Biff still mutters something inaudible when he jumps up and tries to punch Allister. The fighter ducks under the blow and tries to thrust his rapier into his enemyˋs midsection but he jumps back. With a primal scream Biff runs towards Allister and tries to grab him. He doesn’t move an inch and only extends his arm. Biffˋs eyes widen as the burning blade pierces his heart. Allister pushes the rapier forward till he faces Biff. „The yuan-ti dumbed the company in this place. Details matter, my friend.“ He pulls the blade out and Biffˋs lifeless body falls to the ground
As the creature falls limply back, his features fade. His hair molds into his head, becoming part of the thing's hairless, grey skin. His face becomes devoid of any real features, almost like a blank slate. It seems 'Biff' was the doppelganger after all.
Nenne casts a long, silent look at the body of the doppelganger. She leans her back against the wall, resting her head against it, and shifts her gaze toward the heavens.
"I'm tired."
Listlessly, she tugs her prayer book out of her back, slides down to the floor, and begins her ritual. In time, her eyes flash their distinctive red as Kelemvor augments her vision, and she does a perfunctory sweep of her surroundings.
Nenne finds magic infusing the plate mail of the armored woman. The armor seems to be made of aome sort of hardened animal carapace. The woman's greatsword and longbow are in serviceable condition - she had 16 arrows.
The drow carries a spellbook bearing numerous spells, a dagger, and a quarterstaff carved in the likeness of claw gripping the moon. The staff doesn't show as magic to Nenne's detection.
After an hour of resting and attempting to read her prayer book, Nenne rises gingerly and looks at her friends. "I take it we are not going to remain here. To my mind, we have two choices: we can continue exploring this floor, or we can retreat to an upper level."
"Aside from I'Jin's tomb, we have ignored the wine tunnel and the sunlight sarcophagus. We may discover something useful there to help us against Acererak. There are also the dwarves, as much as I think that hunt would be folly. Or..." and she sighs deeply "...we could press onward here."
"Given how deadly looking into a mirror was, I cannot say I like our chances with our remaining resources. Also," her cheeks turn bluer, "I don't trust m-" She bites her tongue to silence herself, suddenly vexed.
"What are your thoughts?" she finishes eventually.
Allister takes some time during the rest with the magical plate armor. With a nod and a grin, the fighter begins swapping out his armor for the newly acquired gear. Nenne and Boosey help with some of the harder to reach straps. Allister gives his mobility some testing before adding the helmet. He seems surprisingly agile in light in the stuff for its weight. Smiling, Allister adds the helmet. Suddenly his whole bodys stiffens and a small cry of pain escapes his lips. He collapses to the ground with pooling blood all around him.
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"Allister!" Nenne knocks the helmet away and places her hands on his bloody head as a sunburst of red healing energy sears through her fingers. (Cure Wounds at 3rd level for 20 healing)
"That's it, we're going upstairs!" she shouts as she fumbles in her pack for bandages.
As Boosey tugs on the armor, he is horrified to find small scorpion tails, burrowed into Allister's skin. Tugging on the armor while watching these indicates that they will have to be ripped free to remove the armor.
Boosey spots the scorpions tails and stops pulling off the armour and tries to suppress a gag reaction. “Is there any way we can get these out without killing him?”
"No, the skin healed around them, look. Perhaps if he unattuned to it? I know nothing of the arcane, but I doubt cursed objects are that forgiving. And if this isn't cursed, I don't want to know how nefarious it needs to be to qualify." She growls in frustration and continues to mop the blood away. "I can fix it, possibly. But it will drain me considerably. If it even succeeds. That-" and she tosses a pained look at Boosey - "and I had wanted to save it for you, if we survived this day."
“Don’t worry about me. I can live with,” and he motions to his changed body, “this. However, if that armour is going to keep damaging our fighter, we should find a way to get it off him”.
