You push on the door, its unlocked but seems to be blocked by something solid but spongy, almost invariably more of the moss.
Grall. Sajan says to get the Gnoll's attention, gesturing towards the door.
With Sajan's help, Grall easily forces the door open, tearing tendrils of moss from the floor and walls as he goes.
To your left the moss works its way in lines accross the floor and ceiling down to a stone staircase leading down.
The left section is the lowest (and now only) chamber in what was once a 40-foot-tall tower. Most of the wooden floors and the old ladder that used to comprise the tower jumble the floor here in a collapsed
mess or ruble about ten feet high. The roof of the tower has partly collapsed leaving gaping sections open to the sky but it is difficult to see much in the mess of remaining beams and fallen building.
Sabeen promptly sends her dancing light man to the edge of the stair, illuminating stone walls and moss as far as you can see.
"Shall we investigate down the stairs or continue searching the first floor? This moss has perked my interest. The honorable Mistress Almah would undoubtedly be interested in learning whether or not a fresh source of water is available. That would make our stay here much more tolerable."
Let us investigate. Do not forget the hidden entrance I found though, we should remember to look at that later.
The stone staircase descends in a circle quite deep, about twenty five feet, before leveling out into a large chamber which appears to have been carefully carved out of the living rock under the monastery.
As Sabeen walks dancing lights man around , it reveals a large laboratory. Against the north and south walls are two identical daises raised about five feet from the floor, each accessed by a wide set of curved stairs. Atop each dais is a wide workbench covered in a bewildering series of glass beakers, tubes and other alchemical tools. Some of these containers still seem filled with various substances.
A massive mold-encrusted basalt table dominates the middle of the room, flanked by a small table to the west containing rusty surgical tools. Large bookshelves line the east wall although rather than books they contain racks and racks of tubes, some of pressed metal and others of bone and other hard materials. It seems the monastery's original inhabitants wanted to ensure that their contents were protected from the conditions.
Small cut mold-encrusted tiles line the floor, interrupted occasionally by metal drains the size of dinner plates. A long foot wide drain with a metal grill runs along the base of the stairs leading up to each dais . The air is cool and moist and delightful compared to the heat outside although it is also fresh with the smell of funghis, small clumps of which you can see rising out of the long drains. The mold runs in lines from the drains to the table to up the stairway (all the way to the door you forced in).
Arjun it seems clear to you now what seemed odd. The distribution of the moss just doesn't seem natural although the moss itself seems quite normal. Moss doesn't spread in straight lines but it has here.
Linah moves her palm over her scimitar that lights up like a torch as she chants softly. Then she follows down the passage into the room below.
"What is all this?", she asks in amazement
Grall would have been one of the first down with weapon ready and stay relatively close to Linah. With darkvision he didn't need the light source. Stay close, we don't know what is down here.
Sajan's dim intellect shows absolutely no interest in the laboratory. He moves to sneak a peek into the next room, stealthily poking his head around the corner.
Sajan's dim intellect shows absolutely no interest in the laboratory. He moves to sneak a peek into the next room, stealthily poking his head around the corner.
1d20+6
Arjun leans in close, peering intensely at the moss. "Most interesting. Although this variety of fungus is quite ordinary, something you might find on any piece of fruit left to rot, it should not be growing this way. Look," He motions with his hands, tracing the lines of the mold in the air. "It should not grow this way. Moss always grows where nutrition is found, not in geometric patterns. This table and dais appear to be the cause of their growth."
Nuveril pays little attention to the glowing blades of Khalid and Linah -- the shamans of her tribes could summon lights from the ancestors' spirits in a similar fashion -- but keeps her distance from Sabeen's demon-spirit. She looks around the room with distaste, but its furnishings have no interest for her. When Sajan moves toward the door, she eagerly shadows him, her hammer at the ready.
Arjun takes his quarterstaff, white with red and blue stripes, and leans forward, gently nudging the table with the end of the pole.
Grall is first into the room but stops near the entrance, peering around and staying close to Linah.
Sajan heads toward the north door, closely followed by Nuveril.
Arjan moves near to the table and pokes it carefully with his quaterstaff, while Sabeen stays at the bottom of the stairs although she clearly wants to make her way over to the racks of tubes.
Khalid, his scimitar glowing with a soft light walks slowly and carefuly into the room, eyes and ears alert for danger. As he draws level with the small western table he has sufficient angle to see the contents of the long drain running around the base of the south dais, a layer of mushrooms and other fungi over a thin carpet of rotting vegetable matter. He is just about to move on when he sees it .. twitch.
He is able to cry out and warn the rest of you moments before the matter comes to life, surging up and out of the drain with immense speed, part splitting around the metal gril and then re-forming into a sickly green-brown ovoid puddle of ooze several feet high and studded with fungi. A half second later a second creature emerges from the northern drain.
The creatures undulate toward you in unison.
Round 1
Initiative
Grall
Nuveril
Linah
Sabeen
Khalid
Sajan
Arjun
? 1
? 2
Ordered Initiative (some godawful rolls there)
- Sabeen (finally a decent initiative roll with her plus 10)
- Arjun
- Nuveril
- Creature 1
- Khalid
- Sajan
- Linah
- Grall
- Creature 2
Notes
- The western table does not impede movement.
- The big table in the middle will although likely not for the oozes the way they are moving.
