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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mikeawmids" data-source="post: 7935739" data-attributes="member: 6776411">Chapter Thirteen: Scroll with the PunchesThe party retreat to the garden of the stone heads. Zain moves the heavy bronze disc back into position above the pit. Nadiyya unrolls the scroll, while Misfar cranes to peer over her shoulder. The ancient papyrus is marked by a single, sprawling rune. Neither Nadiyya or Misfar can comprehend or draw any conclusions about the nature of this rune or the purpose of the scroll."Zayifid might know more." Nadiyya suggests, "We could - "BONG!!!Her train of thought is derailed by the sound of something huge crashing against the underside of the bronze disc covering the pit.Zain (who had been enjoying a quick power nap) leaps to his feet and reaches for Tempest. Fuk staggers upright, still moving stiffly from his injuries."By the Starstone! What was that?!" Zain cries.BONG!!! BONG!!!"The beast from the crypt!" Misfar shouts, hastily shouldering his pack, "It must have woken up and followed us up the shaft! Nadiyya, secure that scroll! We must flee!"Abandoning their camp, the heroes race for the staircase ascending to the Carrion King's throne room. BONG!!! BONG!!! SMASH!!!The bronze seal succumbs to the Waiting Beast's onslaught, releasing the horror from the pit! Zain glances over his shoulder and glimpses the Beast emerging into the garden. A tentacle coils around the trunk of the almond tree and tears it out of the ground. The Beast spots its prey fleeing into the stairwell and surges after them!This scene was treated as a Quick Encounter. Each player decided which skill their hero would use during the escape. As long as there were as many successes/raises as there were players involved in the scene (so in this instance, 4), the scene is a success and the party escape.Muscles screaming in protest, the heroes sprint headlong up the long, spiral staircase. The Beast howls behind them, shaking the walls. Nadiyya rolls Athletics and outpaces the rest of the party. Misfar rolls Spellcasting to create barriers of solid stone behind them as they flee, slowing the Beasts' pursuit as it stops to smash through each wall the wizard raises in their wake. But he can only keep that up for so long and soon runs out of magical juice. The Beast begins to gain ground, writhing tentacles reaching for the flagging heroes.... Zain rolls Faith to blind the Beast with a flash of Sarenrae's radiant aura. The Beast shrieks, retracting its tentacles to shield its eyes from the light. The party keep running. They can see torchlight from the throne room up ahead, they're nearly there!! But the Beast has not given up the chase! As the heroes spill into the throne room, serpentine tentacles reach after them. The Beast is too huge to fit through the secret door, but its beaked maw fills the portal, waiting to rip apart anyone it can pull back into its mouth. Fuk rolls Shooting and fires arrow after arrow in rapid succession, straight down the Waiting Beast's yawning gullet! The Beast howls in frustration and withdraws back down into its lair.The heroes take a moment to dust themselves off and catch their breath. That was altogether too close!"Tell me you still have the scroll...?" Misfar gasps, looking to Nadiyya."Yes," interrupts a deep, guttural voice, "Do tell us you have the scroll."The Carrion King steps out from behind the Maggot Throne, slowly clapping his furry paws in mock applause. Only, the heroes know the real Carrion King is dead, so this must be Zayifid, the treacherous and shapeshifting djinn. Along with their faux King, a half dozen gnolls emerge from hiding around the throne room; half are regular sized gnolls armed with bows, the other half are the hulking Unchosen."Hand over the scroll and you might yet leave this place alive," offers Ghartok/Zayifid, "Frankly, you've saved me a lot of time and effort and I'm feeling magnanimous."The gnolls glance at each other. Magnaniwhatnow? Was their chieftain always this loquacious?"So, this scrap of old papyrus is pretty important to you?" Nadiyya asks, holding up the scroll, "It must be, considering all the lies you've spun. Wouldn't it be just awful if it were destroyed now, when you were so close to getting your hands on it?"Nadiyya snaps her fingers and a tiny flame appeared in her other hand. She holds the scroll inches above the fire and arches an eyebrow toward the King.Ghartok/Zayifid  grins back at her. Nadiyya feels her confidence waver."Go ahead. Try and burn it. I suspect you'll find it quite indestructible."Misfar gasps as Nadiyya drives the scroll into the flame. True to the King's prediction, nothing happens. The scroll is impervious to fire."You have absolutely no concept of what you hold, do you?" Ghartok/Zayifid says, condescendingly, "How precious. I could tell you. It would blow your tiny minds - but why waste breath talking to the dead? Kill them!! Bring me the scroll!!"Zain charges the nearest two Unchosen and kills them both in a single Sweep of his magical axe. He can hear the spirit of Vardishal whispering in his mind, insisting the scroll not fall into Zayifid's possession! The final Unchosen batters Nadiyya, she raises her shield to block the blow, but the force behind it still drives her to her knees. The huge gnoll raises its fist for a second blow, but Fuk shoots it in the armpit and it reels away. Nadiyya lunges forward and drives her sword into the Unchosen's groin!Misfar advances on the Maggot Throne. A gnoll archer pops out and looses his bow at the wizard. Misfar ducks and obliterates the wretched creature in a burst of burning sand. Ghartok/Zayifid is caught in the damage field, but ducks behind his big chair to avoid the worst of it."No more hiding, djinn!" Misfar cries, stepping over the bleached bones of the dead archer.He reaches the throne, but Zayifid has turned ethereal and escaped!"Coward!!" the wizard shouts, not caring whether his enemy can even hear.Noting that their King has vanished into thin air, the last few gnolls slink away."That treacherous lamp donkey might have escaped, but we still have the scroll," Misfar states, after the dust has settled, "I doubt we've seen the last of him, so stay alert! We should head back to Kelmarane and report to the Princess.""If I had but the strength, I would bring this unholy place to ruin afore we leave," Zain muttered, piously, "No matter, we have slain many servants of the Destroyer this day. Praise be unto Sarenrae!""Fuk still a little sad about the not-gold," admits the little goblin, "But Fuk got to fight a big monster and that was fun!""Let's get out of here," Nadiyya agrees, stuffing the mystery scroll back into her pack. TBC</blockquote>

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