Round 1, Group 1 Recap
Art rushes forward with his enchanted weapon and destroys a portion of the allip's shadowy form! The creature turns its attention away from the eagle and with a wicked grin reaches forward to try and grab Art around the throat! While the incorporeal hand merely passes through Art's body without any physical damage, he mind reels in agony as the incomprehensible madness of the allip slips through its form into Art!
Blue - 30/30
Nathaniel's eyes grow wide as the spectral hands reach for his neck, and he summons all the courage he can to stand his ground
Caine is there anything you can do the keep them from touching us! Nathaniel shouts
"Not really!" Caine said moving in to flank with Art. "Gotta take 'em down fast!"
Drawing his bow, Ruhk mutters a quick spell to make sure his next arrow will strike true.
Zirren still couldn't believe that Caine and Art were charging headlong into danger. He knew that the eagle was swift and maybe it could keep them from getting attacked directly for a time. But as for dealing with the Allips, there was little else he could do.
Why are they doing this? There was no need to fight them. He backed still further away from the fight.
The Eagle continued to rake ineffectually at the other Allip.
Belladonna continues to run with Jeva. After a good, long sprint they stop to catch their breath. Belladonna is spooked with the crows cawing and the ensuing silence. She draws and loads her crossbow, and scans her surroundings seriously.
Bella, as you begin to survey the area you notice Jeva suddenly leave the trail and run into the forest!
Belladonna runs after Jeva. "Jeva! Where're you going?"
Zirren nearly smacked himself in the face.
"Force magic... of course!"He'd been so worried about evading the fight that he had failed to consider how he might better protect those charging headlong into it.
Steeling himself against the madness he was sure to encounter he rushed past Ruhk and to get next to Art and Caine.
Round 1, Group 2 Recap
Caine rushes forward and engages the same allip (I'm assuming) as Art with his wand of healing. He jabs the wand into the allip and a large portion of the incorporeal creature fades into nothingness as the undead lets out a terrible shriek of pain! Ruhk casts a spell to prepare himself for firing his bow. Zirren suddenly recalls that one of his spells would be incredibly useful in this fight and he rushes forward into the melee!
Belladonna spots Jeva sneaking into the woods and calls out to her. The young girl turns with wide eyes. "I'm hiding! Those things are scary!"
The slower of the allips swipes at Caine, but something seems to be distracting the undead and it pays little attention to its half-hearted attack.
Round 2, Group 1
Art is up!
Blue - 30/30
Art: 2 Wisdom Damage/1 Wis Drain
I, am, determined to rid this world of your unholy presence. Nathaniel cries out as he aims to bring his weapon down in a strike that will end the abomination for good
Belladonna darts after Jeva and helps her find the best hiding spot. Once settled down, she keeps as watchful an eye as possible without compromising their spot. She still has her crossbow at the ready.
Round 2, Group 1 Recap
Art's enchanted weapon cuts another large swath from the allip, causing it to scream again! The counterattack is quick and furious as the allip's hands reach into Art's chest, seeking out his heart; however, just as the paladin feels the madness seeping into his mind... he feels a surge suddenly rush into his body and he fights off the madness!!
Blue - 30/30
Round 2, Group 2 Actions!
"Here Art, this spell should help keep those things from getting at you!" Zirren said casting the spell hurriedly before transferring the protective barrier over the smaller warrior.
"Caine, I'm going to give you the same spell in a second!"
Caine grunted his assent and took another swipe with the healing wand.
Ruhk takes careful aim at the creature attacking Nat, figuring that it will be easier to hit that one.
He then focuses his will into his bow and fires his magically guided arrow.
Round 2, Group 2 Recap
Zirren rushes up to the front line and empowers Artegal with a powerful force-ward that will hopefully strengthen him against the allips' maddening touches! Caine swipes his healing wand and as it passes through its insubstantial form, the allip lets out another agonizing scream that fills everyone's ears with a terrible buzzing the makes you feel as if your mind is going to unravel... and then suddenly an arrow passes right over Caine's shoulder and it passes between the eyes of the allip... The screaming reaches a crescendo, but then quickly reduces to nothing more than an irritating whisper as the allip dissipates like smoke upon the wind...
The remaining allip growls and strikes with its face that merely passes through Caine's head. He feels himself reeling and his brain starts throbbing, but he is able to once again overcome the madness that tries to follow...
Round 3
Everyone is up!
Conjuring up the same arcane words he had for Art, Zirren winced as he saw the claw swipe through Caine's head. He hurriedly reached out to protect Caine as well.
"Caine, here!"
