"Yes Master," she teases, and finds a place to roll herself in her cloak. Closing her eyes she runs through the series of mental exercises drummed into her at an early age that lets her drift off to sleep almost immediately.
Before lying down, Akorian checks on everyone's injuries. Satisfied that he and Waifrin will likely be good as new after a night's rest, he expresses more concern with Raven than anyone else.
"If you're going to take the next watch, my friend, let's make sure you're as hale and hearty as possible," he tells the elf. Then, Akorian offers a simple prayer to Milani to mend Raven's wounds.
Channel positive energy... 1d6 ⇒ 3
FYI...I'm not sure about everyone's hit point status. Akorian and Waifrin are down 1 hp, which we should recover in a single night's rest. Raven looks like he's down 3 hp, but Marius and Zarabeta didn't take any damage in the fight against the goblins? If so, a single channeling ought to suffice to put everyone back in shape.
Marius' tone is such that as to obvious that he will brook no arguement
"How can one refuse such a polite... request," the smiling rogue answers back with a clap on the warrior's shoulder. "Worry not. With me standing guard, you can rest assured that no enemy's dagger will be finding its way into your backs."
Akorian Henderthane wrote:
"If you're going to take the next watch, my friend, let's make sure you're as hale and hearty as possible," he tells the elf. Then, Akorian offers a simple prayer to Milani to mend Raven's wounds.
"Ah, thank you Akorian. It is times like these that I am reminded why I have not yet robbed you blind, you being a member of the upper class and all," Raven chuckles softly, the wink of a golden eye indicative of his teasing mood.
"Ah, thank you Akorian. It is times like these that I am reminded why I have not yet robbed you blind, you being a member of the upper class and all," Raven chuckles softly, the wink of a golden eye indicative of his teasing mood.
"Yes. And because of that generosity on your part," the priest returns, "I continue to see fit to pull you out of predicaments like Hellknight pursuits through Westcrown's sewers, goblin-trapped welcome mats in the Dospera, and the reknitting of your flesh and bones everytime you get in over your head. It's a fair trade, I suppose..."
"However," he adds, "Considering you'll likely outlive me by a fair margin...being an elf and all...whatever will you do when I've gone to my reward in the Great Beyond?"
"Well..." Raven seems to ponder the question for a few moments before answering, a deadpan look on his face.
"I will of course mourn you. Then, I believe I will be drowning my sorrow in fine wine and even finer women as is right and proper. I assure you I will spare no expense; after all, most of the coin spent will probably not be mine to begin with. But eventually I suppose I will be ready to move on."
A small pause and the deadpan look is gone, replaced by a much brighter and somewhat mischievous expression. "If it makes you feel any better, it is certain to take a lot of wine and a lot of women."
Stretching a little, Raven quietly moves to where Zarabeta is sleeping and gently nudges the mage.
"Your turn dear lady," he says softly and almost apologetically. "I hate to wake you but it appears you have two pairs of eyes and that seems like quite an advantage to me in a situation such as this."
Set, are you prepping spells while you watch? If so -2 to your perception check. Uqabi gets a roll too. What are you using for light?
Watch -- perception DC 16 :
Spoiler:
Late in the watch, {just as you finish your spell prep if you have been} you notice that dawn has snuck up on you. Through a narrow gap between the closed window shutters you notice the faintest luminosity in the sky. There's a sound like windblown sand.
Set, are you prepping spells while you watch? If so -2 to your perception check. Uqabi gets a roll too. What are you using for light?
Didn't sleep long enough to prep spells, so she'll just sit and draw pictures in the dust, and then erase them and start over. In absence of whatever light source Marius and / or Raven were using, she'll have to stick to moonlight from whatever window(s) may exist in whereever they've bedded down, rather than attempt to build a fire in an abandoned building and attract everyone within a half-mile. :)
Both Zarabeta and Uqabi notice the faint hints of dawn's approach, and her eyes narrow at the skittering sounds, as of sand on the shutters.
"Please let that be dust upon the wind, and not the sound of many tiny insects..." Zarabeta mutters, standing up, and preparing to scream if her fear of some sort of vermin swarm prove to be more than just a tired woman's imaginings.
A bar of shadow crosses the gap between the shutters. Then the light is blocked out. The shutters creak as something wedges between them. Something coming inside.
Marius' eyes open as soon as Zara touches him.He sits then crouches listening to the sounds of the attempted break in and drawing both swords from their sheaths.
If she has time, she'll also wake Raven, Waifrin and Akorian, in that order, attempting to do so quietly, and gesturing for their silence as well, so that they may take their intruder unawares.
Akorian is startled awake by Zarabeta's touch. At her concerned expression, he remains quiet and sits up, noticing everyone else is already awake and on edge.
"What's wrong?" he whispers, reaching for the morningstar lying next to his blanket.
"Lümene," Akorian whispers, offering a soft prayer to Milani before drawing forth a copper piece from his pouch and pitching it in the direction Zarabeta indicates.
Casting light on the copper piece and then tossing it in the direction of the shadow.
The coin bounces three times and rebounds from the wall under the shuttered window. Its glow reveals a shadow-beast like the one in the sewers resting on the horizontal member of the roof truss above te window. The beast shies away; its insectile limbs pushing its wormlike bulk away from the coin. Funny thing, the shadows cast by the beast onto the ceiling look like it has a rider.
