Peril & Fame 2: Andoran Act 2

[Jade_Tarem]

Kiyoko

"Of all the things I've done, slicing up a room full of eyeballs is on the more disgusting end of the scale." The tiefling frowned at the creepy room. "Then again, that may be the point. If it's nasty enough to stop people from going in there..." She considered. "Honestly? I say let Phillip fire bomb them."

[PepperP.]

Ellarie

"God I hope they don't smell when charred." She grimaced and turned to Phil.

"What do you say, do you feel like a barbecue?"

[Lord Of Mantas]

Hammerhead

Hammerhead tipped an imaginary hat as Tania introduced herself.

"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Tania. Name's Hammerhead, and I specialize in using my hammer to hit things on the head. Crude, yes, but very effective when applied properly."

[Lord Of Mantas]

Hammerhead

*** Later, around the campfire as Team Fey takes its downtime... ***

Hammerhead lounged by the fire. Emptying another growler of beer, his thoughts drifted to home and his father. Consternation rippled fiercely across his brow, like the shock troops of General Reginald Cormoth in the Goblinblood wars. His eyes suddenly grew wet, like great pools of jiggling jello.

Starting suddenly, he reached for Halkon Honeytongue's enchanted flask of whiskey and downed a heaping cup.

"Tonight," he bellowed, "we make merry!"

He began to dance. Slowly at first, and looking like a duck out of water, but then faster and more rhythmically. His bellicose beard blowing in the breeze like a bubbling brook of blackest biotite. With a clear deep voice, he began to sing a mournful ballad.

"Bestiality sure is a fun thing to do,
But I have to say this as a warning to you:
With almost all animals, you can have ball,
But the hedgehog can never be buggered at all."

Grasping for The Last Word, he began to dance with it, the man and the hammer diabolically opposed. Twirling and twisting, he spun and briefly dipped in for a chaste kiss.

"The spines on his back are too sharp for a man
They'll give you a pain in the worst place they can
The result I think you'll find will appall:
The hedgehog can never be buggered at all!"

Quite hammered, and screwed up with emotion, he wrenched through the next verse, his long beard gently arcing through the flames.

"Mounting a horse can often be fun
An elephant too; though he weighs half a ton
Even a mouse (though his hole is quite small)
But the hedgehog can never be buggered at all."

*** The next morning... ***

The first cruel rays of sunlight danced like shrieking daemons in the east. Hammerhead stirred, a foul stench rising from his singed and now moth-eared beard. Eyes closed, he groaned pitifully:

"For the love of Trudd, who has been burning rats?.."

Then, he felt further down his chest.

"My beard! My beard is gone! Now all that's left is mussed ash!"

[Othniel]

Cassandra

"Wh-what in the name of all that is green and leafy are you singing, Hammerhead?" Cassandra asked incredulously. She sounded, if anything, affronted by the topic of his song. "I would apologize for his behavior, Tania, but I am most certainly not responsible for him," she said to the Pixie.

[Lord Of Mantas]

Hammerhead

"Traditional dwarven drinking song!" Hammerhead replied, oblivious to his smoldering beard. "One of the longest we've got, so much it's rumored - hic! - no-one knows all the verses. Apparently one of 'em involves a platypus, whatever that is."

[TheDarkDM]

Elias

Philip looked enthusiastically towards Elias, but the older wizard was hesitant to start slinging explosives without knowing what else lurked in the room.

"I have one thing to try before we resort to fire, if I may?"

Pushing back his sleeves, Elias called out to the elemental plane of air.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Elias uses Summon Monster III to summon: (1d3+1)[3] Small Air elementals into the room. When they materialize, he commands them to activate their Whirlwind ability.

[Nefarion Xid]

Droskar's Crag

Commanding the elementals to sweep the area revealed the mummified corpse of some abomination, little more than a dried up lump of flesh, teeth and eyes. Elias could deduce that the Gibbering Mouther had given birth to the multitude of eyes, somehow. The eldritch energies of the broken Seal must have sustained and spurred the Mouther to reproduce uncontrollably with little or no available food. The monster looked to have died from repeatedly blows from a slashing weapon.

In the inches deep layer of muck the party caught a glimmer of silver. When asked, one of the elementals extracted the shiny thing and brought it over for inspection -- a mithral Elven Curve Blade, set with an oval sapphires on both sides of the slender, decorative guard. The weapon still did not detect as magical, but the name Armiras was etched into the blade, the Elven word for Defender.

Vigil

"Gods, what tacky architecture. The Chelish may reek of Asmodious' salty leavings, but at least they had the good sense to tear down this Neo Classical garbage. "Old White" my toned, princely ass."

