Khessa's CON save: 13

Con save 14 

To keep things moving, I'll roll..

Mud's CON save: 9

As the party continues along, winding their way down the surprisingly long tunnel, both Mud and Erven feel weary and tired, the strange green magic sapping them of vitality. Jack and Tabitha also start to feel these effects, but manage to shake them off.

Mud and Erven, your walking speeds are each reduced by 10ft until you can rest.

After what seems like an eternity trudging through the oppressive, sapping magic, you come to the place that Ariel got to before, right as she succumbed to the draining magic. You can see the chamber up ahead, when something happens.

As you approach, a buzzing sound fills your head, a continual pounding pulse that gives you a splitting headache. The energy ebbs and flows around you, motes and tendrils of eldritch power floating through the air, sizzling when they make contact with something.

The pulsing grows louder and heavier, white spots flashing in your vision as the never-ending beat pounds against your skull, eliciting gasps of pain from those among you with a lower pain tolerance. It becomes more and more debilitating, until you can barely walk.

Then, the pressure breaks, disappearing in an instant. You breath a sigh of relief, the pain now gone. Until a wave of power hits you, rolling out from the chamber beyond, setting your ears ringing and sending you sprawling to the ground as the force of the blast leaves stars in your eyes, as if you had been hit in the face with a hammer. It is not pleasant.

What do you do?

OOC: God, my head hurts just writing that. Or maybe it's the fact I haven't drunk water all day.

Erven is feeling ill, and now his head his pounding, he slowly stands and looks with his superior umbral sight into the chamber beyond, trying to see what he can and make sense of what happened.   “What the hell….are we under attack?”

Perception : (Nat 20!) : 23

Kit struggles to beat back the ringing in her ears and the pounding in her head as her hand gropes for the lost longsword. Finding it, she struggles to her feet and moves forward to place herself between the threat ahead and as many of the others as she can.

"Khessa, form up. We need to hold the line."

(Free Action: Pick up longsword, Movement: Stand up from prone & move 15' forward, Action: Divine Sense, Bonus Action: Bardic Inspiration on Khessa)

Khessa gets up quickly, not having fully understood what hit her, but, as always when she is attacked, determined to strike back!

"Of course Kit!" the blonde arcane warrior is at her side in an instant, with the heavy blade of the Greatsword well balanced and ready to slash.

"Come on, people!" the tall adventurer advances towards the chamber, urging her friends to do the same, while she keeps herself on the front lines with Kitiara "Let's go meet the person who gave us this welcome. It would be rude not to reciprocate, don't you think?"

Ketangu loses his humanoid shape and tuns into a puddle. Jagged ripples of pain course over his body. After a moment he slowly rises and reforms his humanoid shape. "Yes, lets hurry. I not sure how much of this I can stand" 

He follows Khessa in hopes of finding the source of this radiating pain. 

Perception

18 - rolled in game log

The dark-haired young man is groaning with pain as he gets up behind the others, rubbing his temples. "That was quite...unpleasant. Better put a quick end to whatever shenanigans those pesky cultists are up to." He says, quietly following the others but trying to keep hidden in the back

Stealth: 10
Perception: 23

The party, disoriented but now fueled by determination and anger, marches forward. Kit and Khessa lead the way, blades at the ready. Erven's eyes dart from crevice to crevice, his keen elven ears picking up every single detail. Ketangu oozes forward, ready to be rid of the cult, and Jack sneaks behind the others, unseen and unheard, though his view is blocked by the rest of the party.

Finally, you step out into the ritual chamber. It is a wide, rough-hewn circular space of stone, the domed ceiling rising 20ft above your heads. Strange, glowing, arcane runes cover every inch of the walls, floor, and ceiling, the patterns twisting and writhing upon the wall as if alive. These runes also pulse, growing dimmer by the second as the thing before you seems to suck up their energy. A raised dais, the steps worn and cracked, is before you.

On top of the dais is a monstrous creature, more than twelve feet tall. It appears to be some sort of flesh abomination, it's body stitched together from the bodies of countless victims, whose parts which weren't used lie scattered around the chamber, rotting and covered in flies. The creature itself has a twisted visage, it's face consisting of a wide, smiling fanged mouth, alongside a massive nose and three beady black eyes, one of which is set into it's forehead. The creature's arms are long and muscular, ending in seven fingered hands topped with sickle-like claws.

But most horrifying of all is the blanket of shadow that covers it, a set of ethereal armor covering it's whole body. As you watch, tortured faces can be seen floating in and out of view, the shifting nature of the dark shroud bringing the faces up as if they were bobbing up from deep water, then sinking back down. The faces are ones of anguish and unimaginable pain, as if undergoing the most horrible kinds of torture you can imagine.

Next to the abomination is a small, slight man. His eyes are crazed, his hair patchy and messy. His nose twitches like a rat, his maniacal eyes darting about as he stares in awe and glee at his creation. He does not seem to notice you, his attention completely focused on the golem.

Khessa feels an unspeakable rage rising toward the slight man both for the horror he has caused to the shroud's souls, and for the crimes he must have committed to obtain the various body parts, and for the atrocities he will be capable of committing if he is allowed to finish his work! The fury is such that she doesn't even seem to feel the fatigue from the previous fight anymore [[ Using Second Wind to regain HP ]].

Then, since he does not seem to notice the party, the blonde arcane warrior leaps upon him [[ OOC: hopefully by surprise? ]] promptly bringing the heavy blade of her greatsword down on him between the head and neck.

[[ OOC: Waiting for DM's approval before rolling for the attack... It's ok? Do we surprise him, since he doesn't seem to notice us? Or does something happen that prevents us? ]]

Khessa's Second Wind allows her to recover 7 HP

Rolling a stealth check for Khessa to see if he notices her: 9 (Game Log). He does, sadly. 

