Not about to let her quarry escape, Khan leaps from the roof and hits the ground with a damage-reducing roll which lands her right next to the fleeing lord. (Slow Fall reaction.)

-> Fall damage: 17 -> all of which are nullified by the reaction.

Eager to put an end to this fight and finally get her revenge, Khan performs a couple of flourished attacks with her axe. Perhaps the orange grung was a bit too eager, as both swipes pass wide of their target, with or without an aiding leap. Her stubbornness wins out at the end, accompanied by some menacing words, as a jumping high kick meets the lord's temple. Finally, Khan hears a satisfying crunch sound. Lord Weirding drops immediately after that. As he hits the floor, flakes of dead dry skin puff upward.

After all his almighty words and certainty of victory, Lord Weirding finally dies while pitifully trying to run away on foot, his back turned to his foes.(Lord Weirding takes 4 bludgeoning damage and is DEFEATED.)

END OF INITIATIVE ROUND 18.

WE ARE NOW OUT OF INITIATIVE. YOU MAY DO AS YOU WILL. 

Darrik looks vaguely disappointed at how pitifully the wizard died.  He shrugs, walks up, and gives one last kick for good measure.

Khan wears just the biggest smile as she stood over crumpled form of old squid head wierdling. Darrik and anyone else already close enough are allotted their brief moment to kick his corpse. But, only that moment would be her gift of shared spite prior to adjusting her grip on the axe, and then raising it high.

"Mess with Grung. Get bell Rung." She stated triumphantly. Then down came the axe to sever his head. Once. Twice. No matter how many strokes it took to get through the rubbery flesh and bones, the Orange was determined to see it severed and free. From there she wastes little time in moving on towards finding one of the guards spears or two to make another head on the spike. This one she would of course take with her when they finally depart.

If after all that Ang or the rest haven't searched his body for something useful, only then did she call for the Grung and gesture tot he body with the head before turning it to the building. "We take. Then Burn." She emphasizes.

Before all of that however, B'leep(and maybe Ghee?) is still upstairs(or close enough) with the girl. If he'd been paying attention, he too could put together she was the supposedly ailing daughter of Wierdling.

He would also know that once Khan finished her business down below, that if she sees the kid, things are unlikely to be pretty. Not after everything Wierdling had done to them....

Saros's shoulders slump with relief, the stress of clinging onto conciousness during the past minutes of battle slowly falling away as he catches his breath and bows his head, relieved that the fighting is over for now.

After about 30 seconds, Saros lifts his head and drags himself wearily to his feet, and after tucking the potion of healing into one of his pockets, joins the others near Wierdings remains, which he gives a kick for good measure himself, wearily adding "Go rot in whatever hell awaits you", before turning to the others "I could use a rest, but best check the bodies first, if we have 10 minutes I can find anything with a magical aura.  Can those gates be closed and barred?"

If given the okay to take the time, Saros will cast Detect Magic as a ritual, and then check Weirding's and Mez's bodies as a priority, before quickly checking the Kamadan's and guards, then will check the front doors for any sign of magic as well (just in case), before reporting back his findings to the rest.

OOC: What about that 'girl' that was seen through the window - seemed like she was important to Wierding (not that Saros is aware that she is in that room) - suggest we consider checking that out as quickly as possible (would hate to think that Wierding has kept another body to inhabit should something happen to him...just a wild nightmare guess), as well as securing this manor and checking the bodies.

"Do what wish." Is Khan's curt response after the beheading and subsequent beginning process of affixing it to a spear(see previous post). "If find things, let know." She growls out, seeming half annoyed at the mild interruption of her trophy making duties. After it though, Khan is considerably less moody, but still carried a certain intense air about her. As if the fires of vengeance hadn't quite fully worked its way out of her system yet.

Bleep will climb back down to search the bodies, as well.

"Bloop here somewhere. Need to look everywhere in building."

Calmly watching Khan remove the head of Lord Weirding, Ghee can't help but feel relived that they managed to bring him down and is proud that his pupil has the presence of mind to put things beyond doubt.

Picking up on Saros' point about the gates, Ghee moves over to check whether they could close the gates or even barricade them.

Investigation 10

Returning to the group, Ghee looks over the severed head, "Nae idea aboot whit this ugly bugger is. Saros, any clue as tae why he seemed tae hate ye in particular?"

Ang can finally breath. She quickly checks the team and sees that all are alive. "A masterwork, Ang" she tells to herself.
She approaches cautiously the inert creature and stab it with her rapier in order to ascertain that there was no more life in that body. With her knife, she cuts a small piece of a tentacle and  says to the other "Trophy... This was a fight that will be sang for decades in our tribe.".

