Max pumps some healing power into Adriana, but it doesn't appear to have been that potent.
Adriana thinking better of going toe to toe with the thing will take a five feet step back.
She first calls on her deity to heal her wounds shuddering a little in pleasure as her goddess healing fills her
She than points at the golden and the cultist...
"You and your foul masters can not hurt me as you now face the Judgement of Calistria!"
The mask-creature turns towards Khalaban. One of the masks making up its 'hand' suddenly spins half-circle and the creature thrusts its arm forward!
The mask attaches itself to Khalaban's face with a flash of blue light!
<Fight for me.>
Khalaban felt the mask's dominion roll over his mind for a moment, the urge to simply obey echoing through his mind, before the Skinwalker grunted in anger and fought back, willing his mind to be as strong as his body. It was unfortunate that he failed.
The bulky Kineticist went limp, apparently hanging by his head - or more specifically the mask.
Vixie squeaks in fright, backpedaling a bit from Khalaban. Her bill lashes out:
And... mayyyybe gets an edge?
If not, y’know, maybe Khalaban will look cool with a facial scar.
Vixie's attempt at removing the mask meets with failure.
Maxilla's eyes widen in horror as the mask affixes itself to Khalaban's face, and the giant man goes limp. "Khalaban! Dad believes in you! You have to fight it!"
The little kobold's words seem to snap Khalaban out of his stupor!
Adriana will head back into the fight...
Adriana's blade chips away at one of the mask-creature's arms.
The mask-creature turns on Vixie next, punching twice!
The monster's first strike nearly gets through Vixie's guard, slamming hard into her shield. Its follow-up attack is horribly misjudged, however, swinging wildly over the kitling's head and knocking Khalaban's mask askew!
With a gasp as Maxilla broke the mask's control, Khalaban reaches up and seizes the thing, thick fingers wrapping around the smooth material of the mask in a heavy grip before yanking it away from his skin. The mask was not easy to move, nor keep his grip on, but the hefty man managed to move it with enough effort.
With everything more or less under control again—for the moment—Vixie keeps her guard up, but lashes out, screaming quietly as always.
Vixie's shield collides with the mask-monster's knee, but doesn't seem to have injured it.
Maxilla gets behind Vixie. "Vixie! Try the other knee!"
Adriana will swing again...
Adriana's blade hooks on one of the masks making up the creature's collar, but is unable to find purchase.
The mask-construct swings its iron-masked fists at Khalaban and Vixie...
...and while the large man is able to evade the blow, Vixie ends up taking a mask-fist to the top of her head. The force of the punch sends a lance of pain from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.
More than a touch rattled, Vixie wobbles on the spot, using the bill as a cane for a moment before lashing out weakly with her shield.
”Left! LEFT!” hollers Max, but Vixie doesn’t quite make it.
Given how hard it was for Khalaban to get down and aim at the knees, he instead turned the enemie's blow with his shield and aimed a shot at it's head.
The mask-creature raises its arm and deflects Khalaban's earthen club.
Maxilla winces and moves to help Vixie again. "Your other left, Vixie!"
Attack again!
Attack again!
Possible Crit...
Adriana finally finds a chink in the mask-creature's construction and seizes the opportunity. As the construct raises its arm to strike again, her curve blade shears through its shoulder joint with a loud *SHRIEK* of metal-on-metal.
The golem reels backward, its arm falling down and shattering into dozens of damaged masks. This time, it takes its remaining arm and tries to force a mask on Adriana's face!
It happens so quickly. The rest of the party barely has time to react before a white porcelain mask is affixed to the inquisitor's face!
<KILL THE LARGE ONE.>
Vixie frowns. There’s some trickiness here—if she backs up far enough for her bill to be useful, she’ll be too far to help otherwise.
She settles for screaming louder than before.
Muttering a stream of unpleasant comments regarding the parentage of whoever had created this abomination of a contraption, Khalaban took the route less subtle and tried walloping it.
Khalaban's earthen club crashes through the golem's centre mass, finally scattering its masks to all corners of the room. The white-gold porcelain mask that served as its head falls to the floor with a THUD, still intact.
With the death of their mask-construct, the acolytes cease resisting arrest. Several rangers lie on the floor, wounded and bleeding. Several more acolytes lie motionless in pools of blood.
Captain Weathers limps over to the party, several streaks of blood running down her shield. "Well done."
Vixie shimmies back, not aware of the usual lack of inertia in this sort of magic, and tries to pry the mask off Adriana’s face with her bill!
"I wonder how many 'charitable donations' such a creation cost," Khalaban muttered, looking at the fallen machine. Khalaban quickly looked around the area to see if there was anything else likely to cause problems.
Without the golem's power to keep it in place, Vixie easily pries the mask off of Adriana.
"Probably a couple noble families' worth, I'd suppose." Captain Weathers winces.
Adriana does not look happy.
