5th Lharvion, 999 YK
- They spend some time tending to their wounds and then get the hell out of dodge. Mirnac is pretty good at this!
7th Lharvion, 999 YK
- They arrive at Shaazarak, trekking through the volcanic tundra. The ruin is a huge black-stone ziggurat, which is partially buried and being excavated (by hand) by a large group of mortals.
- They can see from a distance, that the mortals are being watched over by Zakya Rakshasa, which all of the group are at least somewhat familiar with. Two of those rakshasa are duelling at the peak of the ziggurat.
- They spend some time scouting from a distance, gathering what information they can and preparing to take on the zakya.
- They also reflect on what they know of Rakshasa, since they expect they may see some of the sorcerer caste too.
- Xander also spent some time observing Mirnac, and determined that she's being deceptive, and he detects a sliver of rage beneath her calm exterior.
- Don't trust the Ghaash'kala.
- They send Pestilence to scout, and see if there's any other entrances to the ziggurat (other than the big obvious one). There may be more underground, but the only above ground entrance is the obvious one.
- Xander asks if anyone has the means to cast a shared invisibility spell, so they can approach?
- The door is going to be an issue, as it's two large stone slabs.
- They wonder if these zakya will be hostile, usually if they encountered rakshasa in their own tribe's territory they wouldn't be, but this is not any of their territory.
- Xander remembers that Zakya have good noses, even if the group is invisible, the zakya will smell them coming (especially Rotrak) unless they mask their scents in some way.
- Xander suggests covering Szfalka in mud to mask his scent, but he refuses. Xander says he will do as he's fucking told.
- Szfalka has no scent already though, weirdly.
- They send Szfalka to check out the door before they all go. Szfalka's knife wants blood, so his stealth check is at a small penalty.
- He manages it though, and examines the door. There's no lock or locking mechanism on the doors, but they're very, very heavy. They seem to be sized for something like Okor, not a human.
- He carefully tries the door but it's too heavy, so he just slithers back to the group. He makes a bit of noise doing so, and alerts one of the zakya, who is now actively scanning the environment.
- When he gets back to the group, Xander asks if he was seen. Szfalka explains what he found. "So, you had one job and you fucked it up?"
- "So, we don't have any more information than we had?"
- "No! We know there's no lock and no magic on the door, it's just big and heavy. It's not my failing, it's the door's failing really. It's a bad door, I'm not a bad snake"
- Szfalka's professional opinion is that they have to kill the guards before they can open the door. Xander asks if he can handle it while the rest of them watch. Szfalka would rather not do that, it'd be...way faster if they did it together!
- Xander lays out the plan. They use Mirnac's invisibility to approach, and when they're detected, Okor and Szfalka make up the vanguard.
- Mirnac casts the spell. Mirnac asks if she's invisible since she can't see the others anymore. "Can you still see me?"
- They confirm that they cannot.
- They move up, with Okor charging at the front. He is invisible, but his hoofprints in his ground are visible. The zakya notice, and draw their bows.
- Xander casts Enlarge on Okor, making him Huge
- Rotrak says something condescending to Okor, and then casts Gecko Grip on him, causing tiny hairs to grow out of his hooves and allow him to run up walls.
- Okor charges up the wall of the Ziggurat to get to the first zakya. Uh oh.
- Okor smashes his hammer down on the zakya, and then shoves it off the wall, where it falls in front of the gate.
- The zakya gets up and shoots at Okor with its bow, and then gets stabbed in the back by Szfalka (causing both poison and bleed damage). Drolga then shoves it aside and gets between it and Szfalka, with her shield raised.
- Xander moves up, focus firing the zakya they already knocked off the wall. He stabs the zakya in the back, adding another bleed.
- The two duelling zakya now join the fray, and both rush Okor and slash him with their taravari. One of them then tries to shove him off the wall, but he manages to hold his ground, with his hooves scraping the edge of the wall.
- Rotrak runs up and begins ascending the Ziggurat, getting swiped by a zakya as he runs past.
- Okor spins around and sweeps his hammer, hitting both zakya that attacked him. He crits, and deals 56 damage to both of them in one hit!
- He then raises his shield, of course.
- Mirnac turns around, putting her back to the ziggurat, and then casts Illusory Creature, creating an illusion of a rotting, emaciated couatl emerging from the top of the ziggurat (which she is not looking at)
- The couatl makes a "bleeeeehhhh" noise, and then Mirnac moves up.
- The wounded zakya begins sweeping their weapon, hitting Szfalka and missing Xander, and then raises their shield.
- Szfalka maneouvres around the shield and stabs it in the arm, causing it start bleeding again. He then tries to grapple it with his tail but fails.
- Drolga swings twice at the zakya, but it blocks both times with its shield.
- Xander tries to stab the zakya but it blocks it, but then Xander punches it in the leg under its shield.
- The two zakya on the ziggurat attack Okor and slash him up, and try (and fail) to push him off the wall again.
- Rotrak transforms into a spider, and then ascends to the next tier of the ziggurat by climbing the wall.
- Okor smash! He sweeps through both of their shields, destroying them.
- Okor then smashes the fuck out of the zakya that keeps trying to shove him off the wall, crumpling them into the ziggurat.
- The zakya getting focus fired is not the first one that went down, but the one Okor was fighting.
- Mirnac directs the illusory couatl to attack the nearest zakya, but both attacks fail to connect.
- The wounded, surrounded zakya goes all out on Szfalka, slashing him with both its taravari and its claws, and then raises its shield.
- Szfalka responds in kind by stabbing it again, and then stabbing it again, ending its eternal life (for now).
- Drolga drops her sword (and her shield is broken), gets out her crossbow, moves back to get the remaining zakya in her sights, and shoots it in the shoulder.
- Xander moves back and casts fireball, oblitering Mirnac's illusory couatl and burning the remaining zakya.
- The last zakya desperately attacks Okor, managing to get him with its claws.
- Rotrak spiders up the wall and behind the zakya, and then bites it in the back, envenomating it.
- Okor yells his own name and then smashes the remaining zakya into the ground, and then picks up the body and throws it over the side of the ziggurat.
- Okor then yells at the mortals to line up at the top of the ziggurat. They are afraid of him, but they seem afraid of something else more. They keep looking at the entrance to the ziggurat.
- Xander asks one of them what they're afraid of, what's in the Ziggurat? They answer that the ziggurat is the lair of Zoateka.
- Xander has heard the name before, Zoateka is a legendary figure among the Razor Wind. She was a mortal who managed to court Mordakhesh, the Shadowsword, something which irrevocably changed her. Xander thought she was dead.
- The slaves confirm she is very much alive.
- Xander asks what the purpose of the ziggurat is. One of the slaves explains that it's an armoury, and they recently uncovered a portal to the Bitter Shield.
- Okay, so they're not here to loot a tomb. They're looting a lair.
- Mirnac tends to their wounds, and Xander identifies the weapons looted from the zakya. Xander gives Drolga one of each of the weapons, as they are better than hers. He also gives her one of the shields, as hers was destroyed.
- Okor also repairs his shield, which took a fair bit of damage in the fight.
- They ready themselves to face whatever is waiting for them inside the ziggurat.
- Okor's player theorises that Zoateka and Thelestes, the Velvet Blade are the same person, and that they're going to find her waiting for them in the ruin.