chain shirt by the door and we can pick it up on our way back out." suggests Tristan.
Then he goes over to have a look at the box Eltariel has found.
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The box is definitely not trapped and in fact seems to be a carrying case though the leather straps have long rotted away and its in a slightly decrepit condition. It isn't locked and upon opening it you find:
25 black fletched well made arrows
a vial of a viscous green liquid
and a potion bottle containing a crimson liquid
"Oh, this looks interesting!" Tristan casts detect magic and consults with Gashelle and Eltariel on the possible use of the items.
I'll examine the arrows and the potion closely.
"Well the arrows are straightforward charmed arrows - does anyone have a bow?" I ask. "The Potion ... I can't tell, I'm afraid."
"All r- right. So: magical arrows, b- but no b- bow, in a carrying case, along with some sort of p- potion and something else, maybe p- poison for the arrows. Another m- mystery."
Gashelle takes a good, close look at the skelentons. Can we tell what race the smaller skeletons were? Can we tell what killed them originaly, or is there any sign on them what re-animated them?
"Goblins ... now that explains a lot; gnomes and goblins don't get on. The pit would have defended either of them, and the guardian we destroyed could have held up the goblins for a long time. As for what animated them ... the only answer I can guess at is necromancy. More to the point, did whatever killed the gnomes also kill the goblins? Everywhere I see the hint of a powerful wizard ..."
Gashelle smiles as she finishes the sentence, "... with a b- bad case of absent-mindedness."
Approaching the far end of the room, Gashelle listens for the noise.
I pause and listen carefully, wondering from which of the two exits the sound comes ...
Tristan takes the arrows and puts them in his quiver. "I can put these to good use, I think." he says.
"Shall we continue on?" Tristan peers down both hallways. Unless he spots something in one of the halls, he will lead the way down the lefthand (eastern) hallway, checking for traps as he goes.
Sasha thinks for a moment..."What if...the gnomes wizard blew himself up and the others couldn't control the animates...then the goblins could have overwhelmed them...especially if they had ogres with them"
"... And then the goblins might have fallen to the Animates after they drove out the gnomes," I finish. "Because something killed the goblins, and animated their bones, and set the traps we found ... unless the gnomes sealed them in to starve to death but even then goblins should have been able to tunnel out."
Gashelle tries to suspend judgement until she gets more facts, but her curiosity overwhelms her better sense. "All the m- mechanisms we've found would have b- been useful for the gnomes: g- guards at the two ends of their m- mine complex, and a self-mobile m- mine car.
"M- maybe we'll find more c- clues up to the north."
"It's where those cries came from, we can investigate," I agree, then slap my head. "I'm an idiot. Some funghi can make noises like that. We must approach very cautiously, just in case."
Tristan will lead the way down the north hallway to the next room(T2).
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Tristan leads the party down yet another caluastrophobically narrow passage way scanning the ground ahead but failing to see any sign of traps. the instant he enters the chamber an unearthly wailing starts up from a large fungus which sits in the middle of the three Wastern squares of the room.
It is indeed a Shrieker as Eltariel surmised earlier. However as you were alert for potential danger there is no surprise round.
Avinar leaps forward past Tristan and skewers the annoying thing with his thinblade for 10 points of damage just as tristan spots a second fungus adhering to the ceiling just above the door. He shouts a warning just to late as the thing lashes out with 4 tentacles
1d20+3=8, 1d20+3=15, 1d20+3=22, 1d20+3=9
A single flailing tentacle hits Avinar across the back of his neck for 1d6+3=6damage
Avinar feels a burning sensation from the wound and a momentary moment of weakness but steels himself against it.save vs poison 1d20+3=18
Initiative order is:
Avinar gets initiative of 23.
Unidentified fungus,gets initiative of 18.
Gashelle gets initiative of 16.
Sasha gets initiative of 15.
Eltariel gets initiative of 13.
Tristan gets initiative of 12 and takes a minus 4 penalty to Dex as he feels strangely sluggish(The ring was indeed cursed)
Fungus shrieker gets initiative of -1.
In case the thing above the door is still active when it's Gashelle's turn
Gashelle sees the tentacles reach down for Tristan, and reacts.
She tumbles into the room , attempting to avoid the tenticles, and lands right next to the Shrieker.
She squinches at the sheer auditory volume of the plant next to her, and attempts to cast blade of blood, taking the 5 points of damage.
She strikes at the tentacled monstrosity.
She looks back at the deafening mushroom and rolls her eyes. Next round, she's just going to kick it.
Eltariel doesn't even bother with a spell, she simply uses her Hand of the Apprentice to attack the mushroom on the ceiling with her sickle (or if it's dead after Gashelle's attack, the shrieker).