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"Amira? Is that you? I can't tell. Everyone's got the same mask on!" Cassandra, however, does step back.
She's content to let the others do the work from this point on.
If dark but heroic music plays as Amira steps into battle, that's certainly not the doing of Cassandra's ghost sound spell. Nope. Not at all.
Terri moves up behind Wednesday and stabs at the Zombie next to him.
"Why? Why is it that evil cults always go for the dark, gory look?"
"If that's not a question that answers itself I don't know what is."
Terri's glaive (one of the polearms that does great against zombies) slashes into a zombie's neck. Having taken too much structural damage, the walking dead creature falls to the floor.
Only one zombie is left and it doesn't even seem to notice its fellows have all been destroyed. It has enough self-preservation to avoid the obviously destructive ball of flame and head for Wednesday instead. However, the difficulty of the terrain slows it significantly to the point it can't just shift over and clutch at the warrior. It shuffles and stumbles its way there.
Victor motioned towards the remain zombie with his right hand and in response the shadowy appendage that held up the ball of gathered flames shifted across the floor till it wasunder the zombie.
Focused as it is on getting to and attacking Wednesday, the zombie fails to react quickly enough to the flaming ball on its way to him... and burns.
The difficult terrain shortly fades, leaving the room as it was before - though with 4 defeated zombies lying about. The weird display of animated body parts continues to operate on the other side of thick glass (some of which is a bit chipped up thanks to the stone call spell).
"That is so @#$%ing disgusting." Amira mutters looking at the demented display. Walking into the room she scans it for anything of interest.
"I don't know what's worse, what we saw in the Carowyn manor, or this," Terri says in agreement with Amira, she moves back into the other room until the others are ready to move on.
Wednesday was nonplussed with the grotesque art display, finding it slightly intriguing but not the most disturbing he had seen, and definitely not Troll Augur tapestries. After the recent conversations though he elected not to voice his opinion on the matter. For all of a second. "Not that bad..."
Cassandra peeks through the door.
"Huh." She steps fully into the room. "Necromancers. They are weird, weird people. I tell you what."
Park chitters in agreement.
While she's assuming the "I see parts of dead people" art is magicked in some way, she still casts her Detect Magic spell and slowly looks around the room.
"Weird I can handle, this is more than a little $%%@ed up!" Amira quips back.
"Don't ever go to Nidal then..."
Tolenn slowly paces around the horrible room, her eyes missing nothing, her brow furrowed.
Hearing the other's comments, she stops and offers, "The depravity of evil knows no bounds. This display does not surprise me. However, the greater evil lays within."
She stops facing the double doors.
"Amira, if you would..." Tolenn asks politely.
Nodding quietly Amira moves over to the doors inspecting them closely.
Amira can find no traps on the double-doors heading east out of the room. She can, however, hear and smell something. What she senses is obviously blunted by the doors, but she can hear something that sounds like bubbling - like a pot on a vigorous boil - and she can smell an acrid chemical scent.
"I think there's more of their experiments behind the door, there's a weird smell and a bubbling, like something on a vigorous boil. Lets get in there before they finish whatever they're up to. Tolenn, after you." Amira says stepping back from the door.
Tolenn nods, then looks to her friends to ensure that all is ready.
If the door opens outward, she signals Amira to open it for her.
If the door opens inward, she will open the door and push it clear of the door frame.
Once open, she will observe for immediate dangers, and if none will venture further in.
Terri takes her place behind Tolenn once more, hoping to help protect the paladin as much as she is able.
Wednesday nods to the Paladin.
Victor fell into the center of the formation. While he didn't say anything it was clear that he was glad to leave the room they were in behind from the noted eagerness of his steps.
Cassandra and her summoned torchbearer stay at the rear. Not because Cassandra's afraid of trouble, but because as the most mobile member of the group she can be anywhere she needs to be!
When the doors open (pushing inward), you are all exposed to the stinging scent of harsh chemicals, though the masks you wear do ameliorate the harshness of the odor somewhat. Three huge metal vats, each more than six feet tall, bubble and froth here. A series of sturdy-looking catwalks stretches a few feet over and around the vats, allowing those on the catwalks to attend whatever slurry produces the foul green-brown mist emanating from each gigantic vessel. Circling the upper portion of the room is an elaborate mosaic of white, black, and green stones depicting Urgathoa as a giant half-corpse woman in black veils dancing among the fields of the dead, dying, and undead.
