Spidre maintains his assault against the bats attacking the cleric. He attempts to mimic their screeching as he cuts into them, either a cruel mockery of their pitiful existence or an admiration of their beautiful singing voices.
,
,
Halsere casts sleep at the bats surrounding Thyra
Spidre continues to cut down the large bats, first killing the last one by Pietro and then moving to injure the one by Thyra!
Halsere then casts a spell and the swarm of smaller bats falls like rain from around Thyra's head, letting her focus on her own fight!
Melmac roars with a maniacal fury as he continues to try and down the dwarf:
,
,
He can't land a hit!
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Frustrated, Pietro reaches deep into his inner reserves of power to ensure the blow lands.
-> 13
Failing that, Pietro mutters a word to heal himself.
This fight is nearing its end for better or worse!
Thyra will attempt to rally Peitro, "This fight ain't ovah, hang in there!"
The frontliners both try to hit Melmac, but can't seem to get past his armor and shield!
"So much for your bats, King. Your subjects seem to be deserting you."
Mirrel lands another spell, somehow managing to out-pace Pietro's maul!
The cloud of bats spews another swarm at Thyra, once again obscuring her vision!
The remaining dire bats attack!
,
,
Thyra evades, but Mirrel is bitten!
Halsere still has 3 more 1st level spell slots and uses another of these (dropping him to 2) as he casts sleep again to help Thyra avoid the penalty.
Sleep
Spidre becomes sullen at the thought of mice, but continues to swing his swords regardless. He maintains his focus on the larger flying rodents.
,
,
Halsere's spell once again drops a pile of bats from around Thyra's face, this time also including the injured dire bat that's been attacking her.
Spidre then turns his attention to the final dire bat (the one by Mirrel), but can't seem to land a hit!
Melmac keeps hacking at the dwarf with single-minded determination!
,
,
Thyra holds him off!
In a stunning turn of events, Pietro ceases his aimless flailing and actually strikes Melmac!
Mirrel swings his sword at the bat circling him, healing himself as he does so. Despite ceasing his taunting of Melmac, he keeps an eye on the raving lunatic, ready to intercede.
,
Mirrel slashes the dire bat, injuring it badly!
"Haha now we've got him on tha ropes!"
Thyra will step closer to Pietro if she can, ready to shield him from Melmac in case he Attacks.
Thyra's axe just barely misses its target!
A handful of bats still flutter about the room, but the majority are carpeting the floor, dead or asleep.
The remaining dire bat retaliates against Mirrel!
,
It's a miss!
Spidre moves against his timeless opponent, oversized flying mammals!
,
,
Spidre finishes off the last dire bat!
Firebolt for
Halsere's spell misses!
Melmac shrieks in rage!
,
,
Thyra barely manages to fend off the first swing, and is hit hard by the second!
Spidre finally moves in to deal with the real threat, the demon barber of Gotham.
,
,
Seeing the sickening hit on Thyra, Mirrel utters a word of healing. Standing clear of the fighters he then sets about with his sword, ensuring none of the dire bats wake up, although he keeps a watchful eye on the battle with Melmac.
Melmac's biting axe digs deep into Thyra, he is remarkably well at finding her armors weak spots.
And as Thyra is sent reeling from that wound, her attack is sent wildly astray.
Spidre manages to get one quick jab in, but his companions can't land a hit!
,
Halsere scorches the madman!
Melmac continues wailing on Thyra!
,
,
He misses with his first swing, then just as he's about to hit with the second, Mirrel spits a curse that startles him into missing!
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"Time for ya ta die Melmac!"
Seeing that Spidre has joined the fight against Melmac, Thyra heaves a sigh almost in exhaustion. "Glad to see ya joinin' our fight, Spidre. We've been need in' ya"
Spidre snickers behind his mask as Pietro resumes a pattern of failure. He continues his own pattern of success as a subtle mockery.
,
,
Spidre lands another blow, and Melmac is starting to look ragged!
Mirrel continues sniping from the sidelines, once more taunting the crazy man.
Mirrel lands another mental assault!
,
,
,
Mirrel's spell protects Thyra from Melmac's first attack, but there's no stopping the second, and the dwarf falls!
