Tyrant's Grasp: The Dead Roads [IC]

[DrK]

Grum looks around the mayhem and shakes his head. "I do be suprised the tomb be this busy." he mutters. Happy that everyone looks okay he'll look up the stairs further, "Anything else be in those boxes apart frae' some ostovites?" he'll ask, waiting to see what Helena finds

Helena looks at Calem and shakes her head. "Please warn me before you do something like that." she asks before looking at the shelf for anything that may shed some clues on where they are or for anything useful.

[lostsole31]

Camael extinguishes the lantern and gives it back to Sal to attach to his pack. He then puts his mace into the guts of a fire beetle and swirls it around to get good coverage on his makeshift torch. Drake nods and does the same thing to his machete. Gwennid shrugs and rubs the guts in patterns and the like all about their clothing. At this point, there isn't enough fire beetle guts useful for coating anything for anyone else.

Helena finds to some dismay that there is nothing really interesting here. Whoever keeps the tomb used this shelves as cleaning materials. Bags and boxes are neatly placed on the shelves and contain an assortment of brushes, rags, and polish.

Now what?

[DrK]

Grum watches the fire beetle painting with a Ye be painting with blood of the beast? This be a tradition in yer land?” he asks. Helena shaking her head at the empty shelves nods to the stairs and the dwarf nods.

A pair of light motes hover 10ft in front and behind the dwarf as he heads up the stairs weapon at the ready.

[lostsole31]

In reference to Grum's question, Drake just shrugs and points to Camael, "Hey! He started it. Besides ... it looks badass."

Gwennid points to the leaves adorning them, and you don't know where their body ends and "clothing" begins, but they say, "I adorn myself with the dead, already."

Camael shrugs and says, "It makes sense. Waste not."

The group gets into some semblance of a formation it is beginning to feel out. Grum, of course, is in the very front for protection. He's backed up by Drake. Behind him is Helena with her bow, but also choosing a near-middle position to better get eyes on the members of the party and protect those close to her. Gwennid likes her protection and stays behind Helena. They are followed by Sal with his bow towards the rear, and Camael bringing up the final rank. This also spreads out the current light sources.

The steps aren't terribly long, just 20' stone stairs to the next level on a simple incline .... feeling like home in some ways to Grum, if it weren't for the feeling of a tomb. Those stairs empty into a room. This room contains a row of four marble busts with a strong family resemblance. Each bust rests atop a narrow stone pillar. The bust farthest to the north—of a proud man with a wide mustache—wears an elegant wig of actual hair. An archway opens into another room to the north, while a set of stairs descends to the west.

[DrK]

Grum stomps into the middle of the room smiling at the strange tall men. ”Down in the 5 kingdoms many of the beasts have ichor that do burn. Ye be killing yer self wiping their bits in ye.”

As he enters the room at the top of the stairs and stomps into the middle he looks at the busts. “be a family party eh?” the looks at Helena. “Ye recognise them Helena?”

Helena follows the dwarf, ”Lets have a look then Master Grum.”

[lostsole31]

These busts depict Roslar and his immediate family: his sister, mother, and father. Small plaques beneath them read, from west to east, “Fallist Roslar, Father,” “Emmillisa Roslar, Mother,” “Annilisa Roslar, Sister,” and “Ervin Roslar, Hero.”

There is an archway with a fitted doorway to the north.

Do you do any kind of search in here? What do you do?

[DrK]

Grum will walk up and walk along the lines of busts from south to north. A glance at the hair meaning an involuntary hand rises to his beard, ”Nay a bad head of hair aye?” he asks as he wanders past the busts towards the arch north

[lostsole31]

Surprise Round ...

S28: Once again, before any sense of anything has even happened, Sal steps in front of Helena while getting into a stance and shoots at a spot between the pillars. "Use cold iron!" he says even as there is a cry of pain from something hiding to the east.

S18-3: Several small projectiles come at Grum, having been tossed from behind those pillars. One of them is a lucky soft crit, hitting Grum in his left forearm for 2.

S10: While the above is happening, the sounds of feathers flapping is heard and suddenly Camel is in front of the northern pillar.

Begin Round One ...

R1T28: "They're mites!" Sal calls. "Evil, little blue fey. Not hard to kill, but cold iron helps if you have it."

Sal does another shot, but this time it is really bad and he somehow avoids suffering archer's elbow. Botching that, he steps out of the way for clear fire for Helena.