"Right." Captain Weathers grunts and straightens herself up. "I'm going to have my hands full tending to the wounded down here. Get up there and check for anything incriminating on this cult--shipping manifests, letters, accounting records. The more evidence we have, the better."
Adriana thinks to herself...Well if they are dead there won't be a need for a trail.
"We're on it. Is everyone okay, does anyone need patching up before we continue? We should be at best health before proceeding... just in case there's another one of those.. or a trap -- I really wish Bertrand were here right now..." Max offers with a wistful tone, moving up to support Khala should the party be healed up and all.
Nodding, Khalaban moved to the base of the stairs, and after checking for ambushes or traps - the cult seemed a little...insane, and he wouldn't put it past them to trap there own stairs - and if it was clear he headed to the next floor.
Other than that, you don't find anything.
Khalaban heads up the stairs.
A large golden mask rests upon a marble pedestal at the top of the stairs, with a green gemstone set into the mask’s forehead, and smaller gems set around it. A stained glass window in the wall behind the pedestal depicts a similar mask.
Staring at the mask, given the Golem, Khalaban left it alone and headed away from the stained glass windows to the door opposite it, checking for whatever might be blocking the path, and waiting for the others to join him.
Once everyone else has joined up with Khalaban, they move on.
Opposite the grand mask stands a pair of tall double doors, made from shining silver. Carved into their surface is the symbol of Razmir, beneath which dozens of supplicants are portrayed holding up piles of coins, jewels, and other wealth to the icon of the Living God. A quick check of the ring of keys reveals the correct one to open the doors and continue.
The room beyond has many doors, three on each side and a pair of double doors opposite the entrance. In the centre of the chamber, a two-step dais sits empty.
Mildly confused by the empty pedestal, Khalaban took a quick look at that before deciding on a door to have a check of. It seemed like it should have something on it, and might be important.
Adriana will follow behind Khalaban for he has more Hit Points and higher AC.
Vixie joins up with the group after lingering a little while in the previous. She keeps swiveling her head around with a mildly worried expression.
Well, more mildly worried than usual, anyway.
"Apparently, this is where the Mask Golem resided. It would seem someone awoke it, and sent it to deal with us. Or the guards awoke it by accident." Khalaban frowned, uncertain which was more likely. But it didn't matter. They needed to be cautious, regardless.
Moving to the Southern doors in the room, Khalaban began to search the rooms, leaving the large double doors for last. He had no wish to leave something behind him if the master of this place was behind those doors.
"This Razmir isn't a dragon, and he definitely isn't using gold right. I mean, if you're going to make a nest out of it, you need to have it set up to kind of, well, flow, like a feaather pillow..." Max mutters with a slight tone of frustration.
They move up to catch the rest of the team, keeping an eye out...
Khalaban and Maxilla take the lead in investigating the private chambers of what are, presumably, the cult's leadership.
For the most part, the private quarters do not reflect the opulence advertised by Razmir's faithful. Starting from the southwest room and working in a counterclockwise direction...
The chest contains:
--a bag full of 241 cp, 59 sp, 41 gp and 8 pp;
--a silver necklace studded with jet worth 300 gp;
--a potion vial containing a thin black fluid;
--a yellowed piece of parchment. Closer inspection reveals it's a deed to a small plot of land and a manor outside Absalom.
A map of Tamran is pinned above the desk with several hastily-scrawled notes surrounding different buildings on the western half of Tamran. Some of the notes are illegible, but it appears that the cult of Razmir was planning to expand to the entirety of Tamran--and was hatching a plan to do so before you arrived.
A gold ceremonial dagger set with a wide variety of gemstones lies on the desk beneath the map. Old, dark blood stains the tip of the blade.
Raising his eye at the haul - the land and manor alone would be exceptionally valuable, he suspected, as close to Absolom as it seemed it was - Khalaban loaded what they couldn't easily carry into his bag and got ready for the next door. He looked over, checking the others were ready before opening it.
Khalaban unlocks the double doors and opens them to reveal the next room.
A large plush bed on the south wall, facing a carved oak desk on the north side, furnishes this large and opulently decorated chamber. In the center of the room, a large carpet, woven with the mask of the Razmir at its center, spreads across the floor.
A small table next to the bed has a small whip, a pair of manacles, two bottles of Freedom's Glass brandy, and four bottles of exotic perfumes. A pair of sturdy bookcases stands next to the desk.
Glancing around the room, the bulky skinwalker focused on the brandy. He was more fond of strong booze, as it went, when worshipping the Drunken God. Beer was the traditional choice, of course, but he preferred something with more...impact.
Vixie follows along, sniffing around, although it doesn’t do much good through her kitsune face mask.
Max gets the 'under the beds' duty due to not wearing heavy armor and grumbles upon finding various bits and pieces. "Okay, why ears? This seems very criminal to me. Maybe some of these people can be brought back or at least put to proper rest?"
Perception Check