Another Bloody Isekai IC: Team Strong

[FearlessGnome]

When you walk down the middle path it is a long, narrow corridor that twists and turns. Soon there is no light left from the great hall behind you. Walking slowly and cautiously, at last you come upon a set of stairs. There is some kind of light in a room beyond, seemingly similar to the torches in the first hall. The staircase remains narrow - while you could squeeze down together, there is only enough room for one Medium sized creature to move comfortably with enough space to fight, should that become necessary.

Spoiler: When you have decided on a scout or vanguard, this is what they see

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There seems to be nothing suspicious about the staircase. At the bottom the corridor opens up into a large room. As with the first hall, it is hard to believe that this is a natural space rather than a crudely carved out room in a mine or some such. At the back of the room the torches along the walls illuminate two large, lumbering giants with green skin. They seem to be standing guard, but there is no obvious thing they are guarding. No doors, nor openings in the walls. The overseers presumably wouldn't send you down a dead end, so either in this room or the corridor behind you there must be some way forward. The two hulking creatures are surrounded by maybe a dozen ugly little creatures with flat heads, big teeth and big ears. None of the creatures seem to have noticed you. They are about 150 feet away, at the other end of the room.

Spoiler: Knowledge: Nature, just having a rank in it is enough

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Trolls and Goblins.

[Thunder999]

Before proceeding Vhaak buffs himself with mage armour, extended shield, mirror image (not extended). After the others have buffed themselves he will 'speak' up [I've always had a knack for moving quietly and unseen, so I'd be happy to take a look down those stairs. I'm not much good with traps though].
Assuming the party is ok he'd then head on in.

Spoiler: Rolls+OOC

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Mirror images (1d4+2)[5] and stealth (1d20+29)[36]
He doesn't have knowledge nature

[RelentlessImp]

[I'm typically about as quiet as a satyr at a nymph gathering, so I'm out for going in front,] Cecie communicates silently, still constantly shifting and moving in place. [Let me know if anything needs blowing up down there, though. I can do lots of that.]

[Ryton]

Livia nod her head in agreement. [ I've no skill at being sneaky, so by all means. Just in case though, I'll set up that buffer for you all. And Sundrop here's some armor, let me know if you don't like it and I'll dismiss it.]

Spoiler: OoC

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Manifesting Vigor on Vhaak for 5pp, then Overchannel augmenting it an extra 2pp to share it with Sundrop and Cecie; everyone except Livia gains 25 Temp HP that will last for 7 minutes.
Also an unaugmented Inertial Armor for Sundrop, a +4 armor bonus that will last 6 hours.

[Eldan]

"I'm kinda quiet?"
The little fairy bobs up and down, pondering.
"I mean, not especially, for something my size, but compared to all you big folk... I'll go have a look, let me just..."
She casts a quick spell.
"There. Be right back!"

Spoiler

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Casting Haste. Stealth checks:
Move silently:
(1d20+19)[23]
Hide:
(1d20+31)[45]

[Eldan]

Spoiler

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Using cloak of deception as a swift action and takung a peak around the room, then back to hiding in the corridor. If I see nothing, going back to report.

[RelentlessImp]

Cecie watches as the others go stealthy, then creeps up towards the door and peeks through. [Huh. A nicely packed cluster. Alright.]

She strides confidently through the door without waiting, and raises her hands. "Hey! You! Fiery death!" she shouts. Simultaneously, she drops her hands, palms outwards, and speaks a few sibilant words, launching a pebble of fiery orange outwards into the midst of the enemies at the end of the hall. Upon reaching the exact center of their formation, the glowing orange pebble expands. And expands. And expands, into a conflagration.

Spoiler: Actions, Surprise!

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Standard: Cast Fireball, dealing 6d6 damage, +6 from Battle Magic.

Fireball! - (6d6+6)[22]

DC20 Reflex for half

[Thunder999]

After a few words and a gesture from Vhaak wind seems to rush through the collected foes and a thin bank of unnaturally cold mist forms. [I'd advise against touching the mist, the cold is the least of it's effects.]

Spoiler: OOC/rolls

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That's a fell drain Kelgore's grave mist, every enemy takes (1d6)[2] cold damage, is fatigued and gains a temporary negative level for the next 6 hours, not that they'll be living that long
Vhaak will make sure to capture both the trolls in it.

[Eldan]

Sundrop looks at the mist and fire, then shrugs.
"Well, not going in there now."
She plants herself in the center of the doorway.