- Fighting from the dais down the stairs is higher ground.
- The circles in the ground are drains.
- Knowledge (Dungeoneering) is the appropriate skill check.
Intelligence check
"Definitely not normal!." Arjun whips a bullet at the ooze to the west, then moves to J21.
Attack
Damage
"Plants which walk!?" Nuveril cries in disapproval. "This is some foul sorcery." She flings a suspicious look over her shoulder at Sabeen on the stairs to make sure she doesn't look like some sort of botanical puppet master before striding forward and swinging the ancestral hammer of the pugwampis at the nearest ooze.
Sabeen, realising her attacking hexes are useless against the mindless creatures, focuses her attention on bolstering Grall granting him fortune .
She smiles encouragingly at Nuveril.
"Definitely not normal!." Arjun whips a bullet at the ooze to the west, then moves to J21.
Attack 1d20+2
Damage 1d4
Reacting swiftly, Nuveril barrels in at the top creature, striking a firm blow with the hammer and sending a patch of mushrooms flying away.
Meanwhile the bottom creature lashes a portion of itself at Khalid seeking to get into his mouth, ears and eyes.
It hits him with a serious blow leaving him staggered.
Round 1, initiative 5
Linah rushes forward and lays her hand on Khalid's shoulder. Warmth radiates from her hand as the inquisitor regains some vigor.
Acrobatics
Attack roll
Damage, the second roll being fire.
Leaping into the fray beside Nuveril, the giant channels the heat of the sun and the righteous flsme of Gruhastha's wrath into his first blow; landing with brutal force that would fell most men where they stand.
Grall on his turn will move up to J25 trying to tumble the last 5 feet.
He will save the hex for the attack.
Looks like I will be drawing the AOO.
Then attack the creature:
Grrrall prrrotect Khalid!!! he bellows.
Fort Save:1d20 + 3
Staggering from the blow, Khalid attempts to defensively cast a spell of healing.
Concentration:1d20 + 3
Cure Light Wounds:1d8 + 1
Khalid, head spinning from the brutal attack, stumbles back desperately sweeping an oozy tendril away from his face and coughing up a mouthful of slime that made its way into his mouth. He attempts to concentrate enough to cast but a further coughing spurt ruins his spell and he falls to the floor.
Sajan's mighty blow rocks the other creature and while his flaming strike manages to blacken a large patch of fungi the fire does not seem to harm the creature itself. Ooze coats his fists.
Linah moves quickly to heal Khalid, her touch bringing Khalid back to consciousness.
Grall runs in to distract Khalid's attacker, spinning as he ascends the stairs to the dais to avoid the creatures probing attacks. However he is not quite fast enough to avoid a strike entirely although coated in ooze he manages to avoid any hurt.
Falchion out of line, his attack looks like a clear miss but at the last second the creature itself unwittingly moves itself into the way and the falchion bites deeply into his body.
The top creature, hurt from Sajan and Nuveril's attacks, attempts to simply pour itself right over them.
Creature description states contact through an unarmed attack on the creature forces a fort save (a fail has an onset so no immediate effect on the combat).
I am basing my conclusion that an attack with knuckles still counts as an unarmed attack from Link .
Seems express that a non-monk using knuckles makes an unarmed attack. Treating a monk differently seems a bit odd to me.
Let me see if I can find a ruling.
Edit: Knuckles themselves are in the unarmed attack colum of the weapon table so seems clear.
Well if its contact based, Sajan's skin never makes contact with the creature; the knuckles do. If it has an onset i'll make the decision vs the engulf now. I'm ok with your ruling, thought it was worth making a case though.
The giant Sajan doesn't have the good sense to leap aside from the creature, and stubbornly rams the Sentinel's Fist into the creature again as the creature moves to engulf him.
The exact wording is "touch x with an unarmed strike". I reconciled it in my head as you pounding deep into its gooey exterior with your fists :) Of course gauntlets are treated as unarmed strikes as well and the logic goes completely off the rails there.
Look theres a day onset. Ill start a thread and lets see if we get an answer. Alternatively, maybe I'll disease you with an attack and it will be irrelevant :)
We will see what Nuveril does. There was a decent chance that the creature suicided but hey mindless and it had a specific oozey reason for infecting as many people as possible.
Ok scratch that. Variants of the question have been raised several times without clarification.
I am going to go with previous ruling but on the plus side the logical follow through to this is that if you take weapon focus (unarmed strike) it counts for unarmed strikes, knuckles and guantlets. This makes sense to me and I think helps to even things out.
Recoiling from the moldy mass which is living although it should not be, Nuveril attempts to evade the gelatinous mass coming at her.
Nuveril evades the creatures attack with a neat roll that returns her to her feet. Sajan on the other hand stands firm under the onslaught and lands another mighty blow. The creature is leaking ooze and fungi everywhere but engulfs the giant monk up to his shoulders.
Sajan takes 9 damage and gains the pinned condition.
Round 2
Ordered Initiative
- Sabeen
- Arjun
- Nuveril
- Creature 1 (wounded)
- Khalid
- Sajan
- Linah
- Grall
- Creature 2 (leaking ooze)
Sabeen is hesitant to use her magic on Nuveril but the battle could go either way and both Sajan and Khalid are in trouble. She fixes her gaze on the halfling and grants fortune .