She then look around her, "What now ? Our revenge has been served. Let's plunder this place, look for other Grung prisoners and go back in the jungle. This is no place for grung"

Quote from MoistBooks >>

Calmly watching Khan remove the head of Lord Weirding, Ghee can't help but feel relived that they managed to bring him down and is proud that his pupil has the presence of mind to put things beyond doubt.

Picking up on Saros' point about the gates, Ghee moves over to check whether they could close the gates or even barricade them.

Investigation 10

Returning to the group, Ghee looks over the severed head, "Nae idea aboot whit this ugly bugger is. Saros, any clue as tae why he seemed tae hate ye in particular?"

In response to Ghee's question, Saros says "Good question" and reflects on what Wierding actually was, and will respond by telling them anything he recalls from his memory.

Arcana/Investigation: 16

 At Bleep's request, Khan looked uncomprehendingly at Bleep for a while before realization finally dawns on her. Unfortunately, there was an order to all things among the grungs. So, in using the opening provided by Ang's inquiry, Khan tapped the butt of her new trophy staff (by then bearing Wierdling's head) against the ground. "Revenge not done. Still need plunder. Still need burn home to ground. Then -- THEN revenge done." She reminds Ang. "If can unlock, open front door. You and B'leep do this. Once inside we search. But we do so carefully. Might be more traps." She expresses, and with the command given, finally looked between Saros and Ghee, having only just processed the latter's question.

If there's anything relevant to worry about in his assertions, she would listen with rapt attention and try to adjust accordingingly in plans. But if not, she shook her head and somewhat impatiently asked if he at least sensed anything else magical from the main body of Wierdling and Mez, prior to then joining whoever between Ang or Bleep got the front door unlocked(if possible).  

Darrik, Ang, and Saros get close to the body and deliver a final kick or stab for good measure. Khan escalates the situation quickly by beheading the tentacled creature, and creating a totem of sorts. 

The party then deliberates a little on next steps. They seem to agree on some calculated pillaging and burning, caring little or even showing disdain for the young girl they surmise is Weirding's daughter. Bleep reminds the group they have one more green grung sibling to account for, Saros mentions a certain book they need to find, and Darrik remembers something about a kenku... :)

Once the group agrees, Saros spends some time casting a ritual. Once the spell is enacted, the gnome makes sure to walk by every body in the courtyard while searching for magical sources. Other members of the party follow him in order to aid in rummaging pockets and whatnot. Nonetheless, to their collective disappointment, the only sources of magic they find are the faint ones coming from simple enchanted rods both the lord and his pupil used as arcane foci. Other than robes, simple guard weapons and armor, and the jaguars' musk, the enemies seem to be carrying very little. Some of the guards were carrying coins though, and the group collects 72gp. Lord Weiding was also carrying a slightly decorated metal key.

While this is happening, Ghee approaches the main gate and concludes it can fairly easily be closed and latched shut. It is not very robust, though, and it is easy to see that the main source of security was always meant to be the wall, the moat, and the guards, nut not the gate itself. Regardless, Ghee closes the gate as best as he can.

Once these immediate errands are accomplished, the group reunites and Ghee asks if Saros knows more details about what the lord may actually be. As scholars from Candlekeep, both Saros and Darrik know that the lord was most certainly a mind flayer, an originally extra-planar group of aberrations that feed on the brains and mental acuity of other beings. They don't usually live isolated, however, which leads Darrik to conclude that this one was somehow shunned. Saros agrees and posits that its ability to cast wizardly spells in addition to its innate psionics may be behind such shunning, as such efforts are considered despicable within the mind flayer society because they lead individuals away from their hive mind and corrupt them with the urge to seek immortality or lichdom. Lord Weirding's lack of a mind flayer's ever-present mucus coating is evidence of at least partial lichdom. Saros additionally knows that such a vile ritual must be anchored by a phylactery or a periapt of mind trapping, and that partial mind flayer liches, also known as alhoons, often have to settle for the least powerful of those two alternatives, the periapt of mind trapping.

Regarding the demonstrated dislike toward Saros, the wizard concludes that mind flayers simply did not like to share the Underdark with other races they considered to be inferior, or on par with cattle.

After Saros shares this info, Khan asks Bleep or Ang to unlock the manor's front door.  

After relaying much of the information that Saros recalls, he goes on to add "If Wierding has a periapt containing his essence, then he is not truly dead, despite the destruction of this body.  To truly kill him, we must find and destroy it.  It will be his most prized possession and likely guarded......but I wonder, his reaction at the window to the girl was intense....there is a possibility that she might be connected to the monster - she should be our first stop, but perhaps we have time for a short rest before proceeding?"