Stray had waffled about accompanying the party to Lastwall, but finally decided that a momentary absence was no concern. He and Pun-Pun seemed immune to the disorienting effect of traversing a thousand miles in a blink. The rest of the party needed a few seconds to quite get their sense of balance and remember which direction was up.

Pun-Pun was a busy kobold and he looked the part, dressed in a black and silk robe with a mantle of woven chain and dangling agates. His sweeping black horns too had been adorned with gold bands and tiny faceted agates. Despite looking like he was late for an appointment with a party of mid level adventurers, he seemed to be happy to help. He smiled wistfully at Stray, through the prince continued to nitpick the white-washed battlements of the city in front of them.

Vigil stood as a squashed circle, pressed up against the northern bank of the Path river. Two concentric walls surrounded the rocky hill which bore the city. At the center were the stout square towers of Castle Overwatch, where they'd find the Crusader's College -- perhaps the best defended twenty three acres on Golarion. They'd arrived on the north side of the city in a little copse of juniper trees. The air smelled of horse, which made sense because they could tell at a glance that all of the arable land in the area had been taken over by horse ranches. War horses were Lastwall's only export of note and the College itself needed an almost never-ending supply.

"It looks so claustrophobic," Tania said, hovering by Cassandra. "How can anyone stand to live like this?"

[Othniel]

Cassandra

"I grew up in a place like that, aside from the years I spent in the forest," Cassandra said quietly. "Castle Vallas was originally made by dwarves though; this is probably human architecture." She wrinkled her nose. "After so much time in the greenwood, it feels strange to be entering a fortified location. Keep your wits about you, everyone. As His Grace warned us, the Whispering Tyrant likely has spies here. An untoward revelation regarding the information we bring could not only endanger ourselves, but others as well." She paused, eyeing the city suspiciously. "And there are other evils civilization offers as well. Mind your purses!" Lastly, she turned to Stray and regarded him with an arched eyebrow. "Any final words before we part, your Grace?"

[PepperP.]

Ellarie

"Defender." Elven being one of the few languages Ellarie spoke, she was pleased to be able to read the name off of the blade herself.

"It looks important, like a family heirloom. Maybe we should keep it until we know more about it." Her face turned reluctantly back to the eyeballs.

"Are we leaving these all here then?" She waved her hand at the eyeballs with a vague disgust.

"You've got this, right Elias?" Her hand moved to indicate the air elementals and back to the eyeballs.

"Kiki and I will just... be waiting down that way." She indicated a yet unexplored corridor and backed out of the room, motioning Kiki to come with her.

[Lord Of Mantas]

Hammerhead

"All a matter of taste, really."

Hammerhead (now with a trimmed, cleaned, and considerably shorter beard), mused as he experimentally hefted his newest weapon in his hand, an earth breaker he had picked up on a short trip to Almas while Margot had been busy crafting her latest creation.

"I grew up under the Five Kings Mountains, of course, so tight spaces are nothing new to me, or most dwarves for that matter. It feels quite cozy, really. Of course, if you've lived in the forest all your life, it's gonna throw you for a loop, so... yeah. Just heed what Cassandra said, and you'll be fine."

[zabbarot]

Margot

The witch just frowned at the city after taking stock of her menagerie. "Well, I grew up in a cottage, and I agree with Tania. What's our plan? Just ask vague questions and feel them out?"

[Lord Of Mantas]

Hammerhead

"No, I think the direct approach should work here. If I recall correctly, Stray sent us after the Crusader's College, rather than any skulking around, so it will mostly be a matter of a) Convincing them to let us in, and b) Convincing them to trust us enough to go check on, well, you know."

Hammerhead turned to Cassandra.

"Of course, since you're the best-spoken of us, that means that this is once more where you come in."

[Othniel]

Cassandra

Nodding in response, Cassandra gazed at the city. "But how should I present myself, so that they listen?" she asked, turning back to the others. "Should I be Lady Cassandra Vallas of Taldor, or Cassandra, Emissary of Darkmoon Vale? I think the latter, but other opinions are welcome."

[Lord Of Mantas]

Hammerhead

"I would say Darkmoon Vale. Andoran is only a few hops away from Lastwall, and Taldor's on the other side of the Inner Sea."

[Nefarion Xid]

Vigil

"Neither," Stray's voice hissed from the air, already invisible. "You're an adventurer. You know, an insufferable do-gooder that traipses into ruins because there may be monsters and candy. Just say you were able to puzzle out that the seal was broken from eye witness accounts. Only mention Aquila's journal if it's necessary. It's dangerous business to give people more information than they absolutely need. The important thing is that the Crusaders know the seal is broken and do something about it. They created the damned thing instead of killing Tar-Tar properly, so they should be the ones to patch it up."