Spoiler

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Preparing an action to put myself between the casters and any surviving attackers. Soaring Raptor strike if anyone gets in reach:
Attack:
(1d20+28)[36]
Damage
(6d6+12)[25]

Also, counter charge if anyone charges.

[Ryton]

Spoiler: OoC

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Psicraft to identify spells being cast, as Livia hasn't seen much in the way of combat magic and is curious.
Psicraft Cecie - (1d20+13)[33]
Psicraft Vhaak - (1d20+13)[28]

Also initiative for next round.
Initiative - (1d20)[9]

Livia watches the mages cast their spells, then quickly floats forward to poke her head through the doorway to examine the results before retreating back. Her feet hover a few inches from the ground within the dungeon. [Interesting. I look forward to examining the results of your handiwork up close when this is over.]

[FearlessGnome]

Spoiler: Sundrop

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Scouting reveals nothing new. This seems to have just been a large empty room, at least as far as you can tell from here. There's still the issue of the trolls not appearing to be guarding anything other than empty wall.

At Cecie's shout the green creatures look up - for a moment anger comes over their faces, then fire explodes. The goblins die. The trolls' skin is scorched, one a little worse than the other, but they were both clearly hurt by the magical attack.

Next is Vhaak's sinister fog, which briefly obscures the trolls. One of them staggers to the side, just out of the cloud, looking overwhelmed. The other comes running toward you, club raised. As it runs it starts screaming in wordless rage. It makes a pretty intimidating figure coming at you. However, the distance is great and the troll is unable to cover it all before the party has time to react.

[RelentlessImp]

Cecie looks annoyedly down at her hands. "The cleansing power of fire has failed me. Once. Don't let it happen again," she says, before infusing her aura with a sensation of speed, and pointing a finger at the troll.

"Do me a favor and burn," she says, a manicured nail glowing briefly before another glowing pebble launches from her outstretched hand. Rather than the languorous ascent of the fireball, this orb of light floats only for a brief moment before locking onto its target and darting forward so quickly that a faint -woosh- accompanies it, aimed right for the troll racing towards them.

Spoiler: Rolls, Actions

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Initiative with Nerveskitter - (1d20+16)[25]
Lesser Orb of Fire Attack - (1d20+9)[17] vs Touch AC
Lesser Orb of Fire Damage - (3d8+3)[15]

[Thunder999]

Vhaak is going to walk up and touch one of the giants.

Spoiler: Rolls/ooc

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That's a (1d20+11)[12] Vs touch dealing (1d8+5)[12] will DC23 half +(1d8+1)[6] no save negative energy damage and a DC 23 fort save Vs permanent death like paralysis
Oh and initiative is (1d20+4)[12]

[FearlessGnome]

The charging troll is met with fire - Cecie's orb slams into it, and scorches it further. The Troll looks seriously hurt, but is not giving up.

Next up is Vhaak, who tries to meet the troll with a touch attack, but more through bad luck on his part than reflexes on the troll's part Vhaak's touch slides off it, and it escapes the spell.

Spoiler: OOC

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No need for initiative here. The troll spent its turn running towards you, so it's the whole party's turn now, and since we are doing block initiative you can all act in any order. Two have acted, the other two are free to take their turns now.

[Ryton]

Livia flies forward towards the doorway to better observe the combat, but there is little she can do to aid her allies at the moment. [It seems any contribution I could make at this point would be a waste of resources, as you clearly have this under control. I'll just do my best to stay out of your way.]

Spoiler: OoC

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Since it seems her abilities are currently not required, Livia will take the Total Defense action for +4 AC.
Psicraft Cecie - (1d20+13)[33]

[FearlessGnome]

While the troll near the back of the room stays there, seemingly demoralized, the one who charged you goes for Vhaak. It may not know what the little lich had planned for it, but in attempting the touch attack Vhaak put himself closest to the troll.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Vhaak doesn't look hard to hit, so the troll power attacks for -5 to hit, +10 damage with the club, +5 damage on the bite.
Two handed smash with club
Attack roll: (1d20+17)[21]
Damage: (2d6+22)[33]
Secondary bite attack
Attack roll: (1d20+12)[19]
Damage: (1d6+10)[16]
Club overcomes Vhaaks' DR, bite does not.

[Thunder999]

While the troll did not hurt him, and Vhaak isn't even sure it could, he still want to see it suffer. He unleashes his fear aura and tries the touch attack again.

