Siora moved around the pack, next to her sister, to get a better look at the room. She readied her bow, despite the fact that she couldn’t get a shot from where she was. “I’m ready, if one of them tries to run through the tentacles into range.”

Maura, too, nodded, though she stayed where she was standing. “Same here. I could drop the tentacles, but I think they’re doing just fine where they are.”

FB1’s Grapple Check: 1d20+17 = 21

BT’s Grapple Check: 1d20+18 = 26 (Success)

The female berserker may have been in a frenzy, but she was far from mindless. Without ranged weapons, she clearly realized that the only way she could possibly win was to get to the other side of the black tentacles, where she could get into melee with us. Unfortunately (for her), she got caught up in the grasping tentacles the moment she entered their reach.

The Acolyte was still howling in pain, curled up on the floor and thrashing in agony. A more ‘noble’ person might feel pity for him, but I wasn’t that noble. I’d take a helpless, unresisting target over one adding to my troubles any day, and sleep well at night.

Frostmane took a breath, and said, “Keep going, little bird. No reason to let them get a clean hit in if we can avoid it. Just make sure you deal with them before the tentacles disappear.”

Melinda’s Attack Roll (FB1): 1d20+19 = 33 (touch) (Hit)

Target Grappling: 1d20 = 12 (hit FB1)

Vitriolic Chain Damage: 7d6 = 30 (Acid)

Melinda’s Attack Roll (FA): 1d20+19 = 33 (touch) (Hit)

Vitriolic Chain Damage: 15 (Acid)

“I’ll see what I can do, but be ready if this one manages to make it through.” As I said that, I unleashed another bolt of acidic energy, that smacked the berserker in the chest, before chaining to the crying acolyte. I was pretty sure that it would only take a few more shots like that to end this, given the state of the berserker’s wounds.

Vestele’s Cure Moderate Wounds (Frostmane): 2d8+3 = 10

Vestele pulled out her wand, and touched its tip to Frostmane’s shoulder. “Now that none of us are in immediate danger, let us see if we can’t patch you up a bit. I expect we’ll be having a bit of a rest, as we deal with the ‘pantry’ and its food stores.”

FB1’s Grapple Check: 1d20+17 = 29

BT’s Grapple Check: 1d20+18 = 37 (Success)

Grapple Damage: 1d6+4 = 7 (DR 5/Silver)

The tentacles greedily wrapped around their prey, doing their best to crush the werewolf like a python might. Still, they were just constructs made of magic, not weapons forged of silver. I’d be surprised if they did much damage to the beast.

FB1’s Grapple Check: 1d20+17 = 21

BT’s Grapple Check: 1d20+18 = 19 (Fail)

Siora’s AoO: 1d20+11 = 15 (Miss)

Maura’s CL Check: 1d20+10 = 29 (Success)

Magic Missile (FB1): 5d4+5 = 19 (force)

Siora, Maura, and Frostmane all stood ready, waiting for the werewolves to come into range. As the remaining berserker broke free of the tentacles with a roar, and fought her way forward, the Beguiler and the Sorceress unleashed their attacks. Siora’s arrow missed, but the sorceress’s magic missiles struck true, slamming one after the other into the berserker’s chest.

Lingering Vitriolic Blast Damage (FB1): 2d6 = 7 (Acid)

Lingering Vitriolic Blast Damage (FA): 2d6 = 12 (Acid)

Melinda’s Attack Roll (FB1): 1d20+19 = 34 (Touch) (Hit)

Vitriolic Chain Damage: 7d6 = 23 (Acid)

Melinda’s Attack Roll (FA): 1d20+19 = 35 (Touch) (Hit)

Vitriolic Chain Damage: 11 (Acid)

Ignoring the wails of the acolyte, I sent another blast of acidic energy at the berserker. I saw the berserker howl in pain as the acid began melting away her flesh. No doubt the same was happening to the acolyte, as well. I filed that under ‘things that weren’t my problem’. Soon they’d be dead, anyways, and the dead can’t feel any pain, not unless you have a necromancer around.

Vestele’s Cure Moderate Wounds (Frostmane): 2d8+3 = 7

Vestele tapped Frostmane with her wand again, seemingly ignoring the situation going on around her, though I knew she was all too aware of how close the Berserker was. “There you are, floofy one. That should make you good enough that anything else could be taken care of in a night’s rest.”

Siora’s Attack Roll (FB1): 1d20+11 = 24 (Miss)

Maura’s Attack Roll (FB1): 1d20+9 = 11 (Miss)

With the werewolf now in range, Siora fired another arrow from her bow, and Maura followed shortly after with a shot from her crossbow. Unfortunately, neither shot was able to pierce the werewolf’s armor, but that was fine. He didn’t have much left, if I was any judge.

FB1’s Grapple Check: 1d20+17 = 30

BT’s Grapple Check: 1d20+18 = 37 (Success)

The berserker tried to fight her way forward, but the tentacles renewed their hold on the warrior. One of the tentacles wrapped about the werewolf’s mouth, stuffing it to the point where the werewolf would not be able to speak, or close her jaw. I couldn’t help but snicker at the sight. She looked for all the world like a dog who had picked up a stick that was way too big for her, and yet couldn’t open her mouth far enough to release the stick.

