Eastern Tarthenol [IC]

[Winged_Immortal]

Gaspar tosses the clasp back and forth in his hands a few times before attaching it to his shirt, just outside his breastplate. He braces himself for another shock but, after it doesn't come, he relaxes, turning his attention to the stone chips.

[0nimaru]

You're admiring the clasp and trying to determine the importance of the stone chips when a man's scream splits the air behind you. Flatterly is obviously awake, and you turn to see what he's screaming about when a fetid stench reaches you. Hoving in the air at the level of your head barely 1 foot from you is an enormous eye. The Eye is part of a very large green head with a mouth full of pointed teeth, but there is no body below it. From the top of the creatures head (or body) a number of short stalks sprout, each with it's own eye on the end of the stalk like a slug. Several of the eyes have focusing lenses or monocles on them, while others have numerous rings at the bases of the stalks.

"Excellent, Excellent. You've slain them and claimed what was theirs for your own. I was very IMPRESSED by your skill, other than the part where you were frozen for nearly a minute. I am quite pleased with you two."

[Winged_Immortal]

Gaspar looks on this creature and backs up. Slowly. Very slowly. His intimidation multiplied by the screams from Flatterly.

"Y-Yes... well. I didn't realize it had been a full minute, but I'm certainly glad to have come to in time to save Flatterly from death. Not that it matters much now..."

[0nimaru]

Flatterly has fallen silent, but you can see him trying to drag himself away from the floating eye-creature slowly.

The creature speaks again, but it's voice now sounds upset and full of a quiet menace,
"Yes. I did notice you saving the misshapen one. The angle of his jaw and flatness of his face disgust me.. but I pride myself on being remarkable tolerant. What draws you to my cavern-home? Did you hear of me? It can be hard to tell how far one's fame has spread when one stays home bound."

[Winged_Immortal]

"We both appreciate your tolerance greatly. Unfortunately I fear we may be more lost than we realize. We were tasked by the golems back that way,"

Gaspar points in the direction he thinks they came from.

"to solve the issue they're experiencing with a nest of wyrms down here. Could you point us in the proper direction, perhaps?"

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Diplomacy: Oh god why are we talking to a Beholder
(1d20+11)[25]

[0nimaru]

The beholder's tone becomes angry and excited, manic, and his eye begins to roam around in the socket. It looks in all directions wildly as he speaks,
"Those cursed and blasted drakes! I exterminate them, and subjugate them, and leave them as examples to their kin! They REFUSE to leave my caves! I'd remove them all personally, but they're ABOMINABLY RESILIENT to my magics."

The floating eye refocuses on you, and seems to regain some composure.
"So, you heard of my magnificence and wish to help me clear out this VILE nest of lizards. Good, good, good. Are you up to the task to clear them all out, Matriarch included? I have considerable resources I would donate to seeing them all Suffer."

[Winged_Immortal]

Gaspar listens and grits his teeth, bracing himself for death at the hands of this creature, before calming down with its voice.

"Yes! We'd be happy to aid you in their destruction. What resources would these be, exactly?"

Despite his fear, Gaspar cannot help but ask about the prospect of more resources to fund his research.

[0nimaru]

"My tunnels are vast.. AND WELL GUARDED, FROM ALL WHO WOULD TAKE FROM THEM... I would release to you what you require for the task. Surely if you came here with the intent of help my great Personage then you know what you lack. Weapons? Protections? Minions?"

[Winged_Immortal]

Gaspar pauses to consider his choices. Then, considering Flatterly, answers as carefully as he can.

"That in turn depends on what you have, in truth. If you have a potion of Cure Moderate Wounds, Flatterly needs one gravely. If in addition to that you had some form of fire protection we could utilize, that would be perfect. If not, I feel we would need to request minions to aid us."

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I'm still convinced he is going to eat us [ooc]
Diplomacy
(1d20+11)[23]

[0nimaru]

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Maybe eventually. He is a bit crazy. If the text didn't already tell you that.

"Ick. The mishappen one. I see little reason not to kill him, and STRIP HIS SKIN FROM HIS BONES, DISPLAYING HIM FOR ALL WHO DARE... but the drakes. oh how I HATE the drakes, and you are serving me in removing them, and he serves you. Yes. yes! I keep my eyes on the goal. Very well, I shall provide you with restoratives."

The aberration closes it's center eye and a ring on it's 3rd eye stalk begins to spin of it's own will. As it spins, it glows in a bright yellow glow, until suddenly stopping. You feel your wounds knitting together very slowly in the most gentle healing you've experienced before. Flatterly seems to be affected as well, but wisely stays on the ground and as unnoticeable as possible.


The monster then seems to rummage around inside it's own mouth, and eventually extends it's huge purple tongue out towards you. The smell is impressive and saliva drips only a few inches away from your shoes as he holds his tongue on. Balanced on the tip of the tongue is a brown bag of holding. The mouth of the bag is open towards you, prepared for you to reach into it. Eight eye stalks watch you carefully as the bag is presented.

