Pathfinder: The Vampires Revenge

Black goo

Jamada

"His...cousin?" Tamora asked. She looked at the other people in front of us, especially the changeling, samsaran, and dhampire to make sure they didn't hear. "Are you sure?"

"Indeed." Rattle said. "From what I learned after searching his mind, they appeared to have had a rivalry between each other to see who was better with magic. The half-elf, Seltyiel outshined his cousin with him being a sorcerer, and Morrigan being a mere alchemist. That rivalry soon turned to hatred, and Morrgian grew jealous towards his cousin, for his talents in magic and longevity. He started to grow old so he went to Thuvia to....attempt in making an elixir of life, increase his lifespan and outshine his cousin. Something must have happened however, because Seltyiel received a letter stating his cousins death. There is not much information after that, except he had him buried in Thuvia."

"And here I thought I had family problems." Klarr said.

"That explains how he knows him." I said. "Did you see anything else about Morrigan?"

"No, just that bit of information." Rattle said. "Along with some.......other...interesting information, but I'm keeping that to myself. The only thing we need to worry about is the Half-elfs immense pride. It has lead him to many......conflicts.......that could have been easily avoidable."

"Mammals." I heard Venom mutter.

"Well, its not like it can get any worse with us going to stop an power hunger vampire with a powerful spellbook that he's going to us to kill all living things." Tamora said.

"Things can always get worse Tamora, take it from us." I said. I learned long ago not say such things, though it didn't make much difference.

When our conversation came to an end, I decided to go chat with the other group to become better acquainted with them, seeing as how we were going to have to fight together anyways. I chatted with the samsaran Pormetheus, who turned out to be an alchemist as well. For a good hour and a half we traded formulas with each other, explained the types of materials that we use, and all things concerning alchemy. After that we began to trades stories with each other and I learned some rather interesting facts about the group. Pormetheus adventured with the half-hag Alexia, who was an investigator for Ustalav that went out adventuring in her free time, for a couple of years before they met Seltyiel. Pormetheus said they went on some adventures with him before they were hired to go on this expedition. The dhamper Luna was a thief from Absalom, and apparently she had some history with Seltyiel. He explained that they use to date, but broke up some years ago, saying it didn't work out. After seeing how the half-elf acted, I could see why.

During our conversation, I saw Tamora talking with Luna and Alexia in front of us, and Klarr walked next to me silently. Not that he didn't want to talk, he just didn't know about most of the stuff we were talking about. Rattle and Venom walked behind the carriage away from the others. The sell swords however, were walking behind the carriage as well, so they gave them a lot of space. Seltyiel stayed in the carriage, no doubt upset over the fact of him being forced to deal with us traveling with him. We talked most of the day, until the carriage suddenly came to a stop.

"We're here." Sarvain said, who had been walking in front of the group the entire time. The Shattered Range marked the border between Nex and the Mwanji Expance. Any fortress here would not only protect against the wild creatures in the vast jungle, but also act as a look out post during the war against Geb. I heard the door to the carriage open as we walked up to the hellspawn oracle.

"So what now? Is there even a fortress here?" Luna asked. I saw him kneel and mutter a few arcane words.

"Just ahead. "He muttered. "I also sense a powerful force of unholy power, but as we are so close to the domain of the dead, I cannot be sure where it is coming from...." I nodded. So close to the Mana Wastes, anyone can smell the Gebbite stench of undead.

"Alright." Seltyiel said. "lead on...."

We left the carriage at the base of the range, along with the sell swords to watch over it and followed the hellspawn up a path. Strange thing was, the path seemed to form itself for the oracle rather than he knew where it was. I glanced over the edge and saw how deep it went. I've never been afraid of heights, but the look on Klarrs face suggested he did, and he kept his eyes on the path.

"The door is just ahead." Sarvin called. "You can only use it if your not looking for it....." I pushed my way to the front and watched as he walked into the wall without missing a beat and vanished. I head a nervous hyena like laugh escape from Klarrs mouth.

"And.......we just walk into the wall?" Tamora asked.

"There's not really a wall there." Seltyiel said as he walked up. "It just looks like there is." He disappeared and the others walked in behind him.

Klarr and Tamora were a little hesitant, but we quickly got them through, and I found myself in a dark room......along with a putrid smell. "I can't see shit in here......and it smells like it to." I heard someone yell. I heard some people mutter some arcane words and several balls of light flew into the air. As soon there was light I saw a black liquid on the floor and it was moving. I saw more drop from the ceiling, and as more of it came together I realized what it was. "Black Pudding!" I yelled. I've studied the anatomy of oozes and slimes but they were in a....'controlled' environment. This one was as tall as a ogre and smelled just about like one.

I quickly grabbed a potion out of my pocket and drank it. I felt the temperature drop around me and I exhaled a cone of icy wind out of my mouth. Part of the slime froze and I saw Klarr come into view and shatter that piece with his warhammer. Suddenly, the slime raise up and I feared what was going to happen. I know the risks and cautions to take when fighting a slime because I fought some before. He hasn't.

"Klarr move!" I heard Venom yell as he and his brother shot out a ray of intense heat, but that did little to stop it from jumping at him and get sucked inside it. "Damn it!"

"Be careful attacking it, there is a risk you could hurt him!" I yelled as I pulled out my morningstar, but as I spoke those words I saw Seltyiel begin to mutter arcane words with some gestures. I saw Rattle quickly preform those same gestures and when his spell didn't work he glared at the serpentfolk hard.

"I will not see one of my comrades incinerated." He said, unfazed by the look he was getting. "If it was one of your friends, I'm sure it would be different." The half-elf turned away with a sneer and as he pulled out his rapier, I heard him mutter. "Its only a gnoll."

The fight dragged on for a little bit, because no one wanted to accidently harm Klarr inside the slime. We had to get him out of there, or he wouldn't last any longer.

"Hey boss, poke the staff in!" I heard Pormetheus yell.

"I'm not going using my staff to save him." He said dodging the ooze. "It is an ancient artifact almost solely for combat!"

"Then what the hell do you think this is!?" Tamora yelled as she stabbed a knife into the slime. "Someone just help him out!" I saw Pormetheus pull out his staff and poke it into the slime. It looked as though Klarr got a hold of it, but the samsarn didn't have the strength to pull him out. He then pulled out a red potion, drank it, and I saw his muscles expand. Then I watched as he yanked back and Klarr flew out, swearing in gnoll. I quickly pulled out my bombs, and threw three, one from each hand and one from my tail into the slime. There was a slight pause before a sickening, squelching noise came from the Black Pudding and exploded, covering us in brown-black sludge that smelled like shit. I heard Seltyiel spitting some out and saw he looked like he was about to throw up. Klarr was on the ground, rubbing his eyes getting the slime out of his eyes.

"We should press on." Sarvin said, cleaning his robes with magic and doing the same for those who couldn't. "More trials await further in...."

"Can't wait." I muttered.