"Your job is to get the right information into the right hands. Heads. Castle Tasteless may be the most heavily fortified location on the continent, but it's not immune to traitors. This is your project. Use your judgement and you'll be ... well, fine isn't the right word for it. Unlikely to fail within an tolerable margin of error? Come on Pun-Pun, let's pop over to Ramparassad for some pad krapow gai."

The kobold bounced up and down on the spot. "We haven't gone for Hoaian food forever! I'm going to eat a dozen pork spring rolls!"

Droskar's Crag

Leaving the eyeball bouncy house behind, the party found the stairs down to what they hoped would prove to be the heart of the dungeon. The narrow stairwell descended some fifty feet and ended in a wide bell shaped chamber. A fine marble fountain stood in the center of the room, fifteen feet in diameter. Instead of liquid, the fountainhead disgorged a constant trickle of some sickly puce colored gas. Heavier than the surrounding air, it pooled harmlessly in the well. An cautious, experimental whiff revealed the signature aroma of the deadly Ungol Powder, an unpleasantly sweet combination of lye soap and citrus. Some hidden mechanism was atomizing it. A floor panel near the fountain had been pried up and it was clear the controls had been tampered with. The "trap" had been disabled with mitigated success. As long as no one disturbed the gas in the pool, it should be okay to breath the air here.

Corridors lead straight and right from here.

Spoiler: Ellarie, Elias

Show

When you descended, you heard the sound of heavy claws skittering across the stone. All is silent now except the tiny hiss of gas.

[TheDarkDM]

Elias

As the group descended to the dungeon proper, Elias held out a hand. Pulling an eggshell of quail and one of duck from his spell component pouch, he crushed them together while muttering phrases in Old Azlanti. At once, his muttering faded from hearing, replaced by a stream of arcane babble in the minds of his companions.

~I have established a telepathic link. With luck, it should hold until our business here is concluded.~

Continuing down the stair, he took in the details of the formerly trapped room before calling out across the link.

~I heard skittering on the way down. I suspect something is lying in wait for us.~

[PepperP.]

Ellarie

Ellarie watched closely as Elias worked his spell. When his thoughts entered her mind directly, her eyebrows rose in surprise and admiration.

~Could he hear her admiration?~

~Oh I think I thought that out loud.~

~Oh I think they all heard that.~

She stood very still and kept her mind carefully blank for a moment while avoiding anyone's gaze. Finally she cast her own spell, which the others could identify from her studiously controlled thoughts as,

~Heroism.~

And then she pulled her sword.

~I heard the skittering too. It sounded heavy, whatever it was, so be ready.~

She tread carefully across the fountain room to continue their right hand exploration pattern with the new corridor.

[BladeofObliviom]

Spoiler

Show

Almas

"Dern doesn't actually have a daughter," said Igneous. "It's his ingrate son who put him in the home. They wouldn't let us in, but they'll have to let in "family"."

Branda explains that Dern Fosimuth is a balding elderly man with tan skin and white hair. He has a scar on his cheek. Taergan Flinn is a half elven man (in his late 30s by human appearances) with red hair, freckles and blue eyes -- that shouldn't be too hard to find.

Almas

"...Heh.", Alessandra responded with a faint smile, doing her best to lounge aloofly. "Alright, I'm in. I'll meet you here later, I suppose."

She said her goodbyes and headed out in search of Flinn's address.

[Jade_Tarem]

Amusement wafted through Kiyoko's thoughts after the initial shock had faded. ~Are you certain you wish to be mentally linked to two berserkers, Elias? Could get... noisy.~

Nonetheless, she moved to the head of the group and drew her own heavy blade, ready for whatever followed.

[Nefarion Xid]

Droskar's Crag

Moving cautiously down the right-hand passage, the party found a long, C-shaped corridor that ended in a circular chamber with a domed ceiling. Suspended by heavy black chains from the ceiling, part of a broken green crystal hung in the center, ten feet off the ground. The fragment still affixed to the ceiling seemed to contain a hooded head, but an expression of agony was clear on the part of his face that was visible. Beneath, the rest of the crystal lie shattered with petrified bits of monk held within. Whatever purpose or magic had been here had long ago faded away.

Before they could contemplate the monk's fate further, the party again heard the sound of claws rapidly scratching across stone, and then the shrieking wail of a dozen creatures rapidly approaching.

