Njord swipes at the hateful ghost as she floats away.
And then chases after her with his sword flashing. "Die you evil witch!"
Randall races off after the banshee and strikes out with his sword.
Jametor points his finger at the banshee and 5 missiles fly from his finger tip toward the banshee.
Fíriel hurries after the monster and tries again to slap it with cold magic.
Xiddik scores one hit, and Njord manages to slice off some shadowy mist as well, while Jametor's missiles impact solidly with the otherwise insubstantial figure. Fíriel and Randall find themselves unable to quite reach high enough to strike it properly, though they think if they could just get a bit higher...
The banshee strikes out at Njord with its claws, though its form looks significantly less cohesive than it did at first.
Quilindra continues her inspiring words and reaches over to heal some of Jametor's wounds.
Jametor fires another set of 5 missiles at the banshee.
He nods at the succubus saying, "Thank you."
"Hrmph. Fine!" He drops to hands and knees. "Firiel, step up on my back so you can jump and hit it with your magic."
Asht'el taps Njord with an invisible finger, imbuing the man-bear with a rush of courage, stronger than any whiskey!
Njord groans as the banshee's claws tear through his hide.
Xiddik's playing like a devil, thanks to the Haste spell, little effect though it seems to be having. As she plays, her tail lashes out—she doesn't want to use up another healing spell just yet.
Fíriel tries again to slap the thing.
Before Asht'el has a chance to cast his spell, the banshee is set upon by a trio of vertically challenged warriors and a barrage of magical missiles. It wavers for a moment, its claw reaching out toward the invisible Asht'el as he begins to chant, but the claw never connects; the misty undead gives one last wail of anguish before fading away into nothingness.
Njord snaps out of his momentary paralysis and rubs the sore spot where the ghostly elf touched him. "Tell me there's only one of those things here."
Jametor looks at Njord. "Um..okay but you've never asked me to lie to you before. This is an odd place, the succubus might know more, but it feels off." Jametor says looking around.
Xiddik puts down her ocarina, scowling.
Asht'el's invisible finger stops just short of the terrified Njord, and the ifrit is much relieved to see the banshee fade away. "That thing was brutal," he remarks, as he draws his healing wand yet again and taps himself with it. Realizing the others can't see him, he says, "Anyone need healing?"
A bit ashamed of his poor showing, Bjorkus growls in frustration and scoops up his sword. "I could use a hit."
"Well, in response to recent events, have a thought." Xiddik clears her throat meaningfully. "It is maybe possible that these banshees are connected in some way to the failure of the gate."
The kobold's tail arches as she starts cleaning the ocarina carefully with the sleeve of her dress. The silk seems to absorb the collected spit and dirt harmlessly. "And while I hate to be the bear of bad news—no offense, Njord—this may mean will have to fight more of those things. What is known of them?"
Randall looks expectantly at the disguised demon. "You seem to be aware of the history of this place. What do we know about the banshees? You knew they were here - you mentioned it before we set out."
Randall is considering returning to his original plan of scouting the tower that appeared to have the link to the gate. Stealth no longer seems to be an issue, however, so, "Shall we all go look into this tower that Jametor detected a link to?"
"Banshees are incorpreal undead as I mentioned before. Typically, betrayed in life. As to this area?" Jametor says as he loses himself in thought.
Quilindra frowns at Randall's question. "I said it was rumored, not that I knew it."
"Northern Ustalav? Yes, this looks like described." Jametor says while watching the succubus carefully.
"Why don't you start by tellin' us about those rumors?" Njord grumbles while Asht's magic slowly mends his wounds. "And don't leave anything out. I don't want anymore surprises if we've gotta go inside the ruins and kill more of those things."
He gives a winning smile. "Ah, I misunderstood."
"Yeah, whatever you know, we need to know it," Asht'el says, concurring with Njord's idea. "You keep secrets from us, we die, and you won't get very far."
Quilindra frowns at Randall's question. "I said it was rumored, not that I knew it."
** spoiler omitted **
Xiddik's face is blank, as is her read on the succubus. I told them. Told them demons weren't in my job description. The ONE kind of thing I didn't want to have to screw around with. WHAT DOES THAT STUPID FACE SHE'S MAKING EVEN
"Well," she says at last, her voice sounding mildly disappointed, "I suppose we can't expect you to know about them. You don't know much, do you?"
"We should likely keep looking here. I am not going to sleep here."
Njord waits for a response from the succubus to the party's collective questions.
Quilindra glances between the group members, something in her expression betraying annoyance and wariness at the sudden hostility. "Rumor has it," she begins, stressing the first word, "that long ago, this was an elven outpost. As I've already told you, we're quite close to Tanglebriar, Treerazor's domain. The rumors say that the elves here at Mirianath grew... overconfident, and fell into temptation of some kind, killing each other off and eventually dying out completely."
"Where'd the other little one go? Randall, wait! We should prepare in case there's more of those things."
Njord retrieves and quaffs a couple bitter-smelling extracts. The big man grimaces slightly but afterward he seems to brim with not-entirely-real vitality.
Randall comes into view against the wall of the tower, near the door. He waves the others to approach, but remains quiet.
"I think he went back the way we came," Xiddik says loudly. Quieter, she says, "These things understand at least some Taldane. Best not to give them ideas to start to look."
Xiddik advances, keeping her eyes out for any potential threats.
Njord tucks his empty vials away and follows the kobold in.