Kalvin draws his longsword and steps up right in front of the creature.
Grimacing from the stench he swings with all his might.
and misses terribly. Good thing I'm immune to disease.
The Walking Dead - Round 2 - continued
23 Crux
8 Tina (had been delaying)
19 Kalvin
14 Marnos
13 Creature (10hp dmg)
4 Travigan (shielded)
Tina tosses one of her incendiary concoctions at the patchwork creature, and the bomb scores a hit. The blast and fire seem to damage and char the dead flesh making the stench, if anything, more potent.
Gritting his teeth, Kalvin trusts in his protector, and steps right to the fore, challenging the angry golem directly. His slashing deflects off the creatures dead flesh without causing damage, and Kalvin braces for the punishing hits from the monster.
Nearby, Marnos gives up the bow, trading out for a melee weapon of his own, the jagged edged falcata. He casts a blessing on himself, invoking Erastil's favor to guide him in combat.
Roaring as his flesh begins to drip off, the carrion golem swings his brawny arms into Kalvin, powerfully enough that the paladin feels it even through his armor for 13 dmg.
'
Crux finishes his incantation and a squat shape rises from the ground behind the golem (or behind Kalvin and Crux will command it to earthglide behind the golem) and slams it with its earthen fist.
Earth Elemental Slam: earth mastery, flank, power attack
Meanwhile Crux tries to aid the fight by targeting the golem with a wand.
Wand of Acid Splash: RTouch, fire into melee
Confirm Crit Earth Elemental Slam: earth mastery, flank, power attack
Travigan strides up and tries to bring his massive hammer to bear without affording the creature any openings, but the tight quarters and overwhelming stench steal the strength from his swing and the hammer glances off the golem before slamming into the floor.
HP: 11/25
AC: 24 (13 T / 21 FF)
CMD: 16
F/R/W: +5/+1/+3 (+2 vs enchant, immune sleep)
Rage Rounds used: 5/8
Claw Rounds used: 0/5
Spell Slots used:
Level 1: [X] [ ]
-Ongoing Effects-
shield: +4 shield bonus to AC
power attack: -1 to hit, +3 damage
fighting defensively: -4 to hit, +2 dodge
HP 24/24
AC 20/T14/FF16
Saves F6R7W1
Current Effects:Mutagen(+4 Dex -2 Wis +2 Natural AC 30 minutes,+2 ranged Bab)
2/8 bombs
Tina flings a dart at the creature, picking out the best time to throw between the weaving bodies.
The Walking Dead - Round 2 - concluded
Travigan, stepping around to get close to the golem, swings his hammer mightly, but the blow misses the golem and rings off the floor of the chamber with a clang.
End of round 2
Kalvin? Are you pulling back? I can heal you with my wand.
The Walking Dead - Round 3
23 Crux
8 Tina
19 Kalvin
14 Marnos
13 Creature (10hp dmg)
4 Travigan (shielded)
His strange summoning incantation over, Crux brings forth a small earth elemental which glides under the golem, rises up behind it, and smashes it with its mighty rock fists.
The unprepared golem is crushed by elemental, and it falls flat on its face the life force it once possessed snuffed out of it for good.
Marnos steps over and casts a healing spell on the injured paladin restoring a bit of his lost vitality.
End of Combat
The room beyond the door, where the golem was confined, once a pantry, is in shambles. Broken crates and shelves lie strewn about the place, with the foodstuffs, firewood, and other supplies they contained scattered across the floor.
A severed and tattooed arm, obviously belonging to a Shoanti man, lies at the feet of the now crushed golem
Tina starts tapping Kalvin
Crux bends down and inspects the arm before picking it up carefully. He wraps it and puts it away, as best he can, in his pack. [b]"It would seem that we are on the right trail.
Travigan takes a look at the stitching that made the shoanti arm part of the patchwork golem and hopes it might shed some light as to how recently it had been attached. "I hope you're right, Marnos, but I've got a bad feelin' down in my gut 'bout this one. This necromancer we're after's been up to th' foulest of th' foul."
"I only hope that we find the rest of him in one piece."
The arm does not appear to be decomposed much, which leads you to believe it has only recently died or been separated from the rest of the body. Maybe a day or two at most.
Anything that was once of value in the pantry has been smashed to bits by the tantrums of the carrion golem. Only broken and useless items remain. There are no obvious ways in or out of the pantry besides the door from the alchemy lab.
There is a leading to the east from that lab, or you can back track to the unexplored areas off the skull corridor.
Tina sighs at all the death and carnage. Well, east then.