As the man giggles excitedly, Khessa dashes forward, and raises her blade to kill the man. But, before she can, he looks up, concern and anger in his eyes. His hand reaches up, and an invisible force stops the blade from landing, held back by the man's apparent magical power.

He looks at Khessa, and begins to chuckle, then laugh, then outright guffaw "Come to play, have we?" he says in a reedy voice, his unnaturally long tongue lolling and flicking. He surges his magic, and sends Khessa stumbling back with the force of it as his power pushes the blade away.

"Then play we can. But first, I must introduce you to my little helper here. Champion, animate!" he commands the golem in a harsh tone, which it does, unfreezing from it's rigid position. It looks around, then at the man.

Suddenly, the eyes of the abomination are wreathed in violet flame as a malevolent intellect springs to life in its cold eyes. A voice issues from the fanged mouth of the golem "Zalryr, my servant. You have done well." the raspy voice says, it's words crackling and popping like logs in a fire. Though not a comfortable fire, more one that threatens to burn out of control and destroy your house. One of burning hatred. "But you have served your purpose, and my new engine requires souls"

"Souls, yes" the man, Zalryr giggles, not comprehending the golem's meaning "Look at these offerings I have brought you!" He says, with the glee of a dog bringing it's owner a dead, mangled squirrel.

At the lie, for the man did not bring you here, the flames of the golem flare with anger "You did not bring these offerings to me. They found our lair because you and your band of fools was not careful. Besides, they are too good, too pure!" the eyes of the abomination turn to Khessa, boring into her as if seeing her soul laid bare. "The souls of the secretive and twisted, that is what will make me strong"

"Where would we find souls like that?" Zalryr says. Clearly, he is an idiot. 

"Right here" the raspy voice chuckles, then, quick as lightning, it's clawed hand shoots out, wrapping around the man's neck. He squeaks, but then the golem clenches its hand and twists, and Zalryr falls limp. The golem tosses the body aside, and turns it's gaze to you, it's crackling voice filled with amusement at the murder it just committed. "Now, who have we here?"

Khessa does not care to reply to the murderous golem, but tries to move and understand whether the previous repelling force is still in place or, not. She hopes not, since Zalryr is dead...

If she is now free to move, the blonde arcane warrior focuses on the magic runes. 'Let's see how good you fare without their power, Mr Stiched' she thinks, determined, pointing her finger with an elegant gesture and a quick formula.

Magical fire springs from the tall adventuress' hand and burns a glowing rune, rendering it unreadable.

[[ OOC: Fire bolt can damage objects too, not only creatures, and I guess it will be more than enough to burn a single rune... unless it was written with fire-proof ink! It should  work even if the rune it's carved, unless the carving is very deep. ]]

(Are we in initiative?)

The conversation had quickly piqued the young dark-haired man's curiosity, stepping out of the shadows to join in. "Apologies for intruding on you at this indecent hour, I love what you have done with this place, green has always been my favourite colour." He says, calmly glancing about the ritual chamber. "Now, as you already correctly have surmised we are here to find whoever killed this woman's brother, but now it seems we have found ourselves in something quite spectacular. You are obviously quite powerful and yet I don't think I've ever heard of you even though I'd like to think I know about any important goings on in the city. I'm sorry we can't contribute to your greatness, don't think no one ever accused me of being neither good nor pure though. I can only assmue you will have to kill us quickly to keep your little secret down here so you might as well gloat a bit over your master plan first." He continues with an amused smile, standing at the entrance, trying to distract the champion while his companions find good positions from where to strike.

Persuasion/Deception to keep the conversation going a little bit: 19

Erven uses that opportunity to slip into the shadows, to remain unseen.  He slowly pulls his bow over his shoulder, preparing an arrow.  His faces contorts in revulsion looking at the massive undead golem and the necromancer.  There is no talking out of this situation.  They will not be allowed to leave this room alive…

There is no initiative. For now...

Khessa, testing to make sure her blade isn't still restrained, which it thankfully is not, backs up a little. Her palm glows with energy as she sends out a bolt of flame towards a particularly vibrant rune on the wall, which is hit by the blast and stops moving, it's glow fading. The rest of the runes continue to move and slither along the surfaces though.

Jack steps forward, and begins to talk. During this little speech, the abomination watches, a bit confused as why this mortal is saying all these things. After the warlock is done talking, the champion responds "My master plan? You wish to know it? Why? It is not like you will be able to stop me. With this new form, I can easily capture Lord Neverember..."

"Wait...You tricked me!" the flames of the champion flare once again, anger filling its void-like eyes "Stop your foolery, impudent trickster. Now, will you submit, or will you make this hard on both of us?" it says, raising a clawed hand, ready to strike

Erven takes the chance to sneak away, hiding in the shadows of the dimly light room, ready to strike. He draws his bow, ready to fire when the time is right.

While Mr Stiched is kept busy by Jack (to whom she addresses a furtive grateful smile), Khessa keeps burning runes, as many as she can, choosing from runes that are part of diffetent patterns, so to ruin as many patterns as possible. 

Maybe the runes have already served their purpose, but seeing them still active leads the blonde arcane warrior to think that's not the case. They look soooo nicer when they are burned and turned off...

"Surely you can't blame a man for being curious. As for Lord Neverember I will be happy to report to him what your intentions were even though you never even got to leave this chamber." The young dark-haired man says in a mocking tone now, backing off further if needed to stay out off the reach of the abomination, using his fey magic to create a mote of fire flaring up before the fleshy construct's grisly face.

(Minor Illusion, also using Misty step if necessary to get away :-)