Lingering Vitriolic Blast Damage (FB1): 2d6 = 7 (Acid)

Lingering Vitriolic Blast Damage (FB1): 2d6 = 7 (Acid)

Lingering Vitriolic Blast Damage (FA): 2d6 = 8 (Acid)

Lingering Vitriolic Blast Damage (FA): 2d6 = 9 (Acid) (Dead)

Melinda’s Attack Roll (FB1): 1d20+19 = 28 (Touch) (Hit)

Target Grappling: 1d20 = 17 (hit FB1)

Vitriolic Chain Damage: 7d6 = 22 (Acid) (Dead)

The acolyte’s screams became a gurgle, and then silence, as the acid melted away the last of his life. Looking the Berserker in the eye, I threw another bolt of acidic energy her way, striking her in the face. The tentacle gagging her suppressed her screams as the acid melted away her face, leaving only a bare skull behind. Her body went limp, and turned back into its human form, proving that the berserker was dead.

Your party has defeated one Fiendwolf Acolyte and two Fiendwolf Berserkers!

Melinda gains 4388 XP.

Frostmane gains 4388 XP.

Siora gains 4388 XP.

Vestele gainse 4388 XP.

Loot:

Belt of Settled Form x3

Malarite Acolyte's Armor

Acolyte's Shield

Periapt of Wisdom +2

Ring of Protection +2

+1 Flaming Morningstar

Shifter’s Chain Shirt x2

Foehewer x2

Amulet of Natural Armor +4 x2

With the threat done, Maura dropped the tentacle spell, allowing us to enter the room. Vestele moved forward, to check on the sacrifices who were part of the pantry. With a nod, she said, “Looks like the tentacles crushed the hearts for the people trapped in these four arrays. They’re dead.”

I nodded as I began sorting through the loot from this battle. As I picked up one of the barbarians’ axes, I sighed. “That’s probably for the best. Nothing we could do for them, anyways.”

Foehewer

Type

Martial 2-hand

Weight

24 lb

Damage

4d8

Damage Type

Slashing

Crit

19-20 / x3

This massive instrument of death dealing is the product of a savage mind. Larger than even a normal greataxe, it is further enchanted to enhance its murderous capabilities when in the hands of a barbarian.

+2 Enhancement to Attack and Damage

Large-sized Weapon

Forceful 2 – Increase the damage of this weapon by 2 steps (+2 bonus)

Berserk - Weapon deals extra 1d8 damage while raging (+1 Bonus)

Wounding - Deals 1 CON damage on every hit. (+2 Bonus)

The axes that the berserkers carried were the nastiest things I’d seen. Even Frostmane couldn’t stand up to too many hits from one of those things. I just hoped that there weren’t too many of them in the Malarites’ group.

Siora and Vestele went about destroying the hearts in the other two arrays while I packed all the loot in Frostmane’s bags. A couple pieces I set aside, trading my ring for one of the new ones, and leaving one of the amulets for Siora, who also could trade out a lesser version of the amulet she was wearing for an upgrade. Getting stronger, even if only by a little bit, was a welcome thing, since it looked like the foes we were fighting were at a higher level than we had faced before.

After the intense couple fights, we decided that taking a break was the best thing we could do. After all, there was no sense rushing into things and getting ourselves killed. The last snake-man was out there, and the ‘mistress’ and her three protectors. I doubted any of those fights would be ‘easy’.

As I sat, relaxing against the wall, Vestele slid down to sit next to me. “You know, if we’re going to take some time to rest before we go to the temple, there’s an aspect of the class I’ve acquired that I haven’t been using, because of the time involved in setting it up. We could make use of it while we gather our strength for the final push.”

Looking over to the priestess, I raised an eyebrow. “I’m all for increasing our power. What ability are you not using?”

She smiled, and said, “Well, as we progressed through our battles, I began taking up the mantle of a Pierced Mystic. It is a lesser known prestige class, which allows a spellcaster to imbue piercings with magical power. I can even give piercings to others that will hold several spells imbued in it as spell-like abilities, which will remain until used.”

My eyes widened at that. Having a bit of extra magic, that you could use in a pinch, was always a useful thing. The possibilities of giving someone else a cleric’s spells was extremely enticing. “What is the catch, other than having to get a piercing? I assume that there is one?”

Vestele nodded. “Well, there are some limitations, yes. Piercings I place on myself have slightly different rules, both more expansive and more restrictive at the same time. But as far as piercings I can do for you, or the rest of the group, well, I can only do one piercing per person at a time, and they would interfere with magical items, the same as if you tried to wear two rings on the same hand, until you used the spells set into them. When they are used up, well, you can never have one of these imbued piercings in that ‘slot’ again.”

I nodded slowly, digesting the information. That was fairly restrictive, but it wouldn’t be too hard to work around it, in some cases. “What kind of spells could you give us?”

“Unfortunately, the imbuement process would only allow me to do abjuration, divination, or healing spells of the first or second level. Specifically, with the natural power all of us have, two spells of the first level, and one of the second. Each would be a single use.”

That was more restrictive than I would have hoped, but it still offered the chance of some emergency healing, or other benefits. “What would you need in order to accomplish this?”

“Ideally? A shop where I could craft piercings that can match each person’s image. As it stands? I have my tools, and some simple gold piercings that I could use. So, all I really need would be a day where we are resting, so I can use up all my lesser spells in the imbuing, and time to pierce you all in turn. I would ‘lose’ the spells as though I cast them, which also means I would need to have them prepared beforehand.”

That made sense. Something that powerful would be limited at least to this degree. Still, the prospects of having some of those abilities was too nice to ignore, especially when we went to face the Huntmaster, eventually.

That made the decision a simple one. “All right. When we are finished with the enemies here, we’ll find time to rest for a day, so you can do the piercings on anyone who is willing. I’d say focus on the healing spells, unless you can come up with something better.”

“That will do nicely. I’ll try and figure out something for everyone.”