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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2879943" data-attributes="member: 1210">Revenge on Bile Mountain (pt. 4)!The ashen remains of the aags lay at our heroes’ feet.  Alcar smiles in satisfaction.  It only took a few moments to defeat the undead.  Our heroes are beginning to feel somewhat more confident in Bile Mountain as they overcome challenge after challenge.  “We can take them!” proclaims Lester.  “We should just go right to the top and hit the Bile Lords now!”“No way!” Thrush protests.  “We don’t want to leave all kinds of enemies behind us that we might have to fight our way through if we’re trying to retreat.  I’ve been trapped in that mountain before, and it’s not happening again!”“Regardless of our plan of attack,” Gerontius intercedes, “we should search zis area first, and see if ze aags had any treasure.”Within the cell that spewed forth a half dozen aags, the party finds a secret door behind a loose stone.  The reek of the undead aags permeates the passage revealed beyond.  Following this ragged passage, our heroes come to a small hidden area.  Within it is the shriveled husk of some form of large humanoid creature.“I remember that guy!” exclaims Lester.  “We met him here before.”“Yes, he was despondent,” Orbius replies.  “I believe he was a devourer- a type of undead that imprisons and consumes souls in order to feed their powers.  He had no ‘fuel’ to burn, and had been starving for a soul for a long time when we found him.”No further interesting items are in the chamber, so the party turns back and returns to the cell block.  “I guess it’s time to search the rest of the areas we haven’t searched,” Sybele sighs.“And there is that passage that is blocked by rubble,” points out Chakar.“It would take hours or days to get through that!” Thrush exclaims, shaking his head.“Nah,” Lester says.***11:30 a.m.As the party begins moving towards the areas they have not yet searched, Thrush pulls Orbius aside.  “Hey, I was wondering if you could do me a favor,” Thrush says nervously.“Maybe.  What do you need?”“Could you enlarge me again?  Permanently, I mean?”Orbius frowns.  “I could, but...”“Oh, come on, man!”  Thrush glances over at Sybele, who towers over most of the group.  “I need to be bigger to, uh, take care of her,” he mumbles.Orbius sighs.  “Not today, but later.”“Thank you!”  Thrush claps him on the shoulder.  “I appreciate it!”“No problem,” Orbius answers, embarrassed.  The party reaches the room with the pool of bile in it.  The chamber is full of the acrid, biting stink of the bile.  The pool lies placid and undisturbed; our heroes glance at it nervously, wondering if some terrible creature will lurk within it.  But nothing comes out of it as they begin searching, so- although they keep an eye on it- their fears prove unfounded.  They do, however, find yet another secret door.  The place seems to be riddled with them.  “Be careful!” warns Baron Lillamere as Lester moves up to open the door.“I hope it’s another Bile Lord!” declares Lester, and pushes on the edge of the secret door.  It swings open- and a group of bizarre headless creatures tumble into view!  They cartwheel end over end and it is very difficult to tell the difference between their hands and their feet.  Perhaps there is no difference; for as the headless creatures tumble in, they seem able to attack with all their limbs, hopping from one to another as they launch punches or kicks.  They are tricky fighters, too, attempting trips and disarms.  A few attempt stunning fist attacks with blows to the temple or the nose.  When they start using the quivering palm technique, Chakar warns the party over the telepathic link: These creatures are skilled monks!  They move with incredible speed, and it is unclear exactly how many of them there are at first; when the party finally pins down the number, it is eight.But as skilled as they are, the headless monks cannot equal the might of our heroes.  Gerontius’ daggers are like flickering from place to place, leaving red marks behind them.  Inoke, Alcar and Thrush smash their foes before them.  Lester and Horbin expend spells that damage all of the headless.  Finally, Gerontius defeats the last one.  Taking stock of themselves, our heroes find that, though wounded, they are not badly wounded.  A few moments of the ministrations of Alcar and Horbin, and they are as good as new.  Then a search of the Spartan chamber beyond the secret door- the lair of the headless- turns up nothing of interest.  The monks themselves, on the other hand, are well-outfitted.  Each has a magical robe, belt, ring and amulet.“This could be a pretty nice haul, depending on what these are,” Lester opines. “Now what?” asks Horbin.  “All that’s left,” says Thrush, “is that obstructed passage.”“All right, let’s do it,” says Lester.“Do you have a way to get us past it?” asks Chakar.  “I have seen you pass through earth and stone; can you allow us to do so as well, or something?”“No, but I can move earth,” the L explains.  “Hey, I’m the god of adventure!  I have to be able to get to adventure.”*Inoke snorts.Nonetheless, the party moves back to the rubble-filled passageway.  “This may take a while to get through,” Lester tells them, and begins casting move earth.  Slowly the rubble is pushed aside and behind them, taking out of the way, and the passage is cleared.  It takes about ten minutes.  Then, before the party heads down, Orbius sends an arcane eye to scout out the situation.  “There are some sort of creatures in there,” he says.  “They sort of remind of a reptile, but also kind of a cat.  I am not sure what they are.”  After a brief pause, he adds, “There are two of them, plus a third- with three heads.”“Are they bile creatures?” groans Horbin.“They don’t appear to be,” answers Orbius.  “Besides, we have a bile shield on anyway.”“Well, then let’s go get them!” exclaims Lester.The party advances.Next Time: The party against a group of sirrushes!  *Lester is taking levels in the divine ascendant epic prestige class.  He hopes to become a god someday.  It will be interesting to see where this leads. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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