Spoiler: Rolls/ooc

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First it's a DC 23 will save or he's shaken, then a (1d20+11)[18] Vs touch dealing (1d8+5)[9] will DC23 half +(1d8+1)[9] no save negative energy damage and a DC 23 fort save Vs permanent death like paralysis

[Ryton]

Livia observes her allies' endeavors against the aggressive troll, and finds herself wishing she could do more to help them. ... But on the other hand, no one has even been scratched yet. Well, I suppose I should prepare myself in case it decides to come closer...

Spoiler: OoC

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Things are going kind of slow right now, so I'll have Livia prep her only offensive ability: she's going to cast and hold the charge for Plane Shift to use on a troll if necessary.

[FearlessGnome]

As Vhaak's second touch attack connects the troll tenses up. For a moment it looks confused, then a cramp runs through the creature and it falls over.

It doesn't move, but you can see some of its wounds slowly closing up.

Spoiler: OOC

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Combat is over. You may act freely.

[Ryton]

After Vhaak paralyzes the troll, Livia slowly flies forward to examine both it and the goblins, though she does keep a wary eye on the other troll. [You did this with merely a touch? Fascinating... How long will the effect last? And the way it's wounds are healing. What a curious creature. Does anyone know what it is? And the smaller creatures as well?]

As Livia examines the creatures, she draws a small amount of sand from the haversack at her hip and, manipulating it telekinetically, forms it into various surgical implements to aid in her examination, from a scalpel, to forceps, to - oh dear, is that a bone saw?

Spoiler: OoC

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If no one interrupts her, Livia will take a 20 on her heal checks examining the troll and goblins. The result will be a 36, but I'm just going for flavor rather than any real mechanical game insights.

For crunch, she's using Shapesand, which she can take a 10 to hit the Wis check of 15 to manipulate, and she's using the Far Hand knack (Psionic Mage Hand) to manipulate it telekinetically.

[Thunder999]

[The effects are quite permanent, at least without magical intervention. As for what it is I'm not too sure, I know little of the more mundane creatures of the world. We could probably just leave it. I'm going to see if I can find any hidden doors to let us further in.] With that Vhaak will casually ignore the trolls and begin examining the nearest section of wall

Spoiler: Rolls

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Have a few perception checks, not sure how big an area one covers so let me know if you need more (1d20+16)[35] (1d20+16)[31] (1d20+16)[24] (1d20+16)[25] (1d20+16)[24] (1d20+16)[32]

[RelentlessImp]

Cecie, for her part, looks mildly horrified. She looks down at her hands, staring at her palms, her fingers which curve slightly back towards her hands. This was her first real fight in this world, and it was clear that something was off for her.

"I've been NERFED!" Cecie yells suddenly. "All that fire should have been enough to kill everything in the hallway in one go! This world nerfed me!" She glares in the direction of the other troll that isn't quite dead yet. She huffs, and crosses her arms over her chest, then stares up at the ceiling. "...Fine. Fine, I'm nerfed. I've still got spells that don't blow things up, and they probably actually work here. But mark my words!" her voice ascends to higher registers again in the latter half, and she points at the ceiling, indicating the Powers of this world, or whatever else might be listening.

"I am going to find a way to UNNERF myself, and then I'm gonna find the person who NERFED ME and BLOW THEM UP!"

[FearlessGnome]

Livia's dissection of the goblins does not find anything unusual about them - they seem to be, at least biologically, 'normal' for a goblin. Their organs and other tissues are pretty similar to those of the humanoid races.

There is nothing obviously off about the troll either, but its made considerably harder to examine its insides because any cuts she makes close up within seconds. The scorch marks are the only injuries that do not appear to be healing.

---

Vhaak's search of the room reveals something unexpected. In between where the two trolls originally stood there was a hidden door. To the surprise of absolutely noone. It's a wooden door - pretty solid, but still just wood. It is locked. It was hidden by a magical illusion just in front of the door, which made it look like bare wall.

What was less expected was that this is not the only illusion Vhaak finds. There is solid floor in a narrow path straight ahead of the door, but to either side of the path the floor is illusory - a deep pit hides beneath the well lit room. Some 30 feet down there is water, and a large number of wooden spikes sticking out of it. There does not appear to be any spot where it would be safe to jump down into the water.

The remaining troll is cowering in the corner, seemingly trying to ignore you. Its club lies on the floor back near the door.

But mark my words!" her voice ascends to higher registers again in the latter half, and she points at the ceiling, indicating the Powers of this world, or whatever else might be listening.

"I am going to find a way to UNNERF myself, and then I'm gonna find the person who NERFED ME and BLOW THEM UP!"