Several people stand about the room - on the ground floor stand 4 armored men wielding scythes (equipped much like the ones you fought in the dormatory just minutes ago). On the catwalks stand two men - the farthest one from the door wears robes and a stained, pocketed work apron. The other, standing along the side catwalk, you recognize as Doctor Davaulus. They all seem to be in a state of high alert.
Initiative
The men on the catwalk are first off the mark. Davaulus shouts out, "You are ruining everything! You don't know how important this work is! Korvosa will be made stronger--a place we can be proud to call home!" He otherwise stands his ground, yet draws his rapier so as not to be defenseless.
The other man, the one in the apron, casts a spell. A ghostly hand materializes near him.
Everybody in the party is up because, despite some low rolls from the die roller for PC initiative, that die roller really served up a stinker for the priests.
"LIAR!"
Terri's voice rings out loud and clear as she accuses Davaulus.
"You only care about your gains and reveling in the misery of others. We will not stand for it. By the grace of Shelyn, your wicked plans end now!"
Golden light pours from her raised holy symbol and golden runes cover her companions' weapons and armor.
"Urgathoans tend to be a deluded lot. What'd you expect from a cult that worships someone who was so afraid of their own mortality that they ran away from it?" Wednesday murmurs as he saunters up to one of the priests, longsword ready.
Shadows and darkness slithered across the ground in arcing streams of eldritch power. They shifting mini rivers of umbral all gathered onto Victor who stood there accepting like a beacon to this arcane power. The sorcerer placed his hand close to each other and concentrated as several parts of his body was masked by the gathering darkness. A pulse of arcane energy formed in his hands and in response the darkness ejected itself from him in all direction and formed a half spherical zone around the party.
The black sphere turned, twisted and shifted before finally shattering. What awaited the eyes of the party was the same view that was before them previously but now everything was slower much slower than it should be and every odd moment the world appeared unnatural but still somewhat familiar but then that feeling faded like it never was before.
Cassandra leaps and runs across the room, skidding a halt near the door. She leans forward and peeks inside.
"Watch the hand. He uses it to deliver spells that you normally have to make contact to cast on someone. A lot of them drain your life force."
Then Cassandra grins.
"Time for your favorite spell, Park."
Cassandra begins an oddly complex series of hand gestures, looking rather like a children's clapping game. Park mimics her actions, chittering with excitement.
"Ten little monkeys jumpin' on a bed... one fell off and bumped its head... momma called the doctor and the doctor said... no more monkeys jumpin' on the bed."
And she'll go through all ten verses.
"Well Park can tell the doctor to shut the f$#~ up this time!"
Round 1
Smiling slightly at Terri's heated words, Daud's sarcasm and Cassandra's ....weirdness, Tolenn launches herself forwards....
Amira grins as Cassie starts her spell, she'd seen her cast this one before and it was a good one. setting her sights on the staircase on the right, the city's protector sends her starknife spinning towards the hapless bastard next to the staircase even as she dashes past him up to the landings.
The adventurer onslaught quickly imposes a toll on the priests. Tolenn strikes hers hard and he reels but remains standing. Wednesday lays his low with a single, powerful blow. Amira's blade flies fast at an opponent caught flat-footed, but rings off his armor before returning to her hand. She swiftly passes him by, though.
The priests pull themselves together and move to engage. Catching Wednesday in flank, two priests slash at the melee monster, but to no effect.
The other priest takes his attack at the paladin but proves no better.
With Amira possibly closing in, the man in the apron casts another spell, the ghostly hand swooping in on Amira to try to deliver the magic. It succeeds and inflicts 11 points of damage!
Davaulus, a bit alarmed at the ferocity of the invasion, also casts a spell. "Hey, you," he directs his comments at Wednesday. "Ever eat a clock? I hear it's time consuming."
Status
Round 2
Tolenn grimly continues her attack on the now wounded priest, hoping to fell him and turn her righteous fury on the other nearby apostate...
...But her efforts are to no avail, all of her slashes are turned aside.
"... if nothing else you're gonna die horribly for that alone." Wednesday utters in annoyance before lashing out at the priests that were kind enough to come into blade's length of him and Tolenn.
Tolenn fails to break through the priest's defenses, but Wednesday, who has made it a life's work to understand how humans fight and their vulnerabilities, savages the two priests flanking him, in the case of the wounded priest, slaying him outright.
Then he moves to hammer the final one, though that one manages to remain on his feet.
Status
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"He has more than that to answer for, and I'm sure Pharasma would love to have a chance to talk with you. Allow me to send you to the Boneyard for a chat!"
Terri steps up beside Daud, glaring at Davaulus as she moves. She takes her glaive in both hands, the hand holding her holy symbol touching it to her forehead as she closes her eyes. She taps the butt of the weapon on the ground, sending lines of golden runes arcing through the room.