R1T22: Helena, what do you do?

[DrK]

Helena looks up, ”Where did you even see them.” she snaps to Sal. Before she plucks an arrow from her quiver as she slides into her silver crane stance and letting fly with an arrow of immense accuracy

Spoiler: OOc

Show

Move: Draw bow
Swift: Stance Piercing Rays
Standard: Silver strike (risky attack)
(1d20+6)[12] or (1d20+6)[12]
Dam (1d8+4)[10] + (1d6)[6] fire

Not included Point Blank Shot

[lostsole31]

R1T22: Helena looks up, her head snapping towards Sal, ”Where did you even see them?” She plucks an arrow from her quiver as she slides into her Silver Crane stance and letting fly with an arrow of immense accuracy ... had the little buggers not been taking cover behind the pillars, as that is exactly what the arrow bounces off.

R1T20: Grum, you have a feeling that was the very best these little creatures could possibly do. They are so pitiful, these oversized-squashed-headed, blue meanies. What do you do?

[DrK]

Grum spins the blade seeking to demolish as many as possible and swings the blade in a great horizontal arc, "Disgusting little beasties, away wit' ye." he bellows trying to kick them away.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Swift: Switch to titan blade form
Free: 5ft step north
Standard: Scything strike (with risky attack) vs Orange and Green
- (1d20+8)[18] dam (2d6+10)[18]
- Titan Blade form: deal 4 [Str mod] to Blue

[lostsole31]

R1T20: Grum spins the blade seeking to demolish as many as possible and swings the blade in a great horizontal arc, "Disgusting little beasties, away wit' ye." he bellows trying to kick them away. He completely murks Brown, but the pillar is in the way and he finds he can't quite get over to Green as well. In fact, the small area keeps Grum from really getting effective use out of his blade, and he doesn't even get a consolation prize against Blue.

Spoiler: Inspiration

Show

Red Zephyr Strike

R1T18: Blue, partially protected by the pillar, chants, "Tombe sur toi ! Tombe sur toi ! Tombe sur toi !" ... in a squeaky language neither Helena nor Grum recognize. Grum feels a faint tickle of something at his mind, but crushes whatever power was attempted.

RT1T15: Drake moves forward while drawing his machete. "Yeah, nerd. Because everyone has cold iron, amma right?" he says to Sal, which gets more hard-edged towards the end as he tries to hit Green but fails.

R1T12: Green chants the same thing as Blue did, but this time towards Sal. Drake's demeanor changes. His face darkens in expression (not color), but he seems more hesitant now.

R1T0: Camael swings twice at Red ... the first, carefully and missing; the second given much faster and more wildly, and hitting for 12 mod and dropping it.

R1T9: Gwennid now completes the front rank and as something from her headpiece seems to flash, they say in their own voice in that same language, "Le destin est à vous !"

Unfortunately, nothing seems to happen, and Gwennid's shoulders sag a little.

End Round One, Begin Round 2 ...

R2T28: "Wow, fascinating," remarks Sal.

"What's that?" calls Drake.

"I'm pretty sure the mites ... and our new friend Gwennid ... speak French."

"What?!?"

Sal steps up to Grum and says as he touches him, "Here, try this. Oh, and 'Warning!'"

Grum sees and senses everything normally, but there seems to be an overlay to his vision ... many, myriad possibilities of a split-second in the future.

"Give in to it on your next attack, Grum."

R2T22: Helena, what do you do?

Grum on deck, Blue in the hole ...

[DrK]

”First mites then ostovites it is a strange place here.” she mutters, wincing at the force of Grum’s swing. Focusing on accuracy she goes to place an arrrow in blue’s chest.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Swift: horizon wind lancet
Standard: shoot blue (1d20+7)[16]
Dam (1d8+2)[9] + (1d6)[3] fire + (1d6)[5] boost

PBS not included

[lostsole31]

R2T22: ”First mites, then ostovites. It is a strange place here,” she mutters, wincing at the force of Grum’s swing. Focusing on accuracy, she goes to place an arrow in Blue’s chest. Her arrow strikes true and he is flattened against the back wall before slowly drifting down to the ground.

R2T20: Grum, what do you do?

Drake on deck, Green in the hole ...

