ALUUNA
The group enters an alter room with hundreds of lit candles burned to varying degrees. The wax melts into the cracks of the planked floor, and muddy footprints track through the room. The wall to the left has another Rovagug symbol painted over another holy sign. Some pews are lined nicely towards the front of the room while the ones in the back are skewed and broken, pieces scattered on the floor.
Aluuna is smashed into the ground. An unseen force pinning her. The air leaves from her lungs, panic washing over her.
Harrin shoves at the air above Aluuna, whatever it is being knocked off. Kith waste no time and body shove the invisible entity. A glimmer of an outline is now visible. The wooden floor begins to fracture, and the group is sent falling into another room. Aluuna barely manages to catch herself. The room is lit with makeshift torches. She coughs and waves her hand in front of her face to clear away the dust.
Orcs yell to one another in Orcish. Something shoots past and lands next to her on the floor. Acid. The acid begins to erode the stone floor. Well, at least there's no chance of falling through this one. Aluuna rubs her back.
"They're shooting acid," she announces to the party.
Sounds of metal and Kith speaking in Orcish break the silence. Eris speaks softly somewhere close by. A gust of wind blows past Aluuna clearing the dust. She sees a meaty fist hurling towards her face. Instinctively, she manages to block with her arms. Pain ripples through them, from fingertips to shoulders. Kosh moves to stand between Aluuna and the orc. Grabbing his club from inside his robe, the orc charges at Kosh. Kosh stabs him in the gut with his bloodletter, flipping to the right. He twists and shoves his other kukri into its back.
Aluuna spies a gnome in the back of the room, chanting over a large object as energy is sucked away from the gnome's outward hands. Aluuna is hit again by whatever the invisible monster is, and once more, she falls to the ground.
A scorpion in the back of the room scurries down the wall to the ground heading straight for Harrin.
It grabs his arm in its pincers, twisting. A cry explodes from Harrin. His armor is crushed, squeezing against his skin as the creature still holds him.
Kith continues to fight with the biggest of the orcs. The two continuously share words in Orcish. Kith laughs and parries the orc's attack with a bash of his arm. The orc is knocked to the floor, and Kith wastes no time, kicking him in the face. The orc rolls out of Kith's range to dodge the next kick and gets to his feet.
Harrin stabs at the scorpion's face. It reactively lets go of Harrin's arm. Harrin leaps onto the scorpion's back and impales it with his sword before flipping off.
Kith's opponent shoves Kith, and he falls on top of a wooden pew, snapping it in half.
Aluuna shoots a beam of energy at her orc, causing it to reel backward. It lands on its feet, but a good chunk of its shoulder is missing. The orc hisses, saliva spewing out its mouth. If looks alone could kill, Aluuna was in deep shit.
Electricity pierces through the air, hitting first the scorpion, then the invisible monster. Blood drops to the ground out of thin air. The scorpion skitters back and turn towards Eris.
Harrin grabs at the scorpion's legs to halt him. "I'm not done playing yet."
The chanting from the gnome gets louder. He falls to his knees, sweat dampening his robes. His outstretched hands tremble as the magic that leaves him sputters out. The object begins to shake, and a thin seam runs down the middle. A big piece falls to the ground, and gelatinous tentacles flop out.
"What the…" Aluuna starts.
"An egg?" Kosh asks. He is lifted up by the orc he and Aluuna are fighting and is slammed against the wall.
The gnome sorcerer laughs maniacally as the creature continues to burst from its shell.
A growl from behind them sounds out as Okami leaps over Aluuna to make a beeline for the orc pinning Kosh. She bites the back of the monster's thigh, jerking her head as she takes out a chunk. With the orc distracted, Kosh wriggles free.
Flig touches Aluuna; her skin covers in bark. After a few moments, the invisible monster strikes again. Flig is sent reeling backward. He spits out blood at the ground. Standing, he looks around, confused.
A lump of debris is hurled across the room to hit the gnome sorcerer in the head, causing a large contusion, and the gnome collapses to the ground. "Couldn't bother to wait for us, I see," Ren calls out.
A shimmer catches Aluuna's eye, and she lets loose a blast of sound in its direction. The creature grunts.
"We wanted to make you jealous." Eris retorts. She shoots a heal to Aluuna, who feels slightly rejuvenated.
"Thanks, Eris." Aluuna says.
The tentacled creature fully emerges from its shell, falling in a glob to the ground, its arms wave listlessly in the air. Multiple eyes of different sizes and shapes cover its body.
"What is the chance that thing is on our side?" Flig asks.
It moves towards Kith. A green slime left in its wake. Its tentacles lash out. Kith dodges two but is hit by one. The hit stings his arm but doesn't break the skin. Goo covering his arm. "Don't think it's friendly, halfling."
"One could hope," Kosh says. He stabs his kukri in the orc's throat and again with the other blade. His orc gargles and falls to his knees. All the while, Kosh stares him down before removing his daggers slowly. He kicks the orc back to bleed out on the ground.
