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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 3313209" data-attributes="member: 1210">The singing of a kobold... who would have ever thought that it would inspire the confidence of halflings?  And yet, as Federico sings and japes, his voice reverberating through the watery passages around our heroes, his voice lifts their spirits.  Even Rush, who has hitherto been rather suspicious and unfriendly to the two kobolds, finds himself grinning.  The little guy is funny- and more than that, inspiring. “Fall back!” shouts Yip, as the coral monster takes a swipe at Rush, who allows the massive blow to deflect off of his mind blade as he withdraws.  The others are erecting their defenses and moving back as well- Erasmuz casts shield of faithlessness and erects a force screen, while Naomi initiates energy retort as she backs off.  Ari swims madly away after his faerie fire fails to have any effect whatsoever; once he reaches a relatively safe spot, he casts longstrider and prepares to return to the fray with significantly improved mobility.  Rock, growling, takes up a defensive stance, but the coral golem shuffles forward and tears at him with a jagged coral limb.  ”Back up, Naomi!” cries Erasmuz.  He casts a spiritual weapon, which strikes the beast, and Federico pulls out his wand and discharges a magic missile into the monster.  It seems pitiful, but it’s the best he can do at the moment.Naomi, still threatened by the monster, lumbers backwards.  As she does, the coral golem slams her with an attack of opportunity- triggering her energy retort, which blasts the beast with a bolt of lightning.  It shrugs the blast off with no apparent harm.Rush quaffs a pair of healing potions, then breathes steadily, attaining psionic focus.  He watches the coral beast advance inexorably towards the party, smashing Rock across the head and leaving him stunned.  Beau grits his teeth as he fires a ray of enfeeblement into the coral golem, but he can’t tell whether the thing is affected at all.  Erasmuz’ spiritual weapon keeps smacking at the beast, and Federico’s wand fires off more magic missiles.  Chunks of coral are coming off- the creature is obviously suffering from the punishment the party is dealing out- but it isn’t down yet.  But Yip and Rush move in, craftily tumbling to avoid any unnecessary damage.  One of them on either side of the golem, they hammer it with fists and mind blade- and finally, praying to Galador that staying close enough to unleash a flurry of blows will not prove to be a lethal mistake- Brother Yip finishes it off!!  Our heroes breathe a collective sigh of relief.  “I’m glad that’s over,” gasps Rock, bleeding profusely.  Ari and Nara immediately set to work healing the wounded- and almost everyone is at least a little wounded.  After a few moments of healing and rest, the party prepares to continue their explorations.  The coral golem’s chamber proves to be empty of interesting features, and it has no exits, so our heroes backtrack to the Y-shaped branch at which a left turn led to the coral golem room.  The other branch leads them to a portcullis, complete with underwater windlass.  Behind it are the skeletons of at least twenty sharks, lying immobile on the ground.  There are no other exits visible from without; our heroes snicker at the thought of lifting the portcullis and leave it behind.  “If we can’t find anywhere else to go or anything else to explore, we can always come back here,” says Ari.  “But for now, I am not really interested in fighting twenty shark skeletons.”“Or whatever killed twenty sharks,” adds Federico, shivering with fear.  His tail is tucked between his legs. The group turns around, returning to the chamber via which they entered the sunken temple.  From there they take another of the exits, this once leading to a chamber that is decorated with- nay, dominated by- paintings of bulbous fish eyes.  The walls seem to bulge with them, giving all of our heroes the unsettling feeling that they are being watched.  “These folk were creepy,” mutters Rock.  Again, a lack of exits leads the party back to the main room and out another of the passages that lead from it.  This one takes them to a chamber full of jumbled, mostly-crushed skeletons and weapons, many of which are broken.  Again, there are no exits. Ari crouches down, examining the bones.  “These look like halfling bodies,” he tells the others grimly.“They must be some of the jerren,” Naomi says eagerly.  “If only we could talk to them!”Nara smiles.  “Who says we can’t?”The power of Coila flows through the prophetess as she intones solemn prayers to her goddess.  Soon, she is murmuring to a skull that has a significant amount of its neck (and vocal cords) repaired via make whole.  When she is done, she shudders.  “It seems,” she informs her friends, “that the jerren were fond of dealing with foul powers from other planes, and of binding demons and such.”  She licks her lips nervously.  “They... they collected true names.”“Oh?” asks Ari.  “Any of them especially interesting?” “You might say that,” Nara replies.  “Have you ever heard of Orcus?”Silence descends on the group for a moment.  Finally, Federico whimpers, “...yeah...”“Is Orcus what killed these guys?” Ari gestures.“No, I asked about that too.  They were killed by something I’ve never heard of- something called the ‘scyllan’.”“Uh oh,” Federico whimpers some more, almost starting to cry. “What is this ‘scyllan’?” asks Beau.“It- it’s a weird, powerful monster, some kind of demon or devil or something... I always thought it was just a legend!” Federico exclaims.  “I never believed it was actually real...”“But,” sighs Naomi, “what is it?”“A terrible thing, brought here from another plane,” the kobold bard grimaces.  “Marooned, stranded, unable to get home... the scyllan is a terrible, terrible monster that eats little kobolds and halflings for breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, lunch-”“I think we get the idea,” Ari nods. “At least it eats a decent number of meals every day,” reasons Naomi.  “It can’t be all bad.”“Did you miss the part where its meals were halflings?” snorts Rock. “Well, no, but I mean, come on, we all gotta eat,” the obese Naomi shoots back. “Well, buddies,” Erasmuz says, “maybe if we find it we can turn the tables on it.  “Maybe WE can eat IT!”Next Time: Who will eat whom??  Our heroes encounter- the SCYLLAN!!</blockquote>

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