[DrK]

Grum stares down at the mite, the vile creatures long enemies of the dwarf and brings down the blade down in a single large vertical chop onto its head. "Vermin aye, infesting this place like bugs ye be." he growls chopping down hard to kill it.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Standard: attack the mite (risky attack) (1d20+8)[10] dam (2d6+10)[18]

[lostsole31]

R2T20: Grum stares down at the mite, the vile creatures' long enemies of the dwarf. "Vermin, aye, infesting this place like bugs, ye be," he growls, chopping the blade down in a single, large vertical chop towards its head, but it ducks behind the pillar. The overlay ends, but Grum realizes that he ignored the way it was guiding him, and tried to make the vision go the way he wanted. In the end, the now fading vision showed a better way to attack it, but Grum's desire for dramatic pronouncement on the final enemy was his undoing.

R2T15: Completely wild with fear, Drake clangs the machete against the side of the pillar to get Green.

R2T12: Green tosses a dart at Drake, but he ducks.

R2T10: Camael stands back, figuring the battle well in hand.

R2T9: Even though they are only a little bigger than the mite, Gwennid is also having trouble spearing it.

End Round 2, Begin Round 3 ...

R3T28: Sal shakes his head and says, "Get ready, Helena, I'm going to give you another short-term vision. Lean into it when you attack. Trust what it shows you."

He concentrates and touches her shoulder as before, and she gets the same sensation as before.

R3T22: Helena, what do you do? If you attack, do you do as Sal had said?

Grum on deck, Drake in the hole ...

[DrK]

Helena nods, letting the vision guide her this time and lets fly with another arrow

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Standard attack: (1d20+7)[15] dam (1d8+2)[10] + (1d6)[1] fire

Not included PBS or the bonus from Sal

[lostsole31]

It turns out that the mini-visions you get from him are EXACTLY what were needed, as Helena's arrow - just barely guided by Sal's power - fells the creature!

Combat Ends!

[DrK]

Helena walks towards the mites seeing if any arrows are recoverable. ”Ugly beasts, but they seemed as confused as us.” She says as she also goes to investigate the statues to see who they might be

Grum sneers at the dead mites ”Vermin they be. No use for ‘em” he adds before letting others look at what they want as he moves to opening to the north to peer into the next room and keep an eye out if anything else is lurking here

[lostsole31]

Helena finds there is a price to be paid for fiery arrows, as even the ones that missed their mark were weakened by the flame and destroyed.

The brothers make sure the mites are never getting back up.

"Hey, they hit Drake with something that has him tweaked," says Sal quietly to Helena and Grum. "If we could take a breather for a minute here?"

That gives Helena a chance to look at the busts ...

• The one to the south is of a man, reading, "Fallist Roslar, Father."
• The one just north of that is for a woman, "Emmillisa Roslar, Mother."
• Then is "Annilisa Roslar, Sister."
• Finally, a bust of a heroic-looking man reading "Ervin Roslar, Hero."

It is upon this last bust that sits a very elegant wig of hair. That is all well and good, but considering that none of the depictions of Roslar have anything even remotely like this, it seems curious. The wig not only doesn't fit any depictions, but seems wildly out of character for the heroic man.

[DrK]

Grum glances back at the others as he watches the archway. He nods approvingly as the mites are squashed and put down. ”Do you have ‘em where ye be from?” he asks as he watches their destruction. He also nods to Sal and Camael ”Aye lad. Ye take all the time ye want. We be in no rush.”

Helena herself looks at the busts and starts to wonder, ”This whole tomb seems dedicated to Roslar. I wonder… has someone dropped us into a tomb to the man. He was accounted a great hero.Although…” she says reaching out to stroke the hair, ”The statue suggests he was more for the moustache than the hair.”

[lostsole31]

"Yeah," says Sal. "Well, there are if you believe the lore. We haven't experienced much in the way of fairy-folk, as most of the legends are in Europe. Charles Perrault wrote a lot of so-called 'fairy-tales' ... but like the Grimm tales, they were made more palatable and many of the tales are much darker. I guess, if a Frenchman would be the one to write the literal book on the fey ... why not French? It just seems weird that you speak English, and the fey folk speak French."

Surprise Round ...

As Helena reaches out to stroke the wig, the wig rears up, and looks like it tries to grab her hand, but Helena recoils in shock just in time as it plops to the floor at her feet, writhing angrily!

Begin Round One ...