There is a distant sound of rolling thunder. For a few seconds Cecie fancies she can smell the sea. The torch light wavers... and then everything is back to normal.

Cecie is holding something. It's a jagged, dark rock, the size of her little finger.

[RelentlessImp]

Cecie stares at the rock in her hand. Okay, that was... weird. Powers didn't actually respond to threats. Right? Then again, that was in her world. Okay, sure, they might respond when a person is throwing out a dying curse and making sure their target gets cursed. Or when someone swore an oath on their names to do something legendary and made sure they got the chance. Or...

Ah, hell. She was going to have to go through with her threat, now. She was just venting. Crap. She exhales sharply, blowing her coruscating-gradient hair out of her face. "Alright. Okay. I'm calm. I'm fine. I'm good." Curiosity overtaking her as she starts to examine the rock delivered straight to her hands.

Spoiler: Rolls

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K. Arcana - (1d20+11)[19]Spellcraft - (1d20+11)[19]

[Ryton]

Livia's examination of her chosen goblin is performed with surgical precision, as well as a noticable degree of professional detachment. She seems to have gathered the information she sought from the goblin though, because her examination of the troll is far more cursory - she makes two or three small incisions on the troll, but it seems she's simply observing the troll's healing, contrary to the thoroughness she displayed with the goblin.

"Curious. From what I'd heard of the nature of these dungeons and their inhabitants, I honestly didn't actually expect them to posses a comprehensive anatomy. I expected them to be more akin to puppets, animated at the behest of the puppets. Like leukocytes, automatically resisting invaders. Well, that could still largely be the case, but apparently using entirely autonomous creatures... I wonder if the smaller creatures would have healed the same way, had they not met their ends so suddenly..." she says audibly, but not to anyone in particular. It seems she's mostly talking to herself.

She glances around as she stores her Shapesand and magically cleans her clothes just as Cecie finishes proclaiming her disapproval of her lessened power and the lights begin to flicker. [Well that was... unexpected. Do you think it was the Powers That Be, or the dungeon itself? And I wonder if it was annoyance or amusement...

Well, our instructions were to deal with whatever we find in here, and not let anything out to the surface. While I don't entirely approve of the senseless slaughter of a creature who seems to have actively surrendered, but for the sake of the examination it's probably best if we do something about the remaining creature. Vhaak, perhaps you could do to it what you did to the first one?]

Spoiler: OoC

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In case Livia is allowed to attempt to identify what happened.
K Psionics - (1d20+11)[13]
Psicraft - (1d20+11)[25]

[Thunder999]

Vhaak gestures at relevant parts of the room as his mental 'voice' provides a quick stream of commentary [There's a secret door right here, just as I expected, oh and only this bit of floor here is real, the rest is an unusually wet spiked pit trap, probably nothing there, but someone should fly down and check, I know they say this wasn't built by anyone, but you don't usually put water in a pit trap unless it's to hide something, perhaps an aquatic creature.] It's then that he turns toward Cecie and notices the rock in her hand [Well the gods certainly seem unusually attentive here, I certainly didn't get many responses back home. Have you checked whether it's magical yet, if it is I can identify it later, no pearls necessary. Oh and I could certainly try to paralyse the other one, might take a few tries though.]

[FearlessGnome]

Spoiler: The rock

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It seems to be just a rock. You don't recognize anything about it... Come to think of it, that alone seems strange. It's not a metal, but whatever it is you didn't find it back on her world, and she hasn't seen anything like it here either.

The second troll succumbs quickly to Vhaak's paralysis.

Your overseer, one of the men from Dragon's Jaw, eventually follows you into the room. He introduced himself on the surface as Alren. He's tall for a human, but very gaunt. Wearing a special monocle that shows all he sees and hears to those outside he goes around the room, examining everything of potential interest, saying nothing.

When he hears Livia talking to herself during the examination of the corpses, he comes up and studies the inside of the body as well. "I'm sure they look real enough now, but leave this room for twenty minutes and there'll be nothing left of the goblins. Dungeons don't like to eat when anyone is present. I'm not sure what will happen to the trolls... They're not dead, but they'll be useless to the dungeon now, so they might get vanished regardless."

[Ryton]

"I'm sure they look real enough now, but leave this room for twenty minutes and there'll be nothing left of the goblins. Dungeons don't like to eat when anyone is present. I'm not sure what will happen to the trolls... They're not dead, but they'll be useless to the dungeon now, so they might get vanished regardless."