The scorpion skitters closer to Harrin and tries to pincer him once more. "Not falling for that one again." Harrin pivots and backslashes the creature.
Ren touches the scorpion's leg sucking out its lifeforce. The creature convulses, and Ren backs away from its reach.
Kith slashes at the orc across his chest up to its face.
"Look at that; you look better now." The orc roars its hatred.
Harrin slams his sword down on the scorpion, finally killing it. "Nay, it's still ugly." He says, panting.
Flig's senses go wild, and he barely misses a blow, feeling the air fly past his face. He transforms into a tiger and swipes at the area he thinks the invisible creature might be. Success! The monster cries out as blood sprays, misting Flig's face.
Okami wastes no time and pounces at the shimmering area. Landing atop something, the she-wolf bites hard, not letting go.
A beam of light shoots forth from Aluuna to hit just below Okami. Okami twists her head, and a snap rings out.
Eris shoots out another streak of electricity. Crackling through the air to hit both the orc fighting Kith and the tentacled glob. The glob lashes out at Kith again. He moves behind the orc, using him as a shield.
Kosh makes his way over to the monster, passing over the debris fallen during their crash into the room. He cuts off two of its wailing tentacles. Acid showers out of the cut. It clicks and chatters, his body constantly jiggling.
Ren fires a chunk of debris at the last remaining orc. Knocking him down to the ground.
Kith impales the orc directly in the face.
Harrin rushes to the glob creature and slashes it with the sword. A mass falls to the ground. Its fluid fizzles away at the stone flooring.
HARRIN
The party spends the next 5 minutes fighting with the gelatinous monstrosity. After Flig casts his spell, the glob starts to pulsate quickly. The group begins to back away.
Flig and Ren make it out the door. While the others hide behind a pew or a large chunk of ceiling debris. The creature explodes, the acid eats away at their wooden shields. Slime drips from the ceiling, and some slide down the wall. Pieces of tentacles squirming on the floor, unaware that it was no longer attached to a living entity.
"What the hell was that thing?" Kosh asks.
"The research I read in the lab," Ren says, entering back into the room. "Says it was an emkrah."
The others look about the room, minding the poison pools.
"Friends?" Flig stands beside the stone slab where the emkrah egg once lay. "Pretty sure there's another one here," he points, and the others join to look.
"We should get out of here," Harrin says.
"We can't just leave it here," Aluuna protests.
"We can smash it." Kith agrees, unsheathing his blade lifting it to swing.
Ren stays his hand. "Nay, It feeds off destruction. Who's to tell if it will feed off of you instead of being destroyed."
"Did anyone buy bombs?" Flig asks.
Kosh grins. "Yeah, not sure if I have enough, though. If you're thinking about doing what I'm thinking."
Kith looked between the halfling and the gnome. Shaking his head. "You two are quite scary together."
Ren wraps his arm around Kosh. "I like it."
Harrin continues around the room as Aluuna and Flig heal the others. A glint catches Harrin's eye. An emerald bauble and a few coins fell out of the gnome sorcerer's coin pouch. He lifts the purse to see if there is any more treasure inside. Harrin empties its contents into his hand. An amulet in the shape of a heart pops out. A dim light glows in its center.
Ren examines it. "A poison resistance amulet."
They all look at Eris.
"Not funny." She pouts.
Ren tosses it to her, and she quickly puts it on, all laughing.
"Can we get the hell out of here now?" Aluuna asks, waiting impatiently next to the door.
Harrin stands beside Aluuna, who begins to heal him too. Her hands cover his wounds. Relief washes over him. Touching her arm, she looks at him sheepishly. He moves a stray lock of hair from her face. "I'm good, wife. How about we get the hell out of here." He repeats back to her softly.
Aluuna nods eagerly.
Kosh only has four bombs. Ren informs the group that he could make two more back in the alchemy lab. And makes his way back to start on the process.
"This should be good," Flig says, eyeing their bombs.
Kosh and Flig give the group directions on the placement of the bombs. The others tie the bombs together with makeshift fuses. Harrin and Kith opened up a door they'd found earlier, which, much to their delight, did lead to the other side of the temple. Eris and Aluuna make their way back to the entrance to get their horses.
"Even if the fuses don't work, the explosion may be enough to trigger the others to go off," Kosh explains.
"We need to be well away." Harrin rushes out.
They mount up and make a break for it. After a few seconds, the first explosion goes off, followed by the rest. One after the other. They don't bother looking back and continue to ride.
Here and there in the twilight…
A putrid crow lands on the jagged throne of the Whispering Tyrant. The tyrant grabs the tiny parchment attached.
Sir, we hit a resistance of sorts that delayed us until recently. Continuing ahead.
AThe lich smiles, A tap on the door breaking the silence in the massive chamber room. A well-dressed man enters. His face is adorned with sharp features. Peacock feathers haughtily displayed as a collar to his nape.
"Xanderghul." the tyrant says, his voice low and deep. "What do I owe for this visit… Runelord of pride?"