Nice shot, even if I DO say so myself...Now lets see if we can repeat the performance without the aid of a spell.
Caine gave Zirren a thankful nod as he moved in on the second Allip, trying to ignore the shrieking madness and the buzzing in his head.
He swiped with the wand again.
Round 3 Recap
Zirren boosts Caine with one of his spells as well, now thoroughly preparing the frontliners against these incorporeal monstrosities. Once again, Ruhk's arrow pierces the allip as Caine's wand swipes away a good portion of the allip. Ruhk steps up and attempts to finish the allip off for good, but it dodges his attack. The undead takes a parting swipe at Caine before lifting 30' up straight into the air! Art's holy fury scythes through the allip again, cutting even more out of the creature!
Round 4 Actions!
Caine stirrupped his fingers and held his hands low. "Jump. I'll boost you."
Actions for everyone else?
Holding the halberd straight up as high as he can, Nathaniel tries to keep his body rigid as he is hurled up into the air
Ruhk, happy about his success with the bow so far, fires another arrow at the floating abomination.
As the blade slices through the ghostly figure, Nathaniel grins with glee
Zirren had read stories of heroic deeds. They'd sparked his imagination and raised his determination to become a Pathfinder. But reading about them and seeing them in the moment they happened, he was quickly realizing, were two completely different things.
"You two," he said as Caine caught Art from falling out of the air, "are something straight out of a heroic tale. " He was filled with more excitement in that moment than he'd been in a long time. It pushed back the uncomfortable chill of his body and he'd wished he could do something more to help them.
Round 4 Recap
As the allip attempts to flee from the dangerous foes, Art and Caine both deal the undead substantial damage. Before it can flee any further, the relentless warriors continue their assault! Caine locks his fingers together in a foothold that Art runs and jumps upon. Together with Caine's massive strength and Artegal's acrobatic, the paladin is launched 25 feet into the air, flying the through air as a living missile!
Ruhk fires another enchanted arrow, but the allip dodges the arrow and directly into the path of Art's halbred that cuts the allip in half! Like its companion, the allip breaks apart like smoke in the wind as a distant maddened scream drifts away on the breeze....
As Art's momentum slows and he begins to drop back towards the ground he feels the empty pit open in the stomach and wonders if perhaps this had been such a good idea after all! However, as the ground quickly comes rushing towards him, Caine steps over and catches him! However, the hefty impact of catching an armored paladin leaves both men with some bruises and soreness.
Jeva watches from her hiding spot with wide eyes as the heroes destroy the undead with minimal injuries. "Did you see that?! He threw him into the air!" She grabs Bella's arm and points at Art's falling form.
Caine put Art down and rubbed his neck and shoulder. "Do the heroic tails mention catching a pauldron in the collar bone? Ow."
"Art's a lot more solid than he looks." he chuckled. "Good job, by the way. Guess our patrons are smiling on us today."
Ruhk was looking at the scene, rubbing his chin and trying to sort out his thoughts.
At one point, it was a good thing that they had taken down these creatures, lest someone else encountered them and got killed.
At the same time, they hadn't NEEDED to fight...if either Nat or Caine had been killed, the chance of saving the kids would have been reduced a lot.
For a straightforward guy like Ruhk, this ambivalence was unusual and most unwelcome.
In the end, he decided that there were more pressing things to deal with at the moment, and so shrugged and put it out of his mind.
As I was going up, I began to wonder what the coming down would be like. I'm sorry you had to risk yourself to stop me from hitting my head on the ground. It felt right, to do what we did, to try to end them, whatever they were. I'd like to say next time we'll trade places, but I don't think I'll be throwing you that easily.
"We'll work up to that." Caine said with a wry grin. He slipped his wand back into it's sheathe at the small of his back, took a deep breath and asked "Everyone alright?"
Zirren thought about Caine's question for a moment before replying with a confident "No. The stories don't mention such trivialities."
"Those creatures were known as Allips. Often they are the result of those who died from madness. They are dangerous not because they necessarily just kill the people they come into contact with but because they can quickly debilitate for weeks on end and drive them to madness themselves."
A fact I tried to explain before the two of you went barreling into them. Although I suppose the two of you were better suited to dealing with them than most people are.
"As for myself, no harm here. We should probably keep moving once we've retrieved Jeva and Bella."
"Not to worry, I still got eyes on them."
Ruhk grinned a little from his position further back.
Nice bit of shooting, except for that last arrow...
"We did good. All of us." Caine said. "Back to work. Kids to save."
Right, right, lead on. Wait, where is Miss Goodbarrel and that young human child?