OOC: Knowing what he knows now, Saros does suspect that the girl might be bonded to Wierding somehow....I want to get a couple of spell slots back that might prove useful so a short rest to recover some HP and some spells would be appreciated.

Ang nods “ a Rest sounds good. Can we check that the entrance doors of the manor are close ? I Don’t want any surprises .”

"An' other reason tae be rid o' him then? Whit's this mind trappin' business all aboot then? Ye sayin' it could be a wee girlie?"

Ghee pauses for a few moments then considers this, "Surely we need tae enter the gaff thru tha windae then?

Nodding towards the window of the mansion, to emphasize his point.

Regardless of how the others are heading inside the building, Ghee will ascend his grapple with the intention of retrieving it, before entering the house on an upper floor.

Athletics - 9

(OOC Still not back in RNGesus' good books!)

The more Khan hears of what and who Wierdling truly was, the deeper her scowl, and the more conflicted her desire to do more with her grim trophy. Yet a few moments after the telling, Khan took the first deep breath to calm her nerves. Though, Ang's comment about the doors elicits a flash of annoyance out of the Orange, as she had bid Ang in the first place to open/unlock them. That way it would ease any looting they would have to do, as it was no doubt going to be at least somewhat extensive.

However, when the conversation turns back to the girl, which she had frankly not paid much mind to during her battle frenzy, Khan states, "Rest not bad. But better inside at least. Can secure better against more Ogres and goblins to come. Not need go far inside for that." She expresses, but with dimming hope the other Grung even understood it. Her crappy common aside, Ang at least seemed to be suffering from a concussion. So, taking a page from Ghee, but doing things the Grung way, she strapped her gory new trophy to her backpack, face and tendrils facing behind her, and sprang up the walls in order to beat Ghee into the room.

If the kid hadn't somehow fled the room by then, or hidden herself within somehow (Perception: 9(if needed)), she had every intention of making her first goal be knocking the kid out and tying her up. And she would not slow or stop along the way if it could be helped to listen to any pleas, leery of another Mez situation and having magic get involved again.

If no-one else has taken possession of the key found on Wierding, Saros takes it and (assuming that there was no magic evident on the front doors) checks to see if the key will open that door.

The party suddenly realizes that finding the periapt of mind trapping is perhaps their most important next step in assuring Lord Weirding is indeed dead. Saros posits that the girl might have something to do with it all, but asks for a moment of rest before proceeding. Although the group agrees, Ghee's curiosity gets the best of him and the dwarf can't help but to make his way to the climbing rope to check on the girl. He begins to climb, but progress is slow.

Ang asks about the front door, receiving in response a mean look from Khan. The orange grung decides not to address the puzzling point directly, instead leaving the conversation to join her old master in climbing toward the broken window. Meanwhile, Saros reaches for the key Lord Weirding dropped and starts to make his way toward the front door. 

Despite giving him a head start and having to adjust her new trophy before climbing, Khan easily overtakes Ghee on their one-sided vertical race toward the window. The girl is sitting on the corner, hugging her knees, and crying. Her fear is apparent. Upon seeing Khan on the window, her frame gets even smaller. By the time the orange grung makes her way into the room and closer to the girl (intent on knocking her out), Ghee's face appears on the window and he witnesses the saddening scene. Khan forms a fist, raises it, and then... a mental blast burst out of the girl's own head alongside a deafening screech. Terror overtakes her being:

-> INT saving throw {DC 16}: Damage: 25 

• Khan (Bless): 10
• Ghee: 6

The mind blast is too much for the nearly exhausted monks to take. Khan drops unconscious just a few feet away from the screaming and crying girl. Ghee releases his grip on the rope and/or window and begins to fall while also being unconscious.

-> Fall damage: 19 -> which translate into one failed DEATH saving throw.

Ghee hits the ground like a sack of potatoes (DEATH saving throws: 0:1). Just as he hears the loud thud, Saros finishes turning the key in the keyhole and easily unlocks the manor's front door.

(Ghee and Khan each take 25 psychic damage and are now stunned, unconscious, incapacitated, and prone. All others can see Ghee, but not Khan. I'll ask @MB and @Ori to each roll one, and only one, DEATH saving throw for now, while we wait to see how the others will react. They can also roll the INT save again to see if they get rid of the stunned condition.) 

Death Save: 8.

Int Save: 23.

Ang hears the commotion and sees Ghee falling flat. She rushes to him and uses again some of her medicinal herbs to bring him back to life.
(Action: 1 use of my healing kits)

Death save: 3

INT check: 21