[Winged_Immortal]

Gaspar stands up, shocked that something as simple as a ring could heal him. Fascinating as the ring may have been, however, the bag makes him cautious.

"...What's... in this?"

Gaspar reaches out to take the bag off the creature's tongue carefully, afraid to put his hand very far into the creature's mouth.

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Oh god there goes my arm.

[0nimaru]

The monster stares at you. It seems it's nearly impossible for it to speak while holding something with it's tongue. Flatterly is very nearly panicked, and is non-verbally expressing his desire to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

The floating eye thing seems to be implying that you should reach into the bag. You've heard of magical bags that can store items before, and normally all you have to do is place your hand inside and think of what you desire to extract. This is assuming the creature doesn't withdraw his tongue and eat your arm.. but he probably could have done that already.

[Winged_Immortal]

Gaspar takes the bag and opens it, thinking very clearly of cloaks that make him immune to fire. Feeling something touch his hand he pulls, retrieving two items from the bag and, after placing them on the ground, extends his arm, outstretched, to return the bag to its owner.

[0nimaru]

Two identical cloaks come out of the bag. The eye takes the bag back with it's tongue and seems to swallow it, although you have no idea where something swallowed by this creature would actually go. It cackles again, and floats back up through the hole in the roof, disappearing from sight.

The cloaks are of fine make, but you don't recognize the material (although you're not tailor, so that isn't surprising). For being supposedly fire resistant, it does feel worryingly waxy to the touch. As you don the cloak, stitched orange and red flames appear in a zig-zag pattern down the length of it.

Flatterly composes himself and accepts the cloak from you. He puts the cloak on as he says in a whisper,
"We should hurry out of here. That was an Eye-Tyrant, it was. They're one of the meaner and crazier things lurking down under the sunless areas."

[Cloak]

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Fire resist: 10
Warm-Blooded effect: After negating 15 fire damage, the cloak becomes charged. You may expend this charge as a free action to take an extra standard or move action on that turn. The cloak only holds one charge, and can't be "overcharged" in any way. Self-inflicted fire damage doesn't work, and the heat from the cloak disperses and wastes the charge after 10 minutes if it isn't used.

[Winged_Immortal]

Gaspar looks at Flatterly slightly surprised, as it sinks in the blood somehow draining from his already pale face.

"That... oh my. I had no idea. No wonder you had such a panic about you. I fear we should leave, quickly."

Gaspar aids Flatterly in returning to his feet and the two of them leave the area.

[0nimaru]

"Right behind you, boss."

You head back out of the repeating pattern rooms and past the ruby-eyed drake. Eventually you make your way back to the major intersection where you previously turned Left. You feel a tingle of magic linger about you, as the healing magic from the Tyrant's ring seems to remain with you.

[Winged_Immortal]

Gaspar, feeling the temperature in the tunnels, thinks on his two remaining options and then decides.

"I guess.... left... straight... that way."

He turns down the (Subjectively) left tunnel and continues on, watching and listening carefully for any signs of anything/

[0nimaru]

Following the tunnel, it heads straight as an arrow for half an hour. There are occasional side openings and alcoves, but you ignore them as they can't possibly hold your goal. Finally, you reach what appears to be the end of the tunnel, as it opens up into a larger cavern devoid of moss or plant-growth. This could be due to the great heat radiating from the cave. Several holes in the cave are issuing forth the heat, which is rapidly becoming unbearable.


Unfortunately for you, the cave is not entirely devoid of life. Five young drakes and two adolescents are lounging about the cave tearing at the carcasses of animals. Seeing the two of you enter, they rise to their feet and stalk forward.

[Winged_Immortal]

Gaspar sighs, muttering for a moment while he pulls out his Wand of Inflict Moderate Wounds.

"...Of course there's 7 of them..."

Gaspar moves to the side to allow Flatterly room to enter the room and prepares himself.

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(1d20+1)[3]

[0nimaru]

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A1 (1d20+1)[5]
A2 (1d20+1)[4]
Y1 (1d20)[9]
Y2 (1d20)[11]
Y3 (1d20)[13]
Y4 (1d20)[17]
Y5 (1d20)[5]
Flat (1d20+3)[19]

[0nimaru]

Flatterly sighs wearily, and carefully stalks along the left wall. He puts the hot pit between himself and the creatures and prepares to meet them one at a time.

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AC +4 [21]

The Adolescent and young-lings synchronize their movements and stalk forward in a formation.. at first. Much to Flatterly's surprise, the smaller drakes extend small wings from their sides and with short, powerful flaps they begin to coast down from the upper half of the cave, ignoring the issue of the pit.

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Y2 (1d20+6)[23]
(1d4)[3]
Y3 (1d20+6)[26]
(1d4)[2]
Y4 (1d20+6)[23]
(1d4)[1]

Y1 (1d20+6)[22]
(1d4)[4]
A2 (1d20+12)[28]
(1d8+2)[5]

Fire Charge (2d4)[3]
AoO G (1d20)[4]
AoO F (1d20+7)[19]
(1d6+3)[4]

Despite their meal, the small drakes appear to still be hungry. They snap out with glistening white teeth and tear into Flatterly nearby. His defensive stance keeps him from being disemboweled, but they nip and snap at his arms with strikes that draw blood.