"I call upon the divine wrath of the Eternal Rose. I beseech her to strike down the wicked and smite those that mock the suffering of others. I ask her to send these wretched souls to be judged by the Lady of Graves. Lo, their end is nigh!"
Her glaive and holy symbol glow with gold and silver light, shining bright for a moment before fading.
Davaulus has no time to taunt the priestess before her greens eyes snap open and points her glaive at him. "And you shall be the first to be judged," she calls out. A second later, a silver-haired and silver-winged figure appears behind Davaulus, her armor made of golden light and a gold and silver glaive in her hands. The specter strikes at the wicked man in cold, calculated fury.
A grunt escaped Victor. The battle seemed to be going in their favor but the two men who looked to be in charge were still not down. Seemed they both knew a spell or two and he had to make sure that they weren't aimed at anyone else anymore.
Victor crouched to the ground and touched his umbral reflection, causing a ripple to appear on it's surface. The shadow launched itself forward stretching and arcing as needed to reach it's destination. Once it was between Davaulus and his apron wearing lackey it halted and expanded into a circular like pit. From the pit rose a large hand with clawed fingers. The hand clutched at the edges of the pit and slowly a sizable figure ascended, it appeared humanoid in shape only. It's face was without features save for two eerie green eyes. The lanky arms of the creature left it's side as it slowly made it's way and reached out to close them upon Davalus.
Cassandra ran around the door and pushed into a slide, scooting under Terri's legs and then popping back up. She pointed at the nasty man on the catwalk on the far side of the room and shouted.
"NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED!"
The skies open up and rain monkeys. A swarm of them rain down and begin to leap and climb and, let's face it, they're monkeys, release fling smelly things at the guy in the back.
4th (2/day) - Dimension Door, Secure Shelter
3rd (4/day) - Force Anchor, Mad Monkeys, Returning Weapon (Communal), Storm Step
2nd (5/day) - Dimension Hop, Shunt, Stone Call, Returning Weapon, Web Shelter
1st (6/day) - Stumble Gap, Summon Weapon, Mage Armor, Grease, Abundant Ammunition, Pearl of Brilliance, Torchbearer, Unseen Servant
0 (prepare 4, at will) — All wizard cantrips
Grunting in pain at the ghostly hand imparts some sort of spell on her, Amira takes a step forward, hurling a glass vial of yellow powder right at the caster's face.
She immediately draws a kunai with her now free hand, enchanted starknife twirling in the other, readying to begin bleeding the enemy of her beloved city.
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Cassandra grabs hold of Tolenn's arm.
"I think Sunday and Terri've got this one. Get ready to be awesome."
"From there to here. From here to there. Funny things are everywhere!"
And with that, Terri and Tolenn vanish, only to reappear an instant later a mere ten feet away from the Nic Cage lookalike on the platform being harassed by shadow and light.
4th (2/day) - Dimension Door, Secure Shelter
3rd (4/day) - Force Anchor, Mad Monkeys, Returning Weapon (Communal), Storm Step
2nd (5/day) - Dimension Hop, Shunt, Stone Call, Returning Weapon, Web Shelter
1st (6/day) - Stumble Gap, Summon Weapon, Mage Armor, Grease, Abundant Ammunition, Pearl of Brilliance, Torchbearer, Unseen Servant
0 (prepare 4, at will) — All wizard cantrips
Tolenn smiles and offers Cassandra her elbow, trusting in her friend's talents...
The monkeys tear at the man in the apron's face, hair, clothes, and body. You hear a clatter as something metal lands on and then skitters around the catwalk, apparently pilfered by one or more of the monkeys.
The man in the swarm, however, seems pretty determined to soldier on. He has the presence of mind to get out of the immediate swarm before he casts a spell, but then he evokes a bolt of lightning that blasts through the swarm of monkeys, the illusory shadow, and hitting Tolenn.
Save DC 17 for half
Monkeys die in droves, leaving just a relatively few dazed survivors on the catwalk (even with a successful save, they still take 22 points of damage which disrupts the swarm).
The final remaining priest, alone yet fanatical, strikes out at Wednesday even though his prospects for survival are really low. But any hope he has fails, at least on this attack.
Doctor Davaulus does his best to dodge away from the shadow creature as it lunges for him and is clocked by the spiritual glaive. But it's Cassandra's appearance with Tolenn that seals the deal. Rather than face the shadow and Tolenn, he makes a break down the catwalk steps and casts a spell... and disappears!
Statuses