As Tina tends to Kalvin, Travigan waves her over for a few of the wand's ministrations as well. "Blasted thing packed a wallop."
He nods at Tina's suggestion to head further east rather than back-tracking, and as the group begins to shuffle in that direction he adds, "So, does anyone know what happened ta me back there? Did I... ah, I feel a fool even fer askin'- but was that magic? How'd it happen?" He looks around at the others, plainly perplexed and hoping for an answer.
Kalvin whispers a silent prayer to the Goddess in thanks. Then turns to Tina; "Thank you."
He then turns to Crux: "Suppose you're useful after all. Thank you for saving me back there."
And offers his hand.
"I suppose I have my moments. Just make sure to stay between my person and any danger that may come at us."
"Without a chance to properly test and inspect you, I would agree with Marnos' assessment. Mr Frost, I hope that you are very careful. The magic can be more a curse than a blessing."
"You two're sayin' I'm a wizard or somesuch?" Travigan shakes his head and scratches thoughtfully at his thick beard. "Nah, I'm too old fer that mess. After helpin' you lot it's back to the forge. I've no time nor care for th' Academy, that's fer certain." His complaints slowly turn shift into mumbled, unintelligible grunts and huffs as he and the others move eastward.
"Good thinking, blacksmith."
The passage to the east leaves behind cut stone work, and transitions back to the jagged edges of natural stone caverns. This cave system leads east for about 30' before a branch in the cave tunnels splits the way.
Left!
The group follows Tina's vociferous call to the left, and after winding up a passage for a bit, they find themselves at a solid wood door. No sounds emanate from the far side of the door, and it does not appear to be locked (or trapped).
Tina gets her Bomber's Eye extract in hand for possible bombing action.
Crux considers Majenko, who is wisely keeping an eye behind them, for a moment before focusing his attention on the door and the mystery of what may lay beyond it.
Irritated at the delay, Travigan brushes the door open with a sarcastic flourish. Inside, the nauseating smell of decay and strange chemicals fills the air of this large room. Glinting saws, pliers, long stitching needles, and other surgical equipment are organized on shelves and benches along the walls. A sturdy wooden table in the center of the room supports a large humanoid shape -- a thing stitched together from a patchwork of a dozen different bodies. The thing would stand nearly 7 feet tall, if it rose.
You can see the head is strangely small for the massive frame of the creation. The head also appears to have brown hair and bearing a distinctive scar on his left cheek. This description matches that of Gaekhen, the Shoanti youth whom you were sent here to find.
*Urrrp.....Ughhh.*
"Oh! This might not go over well with his people." Crux cranes his neck to see the workshop better.
Tina hacks a bit, spitting something out of her mouth. Uh..Let us try to remove the head carefully and wrap it up. Oh...I don't think enough remains for a reassembly.
"If one of you strong folk would kindly insure that its not active, I will separate the portion that we require."
Um I might be able to do that.
Tina pokes the sewn together corpse with he spear, and when it doesn't respond she bows with a flourish motioning for Crux to go about his business.
Crux goes to work trying to remove the handiwork of someone who has quite seriously attached this head to another neck. He slowly unknots the suturing, and soon the head is free of the rest of the construct.
Once he's done, Crux will do his best to wrap up the head.
Crux is able to get the head apart, mostly intact. He stuffs the prize into the bag with the tattooed arm, hoping they get out of here before those parts start smelling too ripe.
So South I guess. Although, I get this strange feeling that there might be a hidden door in the north wall where we fought the dwarf and golem.
So South I guess. Although, I get this strange feeling that there might be a hidden door in the north wall where we fought the dwarf and golem.
The color leaves Travigan's face as the group enters the laboratory and the reality of the patchwork creation comes to light. "Ugh. Gods above, what kind of twisted, godless, madman would do something like this? This blighted necromancer we're huntin's a mud-sucking monster if ye ask me. Gods."
As Crux secures the head of the Shoanti youth, Travigan turns his ear to the northeast passage, listening for the sounds of hurried footfalls in case their quarry heard them coming and fled.
Kalvin remains strangely quiet as the party looks over the body. He looks over the bodies that are stitched together and takes a deep breath.
"I need to say rites, these remains belonged to people, some good, some evil, but all had souls and all deserve their rest. None deserve this abomination."
He recites the rites of the Inheritor over them, then some ecumenical rites he learned while studying to be a Cleric.
"Let us cleanse this place with fire."
He takes a look around for oil.
Tina is ready to head after Travigan
"Do not be so hasty with that fire, good paladin. We may have need of this area when it is time to make our egress. In addition, we do not know how well ventilated this place is."
Aye, lots of smoke.