Spoiler: Init

Show

You have won initiative, but your enemies are not yet within range or visible.

[TheDarkDM]

Elias and Philip

Momentarily distracted by the hanging remains of the monk, Elias snapped into readiness at the sound of the approaching horde. Staring at Philip, he nodded as both wizards raised their hands.

~We will blunt their vanguard, if we can.~

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Elias readies an action to cast Black Tentacles down the corridor once two or more creatures become visible.

Philip readies an action to cast a Fireball centered on the Black Tentacles.

[PepperP.]

Ellarie

She had been staring at the encased head, pondering a Speak with Dead when the skittering started up again. The original skitterer had clearly invited guests to the party as it sounded like a small army of whatever flavor of undead they were about to face was about to come at them. Ell quickly blinked out of view with a Greater Invisibility and moved in front of the wizards and waited.

~I'm right in front of Philip.~

[Lord Of Mantas]

Hammerhead

Spoiler: Previously...

Show

Vigil

"Neither," Stray's voice hissed from the air, already invisible. "You're an adventurer. You know, an insufferable do-gooder that traipses into ruins because there may be monsters and candy. Just say you were able to puzzle out that the seal was broken from eye witness accounts. Only mention Aquila's journal if it's necessary. It's dangerous business to give people more information than they absolutely need. The important thing is that the Crusaders know the seal is broken and do something about it. They created the damned thing instead of killing Tar-Tar properly, so they should be the ones to patch it up."

"Your job is to get the right information into the right hands. Heads. Castle Tasteless may be the most heavily fortified location on the continent, but it's not immune to traitors. This is your project. Use your judgement and you'll be ... well, fine isn't the right word for it. Unlikely to fail within an tolerable margin of error? Come on Pun-Pun, let's pop over to Ramparassad for some pad krapow gai."

The kobold bounced up and down on the spot. "We haven't gone for Hoaian food forever! I'm going to eat a dozen pork spring rolls!"

Hammerhead raised a finger, but then lowered it.

Fair point.

He turned to Cassandra. "Well, that settles that matter. I still think you should do most of the talking, though. I couldn't bluff if my life depended on it."

He craned his head.

"Shall we?"

And with that, Hammerhead began to ask around for directions to the castle.

[Jade_Tarem]

Kiyoko

~This place needs better lighting,~ Kiyoko groused, but moved toward the general direction of the noise - in this case, down the tunnel. She wasn't quite confident that she could block it entirely, but she would certainly give it her best shot. Unsure of what was coming, she went with her standard fight preparation. Muttering a few arcane syllables that her mentally linked companions could easily identify as a shield spell, she paused for a moment, unsure of what they would think of what happened next.

Hells with it. The tiefling's thoughts grew strange. It had been described as a bloodrage, and she had been pissed the first time she'd gone into this state, but it was less anger and more the overwhelming sense of something that could seem like arrogance, or megalomania, or even solipsism, but was none of those things. It was the simple and unshakable belief that she was too damn *special* to die here, and the ugly reality that part of the universe agreed.

Not every destiny was a cheerful one. But that thought, one of the last un-warped ones that went through Kiyoko's mind before the bloodrage took hold, she kept to herself. Then she was cloaked in shadows and lightning. ~Heh. Heheh. HuhuhahahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAAAAA!~

[Nefarion Xid]

Droskar's Crag

The cacophony of hungry shrieking grew closer. A tense few seconds passed and the first wave of ghouls rounded the corner, only to be greeted by a flurry of magic. The first four (and likely some still out of sight) were instantly reduced to ash).

"Wizardsss!" hissed one of the creatures down the corridor. "Alert the massster!"

[TheDarkDM]

Elias

The wizard knight's smile was a brilliant white in the light of his apprentice's fire, and it only grew broader at mention of a master. Perhaps this ruin held further arcane secrets! With a wave, his tentacles dispersed back into the ground whence they'd come, leaving behind the ashen bodies of their attackers. He fell into a courtly bow.

~After you, ladies.~

[Jade_Tarem]

Kiyoko...

...was a little beyond courtly bows, but she did at least fall in with the general plan and took off after the retreating undead. "Come on," she said out loud, "this is just disgraceful. Creatures of the night fleeing from mortals?"

[PepperP.]

Ellarie

Elias's thought was the only encouragement she needed. Ellarie activated her boots with a word and sped ahead with a thought.

~Always a gentleman.~

[TheDarkDM]

Philip

Seeing everyone rush off after the distant voices, Philip muttered a fly spell of his own and followed behind.

~Are we fighting a necromancer!? This is just like one of my Galtan penny dreadfuls!~