Allister gets back to his feet.He nods his thanks to everyone who took care of him and says „This thing feels crazy. Like a second skin. And taking it off now would probably skin me alive. Let’s focus on more urgent matters. As usual this fight took a toll but we cannot wait here for anything to happen. The deeper we get the more dangerous the place gets. I still think we have to find the dwarves. Getting rid off them will keep us safer, and maybe we find hints on how to handle some traps. Perhaps they have a manual on how the magic works.“
Seeing Allister is fine enough to be himself Glimbul sighs in relief. “If we want to fight the dwarves that clean this place, they would have to come here to clean the bodies. We could wait here for them”
“This place isn’t safe, even in the hut. We could be easily trapped here if the hut drops, we would have nowhere to go. We can’t afford another fight and Milil only knows how long it is until the end of the day.”
The gnome snarls in frustration. “Is there anywhere safe in this god forsaken place? We need to go up, if we stay down here we all surely die this day!”
Nenne gapes at Glimbul. "Staying here is suicide. We know nothing of the dangers that lurk here. Upstairs, we at least know the battlefield."
She turns to Allister. "If you feel the slightest bit strange, you tell me immediately. That armor...the damage it did to you is more than you have ever dealt in your life. It is an utter miracle you survived."
She grips her mace until the leather creaks. "We should go up one level, and I should lead the way. I can be invisible and scout for any dangers. Glimbul, we will need you more than ever. I have no ranged weapon and I can't afford to cast spells. You are our main source of protection, now."
The party ascends up a floor, keeping watch over the gargoyles below. They don't move an inch, even with all the noise they just made in the hallway. Perhaps these truly are just more evil decorations. Everyone files into the tiny room behind the waterfall hallway for another break. The hour goes by without any issues.
During the rest Boosey looks thoughtful. "These dwarves, they must be in this tomb somewhere, but where? Where do they come from, where do they go, and those tin creatures that keep appearing? Remember the noises when we rested in Kubazan's tomb and Papazotl's? Those noises could have been the dwarves moving around the tomb, and that smell of leather at Kubazan's, what could have caused that?" He looks to the Cleric and Glimbul. "Nenne, you can turn invisible, and Glimbul is a master of stealth. Why not wait hidden at a likely location and if one appears, follow it to see where it goes?"
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Biff still mutters something inaudible when he jumps up and tries to punch Allister. The fighter ducks under the blow and tries to thrust his rapier into his enemyˋs midsection but he jumps back. With a primal scream Biff runs towards Allister and tries to grab him. He doesn’t move an inch and only extends his arm. Biffˋs eyes widen as the burning blade pierces his heart. Allister pushes the rapier forward till he faces Biff. „The yuan-ti dumbed the company in this place. Details matter, my friend.“ He pulls the blade out and Biffˋs lifeless body falls to the ground
As the creature falls limply back, his features fade. His hair molds into his head, becoming part of the thing's hairless, grey skin. His face becomes devoid of any real features, almost like a blank slate. It seems 'Biff' was the doppelganger after all.
„One less danger to worry about.“ Allister turns to Nenne. „Can you check the bodies for magic before we rest? Maybe they have something we can use.“
Nenne casts a long, silent look at the body of the doppelganger. She leans her back against the wall, resting her head against it, and shifts her gaze toward the heavens.
"I'm tired."
Listlessly, she tugs her prayer book out of her back, slides down to the floor, and begins her ritual. In time, her eyes flash their distinctive red as Kelemvor augments her vision, and she does a perfunctory sweep of her surroundings.
Nenne finds magic infusing the plate mail of the armored woman. The armor seems to be made of aome sort of hardened animal carapace. The woman's greatsword and longbow are in serviceable condition - she had 16 arrows.
The drow carries a spellbook bearing numerous spells, a dagger, and a quarterstaff carved in the likeness of claw gripping the moon. The staff doesn't show as magic to Nenne's detection.
After collecting what valuables they want from the deceased, the party has an uninterrupted rest.
After an hour of resting and attempting to read her prayer book, Nenne rises gingerly and looks at her friends. "I take it we are not going to remain here. To my mind, we have two choices: we can continue exploring this floor, or we can retreat to an upper level."
"Aside from I'Jin's tomb, we have ignored the wine tunnel and the sunlight sarcophagus. We may discover something useful there to help us against Acererak. There are also the dwarves, as much as I think that hunt would be folly. Or..." and she sighs deeply "...we could press onward here."