The older drake charges down the slope at you with dangerous agility. You feel proud, as you fend off it's fangs and claws, but too late you realize that it was only a distraction for another small drakeling to fly in behind you. It bites down on your leg and bypasses your necromantic protections [4]. Showing true pack coordination, the older drake then slashes a claw harshly against your face [4].

Another drakeling lands behind the adolescent and bends down in an oddly rigid pose. It seems to be lined up rule-straight from tail to mouth when a torrent of fire screams from it's maw. The fire doesn't phase the adolescent.. and neither does it bother you. The cloak around you becomes warmer, but you do not burn. The warm stays with the cloak after the fire fades, and you feel an odd.. motion, like a heavy liquid were running around the lining of the cloak in a constant swirling motion.

[Winged_Immortal]

Gaspar grits his teeth and spits the blood away from his mouth as he prepares to fight back, lashing out with his wand at the smaller drake, hoping to clear the way.

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(1d20)[4]
(2d8+5)[16]
(1d20)[18]
(2d8+5)[11]

[0nimaru]

The drakes around you shift slightly, spurred on by the successes of their claws, and the failure of their breath. They understand something is strange, but not quite what is happening. The Adolescents seem to be catching on quicker than the younglings.

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Y2 (1d20+4)[19]
(1d4)[3]
Y3 (1d20+4)[16]
(1d4)[4]
Y4 Fire Charge on Flat (2d4)[4]

Y1 (1d20+4)[17]
(1d4)[4]
Y5 (1d20+4)[7]
(1d4)[2]
A2 Fire Charge on Flat (2d6)[7]

Flatterly (1d6+7)[10]
(1d6)[6]
SA (2d6)[7]
Flatterly (1d6+7)[8]
(1d6)[2]
SA (2d6)[6]

Flatterly shifts over, carefully stepping around the gathered masses of drakes seeking to following your methods by flanking one of the younglings. He thrusts twice at it, but seems to be primarily distracting it while attempting to deflect attacks from all around him. He lands no blows on the creature.

Claws flash and teeth bite down from all sides. Flatterly is momentarily inconvenienced by a claw lodging in his back and tearing through his undercloth, leaving a ragged hole in the armor. Overall though.. [W:16]
the attacks seem halfhearted and exaggerated, thrashing and snarling with unnecessary gusto that wasn't apparent moments before.

[Y4] & [A2]: Fire streams cross in front of your eyes as Flatterly is completely hidden from view by a raging torrent of heat... but as it dies down he is completely unscathed. A pattern has lit up on his cloak, a raging swirl of fires moving like no normal threaded pattern could.

[Winged_Immortal]

Gaspar sees the flames arc across Flatterly's body and grits his teeth, frustrated with his apparent loss of coordination after being paralyzed.

"DAMN IT! JUST DIE"

He lashes out again with his wand, trying once again to at the very least relieve Flatterly of one attacker.

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Y1
(1d20+6)[16]
(2d8+5)[14]
(1d20+6)[9]
(2d8+5)[20]

[0nimaru]

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Flatterly (1d6+7)[9]
(1d6)[1]
SA (2d6)[7]
Flatterly (1d6+7)[12]
(1d6)[6]
SA [/roll]2d6[roll]

Flatterly CHARGE (1d6+7)[9]
(1d6)[4]
SA (2d6)[9]

Y1 @G (1d20+6)[13]
(1d4)[4]
Y4 @G (1d20+6)[17]
(1d4)[1]
Y2 @G(1d20+4)[7]
(1d4)[3]


A1 (1d20+8)[9]
(1d6+2)[5]
A2 (1d20+6)[21]
(1d6+2)[6]
Y3 (1d20+6)[7]
(1d4)[3]
AoO for Gasp

Flatterly cloak brightens and the pattern flows faster than ever. A bright flash shines from him and the pattern on the cloak freezes in an odd configuration that seems intentional.. [Know:Religion]. Flatterly yells,
"Flying bits of leather. You're no scarier than a pale-gecko, and you're far from good enough to match me!"
With that he darts through the crowd of wyrmlings where you lose sight up him. He appears behind one [Y5] and using both of his shortswords at once scissors the head from it's neck. Shiny red blood flows and boils from the wound for a moment before the body falls limp.

The dragons reassemble, crowding around him again but not one lands a hit. Eventually, the markings on the cloak return to their neutral position and flatterly's face seems a bit redder than normal.

You're less lucky. Your wand strikes true, but it's not enough to put down the small reptile. A third foe joins the fray and catches you off guard, opening a cut along your left flank [5]. Pale pink blood spills onto the ground where it runs until it meets the pool flowing from the dead wyrm. The blood hisses with steam as it mixes.

[Winged_Immortal]

Setting himself rigid, trying to ignore the pain, Gaspar continues his assault on the drakes surrounding him, hoping to just give himself some breathing room.

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(1d20+4)[6]
(2d8+5)[16]
(1d20+4)[17]
(2d8+5)[12]