Spidre takes Thyra's place and gives the man something to dance around.
,
,
Casting his final spell, Mirrel heals Thyra with a word. He then butchers another of the fallen bats.
Thyra hits the ground hard but even in death she hears Mirrel encouraging her to never give up and finds her wounds knit together enough for her to jump back up and try and grab Melmac, seeing as how her battleaxe was dropped when she fell to the ground.
Pietro tries to bolster Thyra's health with a quick spell.
Then, he strikes.
Pietro finally downs the batty lunatic!
When Melmac falls, the remnants of the bat swarms all fly up into the rafters and go eerily quiet, as though freed from some bizarre compulsion and eager to rest in the shadows.
Taking a better look at Melmac, you see that his armor and shield are in poor shape, but the axe that he pulled from the junk heap is (ironically) in fantastic condition and of exquisite make. You also discover that he's wearing an expensive-looking gold ring set with a sapphire.
Spidre takes the man's ring and holds it out to Halsere. He grunts, but doesn't actually turn it over.
Thyra sits down for a short breather, that combat was particularly exhausting for her. Her hair is matted with sweat, it sticks to her lumpy square brow.
"Phew, I don't know 'bout ya guys but I'm pretty tuckered. I can keep goin' though, I ain't fallin' behind."
Thyra will stand to her feat, a bit slowly but as she rises she dusts herself off a bit and grabs her battleaxe. Noticing Melmac's blood-stained axe lying on the ground she'll look to it, to her axe and back to the party.
"Anyone want that battleaxe?"
You take some time to catch your breath and tend your wounds, then resume your explorations. This level is vastly smaller than the main level where you entered the Crypt, with only two more rooms after the lunatic's chamber. One turns out to contain nothing of interest, while the other is a simple square room containing another small pool, much like the red one from earlier. This one's contents are green, and in front of it is an inscription that reads, "If you would walk the path unseen, place the Staff of Life in the pool of green."
Spidre waves his scimitar in the air as though drunkenly fighting some unseen enemy. It's possible this is an expression of frustration, but it is equally possible that the elf is hallucinating or performing some sort of training ritual. Whatever the case, the air is unlikely to survive.
Thyra picks up Melmac's axe and wipes the blood off on the dead king's clothes before replacing her battleaxe. She'll try and find somewhere in her pack to safely strap her battleaxe.
Swinging it around a couple of times she'll grunt affirmatively before pressing on.
"t'is good we've found the second pool, dip tha Staff in it and return ta tha Green Room. Our goal is there."
With a grim determination and a look of resolve she waits for Halsere to dip the staff.
Mirrel stands quietly behind the others trying not to show the exhaustion he feels as he waits for Halsere to present the staff once more.
Halsere dips it in the pool
Now that we've cleaned the tower, the best thing, indeed the only thing, is to explore the stairs going down unless there is a new choice in the green room.
Spidre pauses at Halsere's mention of a "green room". He thinks back to the doors he saw.
"One red. One blue. Green... there is no green."
He slides his swords together in a screeching, sparking sweep and points his scimitar at Halsere as he moves to dip the staff. Spidre shakes his head slowly in the negative.
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With nowhere left to search on this level, you head back downstairs, past the entry level, and into the level below, where the staircase ends.
This level opens into a relatively open space. Along one wall are a pair of doors a good distance apart, but both seem to have only empty rooms behind them. Heading the other way, you try another door, which reveals a long, straight hallway, whose end is beyond your vision.
You begin to explore this corridor, Thyra in the lead as usual. However, you're no more than about five feet in when suddenly, Thyra vanishes into thin air without a trace. No sound, no light, nothing left behind. Just gone.
In the blink of an eye, you find yourself in different surroundings. The dirty stone walls seem about like what you're used to in the Crypt, but instead of a long, straight hallway; you're now in a hallway which, about 10 feet ahead of you, makes a sudden 90-degree turn to the left. And instead of your companions being on your heels, behind you is only a blank wall, the termination of this end of this corridor.
Pietro rushes forward, hoping to catch whatever portal or veil Thyra stepped into.
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