"Given how deadly looking into a mirror was, I cannot say I like our chances with our remaining resources. Also," her cheeks turn bluer, "I don't trust m-" She bites her tongue to silence herself, suddenly vexed.
"What are your thoughts?" she finishes eventually.
Allister takes some time during the rest with the magical plate armor. With a nod and a grin, the fighter begins swapping out his armor for the newly acquired gear. Nenne and Boosey help with some of the harder to reach straps. Allister gives his mobility some testing before adding the helmet. He seems surprisingly agile in light in the stuff for its weight. Smiling, Allister adds the helmet. Suddenly his whole bodys stiffens and a small cry of pain escapes his lips. He collapses to the ground with pooling blood all around him.
Boosey quickly begins to remove the armour from Allister, carelessly pulling bits of armour off and tossing it away.
"Allister!" Nenne knocks the helmet away and places her hands on his bloody head as a sunburst of red healing energy sears through her fingers. (Cure Wounds at 3rd level for 20 healing)
"That's it, we're going upstairs!" she shouts as she fumbles in her pack for bandages.
As Boosey tugs on the armor, he is horrified to find small scorpion tails, burrowed into Allister's skin. Tugging on the armor while watching these indicates that they will have to be ripped free to remove the armor.
Boosey spots the scorpions tails and stops pulling off the armour and tries to suppress a gag reaction. “Is there any way we can get these out without killing him?”
"No, the skin healed around them, look. Perhaps if he unattuned to it? I know nothing of the arcane, but I doubt cursed objects are that forgiving. And if this isn't cursed, I don't want to know how nefarious it needs to be to qualify." She growls in frustration and continues to mop the blood away. "I can fix it, possibly. But it will drain me considerably. If it even succeeds. That-" and she tosses a pained look at Boosey - "and I had wanted to save it for you, if we survived this day."
“Don’t worry about me. I can live with,” and he motions to his changed body, “this. However, if that armour is going to keep damaging our fighter, we should find a way to get it off him”.
Allister gets back to his feet.He nods his thanks to everyone who took care of him and says „This thing feels crazy. Like a second skin. And taking it off now would probably skin me alive. Let’s focus on more urgent matters. As usual this fight took a toll but we cannot wait here for anything to happen. The deeper we get the more dangerous the place gets. I still think we have to find the dwarves. Getting rid off them will keep us safer, and maybe we find hints on how to handle some traps. Perhaps they have a manual on how the magic works.“
Seeing Allister is fine enough to be himself Glimbul sighs in relief. “If we want to fight the dwarves that clean this place, they would have to come here to clean the bodies. We could wait here for them”
“This place isn’t safe, even in the hut. We could be easily trapped here if the hut drops, we would have nowhere to go. We can’t afford another fight and Milil only knows how long it is until the end of the day.”
The gnome snarls in frustration. “Is there anywhere safe in this god forsaken place? We need to go up, if we stay down here we all surely die this day!”
Nenne gapes at Glimbul. "Staying here is suicide. We know nothing of the dangers that lurk here. Upstairs, we at least know the battlefield."
She turns to Allister. "If you feel the slightest bit strange, you tell me immediately. That armor...the damage it did to you is more than you have ever dealt in your life. It is an utter miracle you survived."
She grips her mace until the leather creaks. "We should go up one level, and I should lead the way. I can be invisible and scout for any dangers. Glimbul, we will need you more than ever. I have no ranged weapon and I can't afford to cast spells. You are our main source of protection, now."
The party ascends up a floor, keeping watch over the gargoyles below. They don't move an inch, even with all the noise they just made in the hallway. Perhaps these truly are just more evil decorations. Everyone files into the tiny room behind the waterfall hallway for another break. The hour goes by without any issues.
During the rest Boosey looks thoughtful. "These dwarves, they must be in this tomb somewhere, but where? Where do they come from, where do they go, and those tin creatures that keep appearing? Remember the noises when we rested in Kubazan's tomb and Papazotl's? Those noises could have been the dwarves moving around the tomb, and that smell of leather at Kubazan's, what could have caused that?" He looks to the Cleric and Glimbul. "Nenne, you can turn invisible, and Glimbul is a master of stealth. Why not wait hidden at a likely location and if one appears, follow it to see where it goes?"