With Prince Leomin watching your back, you cautiously explore this stinking hive. Beyond the cocoons you come to an adjoining cavern where a rough stone ramp descends to a sunken floor, ankle-deep in brackish slime. Clusters of large grey eggs are attached to conical stalagmites, and the surface of the mire is littered with the remnants of these leathery grey sacs. Your Kai Sixth Sense tells you that these torn egg pouches once contained the creatures that are now wreaking havoc in the dwarven kingdom.
You approach the edge of the stone ramp and come to an abrupt halt when you detect an overpowering aura of evil. You cast your eye across the field of stalagmites and your blood runs cold when you catch your first glimpse of Shom’zaa lurking in the darkness. He is a four-legged being, and his great head is triangular in form. Two pale green, radiant eyes are set above a three-cornered mouth filled with crystalline fangs. Below his jaw protrudes a slender proboscis, and from the crown of his bony skull sprout antenna tipped with barbed spikes. Slime drips from his every pore, sheening his leprous hide.
At first Shom’zaa appears not to have sensed your presence in his lair. Busily he tends to a batch of Agarashi eggs, injecting them with fluid from his proboscis to encourage them to hatch. But when you remove the Sun-crystal from your pocket and get ready to hurl it at his loathsome form, suddenly he senses danger and retreats among the stalagmites. As he withdraws, he emits a sound that is beyond the range of human hearing.
(I do not have Kai-Screen or Bardsmanship)
A piercing pain lances through your head as Shom’zaa’s inaudible cry invades your mind: lose 3 ENDURANCE points.
Hurriedly, you call upon your Magnakai Discipline of Psi-screen to erect a defensive wall against this sonic attack, and gradually the pain subsides.
Your Kai senses tell you that Shom’zaa’s cry was not a sonic attack launched intentionally against you and Prince Leomin: it was a summoning call to his protectors. You encountered one of his protectors when first you entered his hive, and the memory of the beetle-creature is still painfully fresh in your mind. But Shom’zaa has one other bodyguard, and a sudden noise from the wall of the chamber behind you draws your attention to its daunting presence.
You spin around to see the slime-smeared rock-face rippling and undulating, as if a wave is passing through it. Then, in stunned disbelief, you watch the rocks move and take form. From out of the wall steps a creature formed wholly of stone. It has taken the shape of a large human, with fists that resemble two great hammers. It pounds the ground as it comes lumbering towards you, pulverising the surface. Bravely, Prince Leomin raises his axe, and with his battle-cry upon his lips, he lands a flurry of heavy blows upon the creature’s chest and neck. The rock beast retaliates with a backhanded swipe. It connects with Leomin’s head and leaves him sprawled upon the floor, unconscious and bleeding. Hurriedly you slip the Sun-crystal back into your pocket as the lumbering beast advances upon you.
The rock creature stops in mid-stride and turns towards Prince Leomin. As his crushing feet tread a slow, deliberate path towards the prince’s head, you unsheathe your Kai Weapon and rush forward in a desperate attempt to halt the creature.
Rock Golem: COMBAT SKILL 40 ENDURANCE 70
This being is immune to all psychic attacks. If the Kai Weapon you wield is ‘Magnara’, you will benefit from the bonus gained due to its unique properties
(My CS without any psychics is 53 with the +4 I have for my new armor and the +2 I get for the underground weapon. +13. I toss a 6, then a 2, then a 4, then a 9 and it'll auto-die. I took 5 total)
As the rock golem crumbles to dust, you rush to Prince Leomin’s side and try to revive him with your Magnakai Curing skills. The healing warmth of your powers pass through your hands and into his body, and his eyelids flicker open as his consciousness stirs. (The healing of Leomin’s wounds costs you 2 ENDURANCE points.)
When his senses return, firstly he retrieves his battle-axe from the floor, and then he turns to offer you his thanks. Suddenly his eyes widen and he gasps with shock: Shom’zaa is approaching silently behind you. Leomin grabs you by the tunic and pulls you aside as he raises his battle-axe in readiness to hurl it at Shom’zaa’s hideous form. But before he can release the axe, he is felled by a stream of clear fluid intended for you. It strikes his chest and boils as it eats through his crimson breastplate. With a heart-rending scream he collapses to the ground, mortally wounded.
You wrench the Sun-crystal from your pocket and turn to confront Shom’zaa, your arm poised ready to throw your deadly device. But already the fell creature has retreated and taken cover among the stalagmites. You run to the stone ramp to scan the cavern, and your Kai Sixth Sense alerts you to his hiding place. His body is hidden, but the top of his ghastly head can be seen protruding above a stalagmite less than 30 feet from where you stand.
( I toss it at his head)
You call upon Ishir to guide your arm as you draw back the crystal and hurl it at Shom’zaa’s head.
Pick a number from the Random Number Table. If your current ENDURANCE points score is 20 or lower, deduct 1 from the number you have picked. If your current ENDURANCE points score is 30 or higher, add 1.
(I toss a 3)
The Sun-crystal hits the rocky tip of the stalagmite and is deflected away from Shom’zaa’s head. Your heart sinks as you watch the glowing crystal bounce off a cluster of grey egg sacs, and then splash into the shallow slime that covers the floor.
You are gripped by the sudden fear that you may have lost the only weapon capable of destroying Shom’zaa, and hurriedly you leap off the stone ramp and race to retrieve it. Your Kai Sixth Sense guides you directly to its location, but as you pluck it from the slime and turn to face Shom’zaa’s hiding place, suddenly you recall Lord Rimoah’s words of warning. You must not be too close to the creature when the Sun-crystal touches his body, or you will risk being consumed when the crystal’s energy is released.
The memory of his wise words makes you pause and reconsider your actions. You focus on the stalagmite, now little more than 10 feet away, and you sense that something is very wrong. You look again, and the glimpse that you can see of Shom’zaa’s head begins to shimmer and fade. Your throat tightens when you realize that you have been duped by an illusion. As you turn back towards the ramp, you are suddenly struck in the back by a terrific force.
Pick a number from the Random Number Table.
( I toss another 3)
The blow hurls you forward and you strike your forehead on a stalagmite before splashing into the mire: lose 3 ENDURANCE points.
Your senses are screaming ‘Danger!’ as you struggle to your knees and wipe the slime from your bloodied nose and mouth. You reach for your Kai Weapon, but its blade is barely out of the scabbard when Shom’zaa leaps upon you and rakes you with his terrible claws.
Shom’zaa: COMBAT SKILL 56 ENDURANCE 50
This creature is immune to Mindblast (but not Kai-surge).
(I have a 61 with KS so I get a +5. I toss a 3 and then an 8. He took 18 and I have taken 8 including the damage earlier in this passage. 9 and 4 follow. He's at He took 43 to my 12. Then my 4 finishes him and I have taken 15 damage)