Then a thin humanoid shape of darkness swings a leg over the shadowgarm's back and slides down the beast's side, falls unnaturally slowly, and lands beside the coin. Faint orange lines streak the skin of the shadow-man as he pulls himself erect. Then he steps on the coin, and the room goes dark.
Illumination is now provided only by the faintly lightening sky through window. It's quite, but not totally, dark.
Shadow-things 21
Akorian 19
Raven 14
Zara 13
Waifrin 12
Marius 10
In the dim light, the shadows roil. The shadowgarm shuttles forward along the truss and drops onto Zarabeta, wrapping her in darkness. It's pincer-clawed legs snap at the wizard's shoulders and chest.
Zara:
Spoiler:
The beast is cold, slimy, and strangely light and soft. Unfortunately the pincers at the ends of its insectile legs are not. No game effect for being "wrapped in darkness" just description. 5 hp damage and DC 13 Fort save or take -2 to Dex
With an angry snarl, Akorian stands and holds his morningstar aloft.
"LÜMENE!" he cries out more powerfully than before, this time allowing his weapon to glow as fiercely as his spell can manage, "Behold the hope and glory of the Everbloom!"
He then steps forward next to Zarabeta and thrusts the weapon at the shadowgarm's face in an effort to drive it away.
Move action to stand up. Standard action to cast light again...this time on his morningstar. This means the light on his coin will wink out, since only one light spell can be maintained at a time. Duration = 20 minutes. Normal light in 20-foot radius. Dim light out to a 40-foot radius beyond that.
The light from the mace starkly exposes the shadowman, who recoils slightly. Then he charges toward Akorian, a dark hand reaching toward Akorian's forearm. He mistimes his attack and misses.
"Quite a temper you have there, lady," Raven quips to Waifrin, the words accompanied by a smile and a wink.
Choosing to lend his aid to Akorian, the elf unsheathes his short sword and tries a stabbing attack against the shadow-man at what he judges to be the creature's torso.
The shadow-man evades Raven's thrust with a fluid bend of its body, leaving streamers of smokey darkness behind. In Akorian's light the shadowman clearly has no facial features; the body is curiously devoid of musculature and wisps of darkness seem to randomly bleed off or flow back into the body.
Waifrin's ray flashes wide of the shadowman and bursts against the wall.
Dabbler -- what's the rule say on the ray. Does it start fires or not?
Zara gets a shot before resolving Marius' attack.
Neil, thanks for including the spell effects. Saves me a bundle of time looking them up.
The energy ray in that form is a ray of fire, it will start a fire if it hits something flammable.I forgot to include the chance of Waifrin being enervated so here it is ...
One of Marius' swords sinks into the shadowbeast. Its point appearing near Zara's left ear. Spit like a worm on a fishhook, the beast twists around the blade before its tissue part like butter around the sword and it drops to the floor.
Begin round 2
Shadow-beast 21
Akorian 19
Shadowman 18
Raven 14
Zara 13
Waifrin 12
Marius 10
Undeterred, the shadow beast continues its attack on Zarabeta by slashing and pinching at her feet and legs. Two strikes open a cut in her calf and another deep one in her inner thigh. (11 hp) 2 fort saves as before or -2 dex per failed save
Zarabeta staggers back as the sound of flesh tearing is accompanied by her blood spattering the near wall. She fumbles at her belt, before remembering giving her potion of cure light wounds away earlier...
5 ft step back, at 0 hp, so can't do Total Defense or a Withdraw action
"Any idea what our options are against a foe such as this one my friend?" Raven asks the cleric before stepping between the creature and Zarabeta and attempting another thrust. The rogue once again chooses defense over offense, trying to distract the shadow man and protect the fallen mage.
Total Defense: +4 dodge bonus to AC (for a total AC of 21, flat-footed 12, touch 19), -4 penalty to attacks, cannot make attacks of opportunity.
Zarabeta should have got two potions of cure light wounds from the loot the party got during their rescue of Arael, unless I am mistaken anyway. Just a reminder...
Zarabeta should have got two potions of cure light wounds from the loot the party got during their rescue of Arael, unless I am mistaken anyway. Just a reminder...
She had to use one, at one point, and gave the other to Waifrin, IIRC. Unless these are different loot instances...
I can't remember how you all split it up (except Akorian nobly refused at least one) or how many have been used, but you certainly had enough potions to go around twice. Every Hellknight Armiger came equipped with one for your pleasure.
As far as I remember, the potions from Arael's rescue were never explicitly divided, although we said on more than one occasion that each of us should get two, except for Akorian who only accepted one. These are different potions than the ones we got from Janiven and from our moving through the sewers.
Cool! I had only remembered the first round of drinks, before my vision got blurry and the waitperson started looking sexy!
In that case, fumbling in her sash after stepping back a pace, Zarabeta finds a potion (move action) and drinks it (standard action, which would drop her to -1 and Dying, if it didn't heal her instead!).
healing 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
Ooh, that was a good one! Thanks for the heads-up, guys!
"Any idea what our options are against a foe such as this one my friend?" Raven asks....
"Milani brings hope in every situation," Akorian answers. He raises the medallion at his neck and calls on his goddess.
Channel positive energy... 1d6 ⇒ 6 It's a DC 13 Will save if the shadow-man is an undead shadow. Success halves the damage. Otherwise, full damage. In addition, Zarabeta should also benefit from the healing effect of the positive energy as long as she's within 30 feet.