R1T32: "Animate hair!" calls Sal as he draws his knife. "You have to cut it!"

He slashes it for 4.

R1T16: Helena, you still have your bow in hand. What do you do? It is in the same square as you now.

[DrK]

Helena squeaks in shock as the hair leaps out at her, "AH... what in the nine realms" she mutters as she hops back away from it, dancing away as elegantly as she could even as she smashes at it with her buckler

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Swift: Silver crane stance
standard: Buckler bash (risky attack) (1d20+6)[12] dam (1d3+3)[5]
Move: tumble 15ft to avoid AoO; acrobatics (1d20+9)[11]
(moving W, SW, W from where she is now)

[lostsole31]

R1T16: Helena squeaks in shock as the hair leaps out at her, "AH... what in the nine realms" she mutters as she hops back away from it, dancing away as elegantly as she could even as she smashes at it with her buckler, but the Tiny head of hair is agile and darts out of the way, though she realizes once she is done that the thing is too small to present a mobility threat.

R1T10: Grum, what do you do?

[DrK]

Grum spins around and looks at the tiny mop of hair. ”I ain’t ‘fraid of no hair. Nae be a beard.” he jokes as he leans into the massive blade and swipes down hard.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

As he has a 10ft reach from being in Titanic swings form so just attack from where I am
Swift: enter Vigilant Keeper stance
Standard: Risky attack (1d20+8)[22] dam (2d6+10)[18]

[lostsole31]

R1T10: Grum spins around and looks at the tiny mop of hair. ”I ain’t ‘fraid of no hair. Nae be a beard,” he jokes as he leans into the massive blade and swipes down hard, splattering the thing such that it is no longer moving.

Combat Ends!

[DrK]

Grum kicks the unmoving hair across the room after killing it. ”stupid thing. What manner of beast be living hair.” Helena likewise nods, ”I agree. I should have guessed when I saw the hair. Roslar was famed for a moustache.”

With the hair defeated Grum looks towards the next chamber to the north. “Ye be reet?” he looks to the men for confirmation. If they are ready he’ll advance 20ft into the next room

[lostsole31]

"Hold on!" says Sal when asked, which conditionally stops Grum. "I want to take minute to look over the animate hair remains, and we still need to see if Drake will shake off what the mite did to him."

[DrK]

Grum nods, ”Aye lad. Ye take yer time.” Grum nods as he waits for them to examine the remains and waiting for what must a be a spell to wear off.

[lostsole31]

Drake will observe Sal take out some tools and gingerly pick apart the hair-creature. While Sal is easily the expert here, Drake surprises any onlookers by being helpful with the odd bit of lore to assist his younger brother.

Sal takes some time to look it over and says, "Okay, as I figured. So, 'animate hair' is as good a thing as I can possibly name it. It doesn't have any of the normal biological markers for most creatures, even the really weird and far out ones. It's actually incredibly simple, surprisingly. In hunter lore, we would call this a type of 'ooze' or a 'blob.' They're protoplasms of incredible size, and while they're remarkably biodiverse, this one is really an outlier. That's real keratin extruded by the hidden main body to look like hair; actually, being keratin it doesn't 'look like' .... I guess we should say that it 'is' hair.

"So most of the blobbies as a rule have no mind to speak of - so no advanced cunning, tactics, but that also makes them immune to some specialized attacks that say, a witch might use. In fact, they don't have developed senses like we do, and yet their ability to sense their surroundings on a primitive level actually exceeds our own ... a sort of 'blindsense.' Not quite as much information gathered as say, our eyesight, but it only needs what it needs to hunt and move. Of course, that also means that they can't be bothered by anything requiring an effect to overload the retina or the like.

"This guy, however, is special. So, it has these tendrils here you might see that can actually help them connect to a host and communicate on a really simple level. Not telepathy, but basic drives and motivations, and that is backed up by the fact that this particular blobby is the rare one of its breed ... it has a ganglial mass that is quite intelligent and good at problem-solving, on the order of a toddler or small child.

"So, like the ostvites do with bone, though that makes the ostovites more of a tool-user ... the animate hair seems to be able to get a host by putting itself on the head and attaching tendrils and also riding the host around. I don't know the effects on the host nor over what period of time, but I imagine it can't be good."

During Sal's explanation, Drake seems to be calm again. In addition, the break was also enough for Grum's stone giant's girdle to return to full fortification.

The party is now ready...