Livia tilts her head slightly, curious to know more of how the dungeons function. "So then, if you can or are permitted to tell us, do the dungeons grow in power from 'eating' things from outside of themselves, or is it a spontaneous event? And generally how long does a dungeon of this strength take to create new inhabitants?"

[There's a secret door right here, just as I expected, oh and only this bit of floor here is real, the rest is an unusually wet spiked pit trap, probably nothing there, but someone should fly down and check, I know they say this wasn't built by anyone, but you don't usually put water in a pit trap unless it's to hide something, perhaps an aquatic creature.]

[I suppose I can investigate the pit for us. One moment.] A field of light surrounds Livia as she hovers above the floor, and after a moment she flies over and down to investigate the pit.

Spoiler: OoC

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Livia will activate her Protective Aura, which creates a 20ft radius nimbus of light to help her see.
She will also manifest Synesthete to feel light, giving her a +4 to Perception for sight-based checks for 1 hour. Assuming she's not threatened, she'll just take a 10, for a result of 32.
Also her fly speed of Perfect gives her complete three-dimensional maneuverability to help safely navigate the spikes.
Edit: Among all the other things she's doing to prepare to explore, I forgot one: she also manifests Detect Psionics, concentrating on it as she searches the pit.

[Thunder999]

Curious at that comment Vhaak asks his own question, "Does anyone know if they still vanish if they've risen as undead, been turned into undead but not risen yet, such as those who fall to a shadow's touch?" After pausing to allow a reply he'll then go on to ask "I'm sure must have seen much and heard of even more in your time here, to have risen to power as you have, so do you know anything about seemingly mundane items appearing with a rumble of thunder, or indeed recognise that rock?"

[FearlessGnome]

Livia tilts her head slightly, curious to know more of how the dungeons function. "So then, if you can or are permitted to tell us, do the dungeons grow in power from 'eating' things from outside of themselves, or is it a spontaneous event? And generally how long does a dungeon of this strength take to create new inhabitants?"

Alren chuckles. "Well now. Everyone seems to be in disagreement on that. It would seem pretty straight forward - dungeons grow over time, dungeons eat people and magical items. But then you have some dungeons that appear immensely threatening from the moment they open up. Not only have they had no time to eat anything, but in killing everything close to the entrance... they leave themselves with no food. It also doesn't seem to be the case that 'managed' dungeons grow any faster than the wild ones. Personally I think... Well. Nesterin and the other overseers would not be pleased if I tried to seduce you to my side of the argument."

Alren shrugs. "As to spawning, new monsters tend to appear one at a time. For goblins, maybe ten minutes or so before they start reappearing, if you've moved away. Boss monsters can take hours or days. There is one caveat - while dungeons don't seem to understand speech, they do... adapt. So if you stay in a spot and kill respawning creatures one by one as they appear, a lot of dungeons go through a little learning phase where eventually they slow down the respawn rate, then hit you with everything they have. We encourage short forays to prevent adventurers from coming up with something 'clever' and winding up dead. Worst case scenario a boss monster might leave its room and ambush adventurers that stay in a dungeon too long."

Curious at that comment Vhaak asks his own question, "Does anyone know if they still vanish if they've risen as undead, been turned into undead but not risen yet, such as those who fall to a shadow's touch?"

Alren chuckles. Oh, they usually vanish. Sometimes dungeons like to adopt new creatures, though. Turn a room full of goblins into undead, and you might just come back to see the dungeon has started making more of them. It's actually pretty easy to make most dungeons become at least partially undead themed. Other times they even feed one type of monster to another - goblins replenish quickly, so they tend to get pushed into factory farming the most often.

"I'm sure must have seen much and heard of even more in your time here, to have risen to power as you have, so do you know anything about seemingly mundane items appearing with a rumble of thunder, or indeed recognise that rock?"

Alren tilts his head in confusion. "Thunder? No, not really. Strange things do happen in dungeons. Or maybe what you heard was just some large monster in the distance. The other parties must be facing their own challenges." He looks at the rock. "Haven't seen that colour before, but it's just a rock? Well, I could examine it with magic, but that would be cheating, so nah."

---

When Livia flies down into the spike pit the first thing she notices is the bad smell. There is a little rot here, but probably not recent, or at least not close and recent. The water does smell foul - it would absolutely not be a good idea to drink it. It seems to be still, so probably no currents. She can mostly make out the bottom, although the water is fairly muddy. The spikes seem to jut out of the rock floor itself. The spikes themselves are coated in a black, tar-looking substance. Nothing magical or psionic down here, it seems. The troll club by the door has a magical aura of moderate strength and no particular school, though. Same with the other one.