Mahb scratches her ass thinking - but not quite remembering - a fact or two.
"No I'm not of the blood, but I'm on a task to redeem the family, or so said the man who hired me. What is remembered of the family isn't good. "
Rasil, hearing Vars speak down the left-hand corridor, holds his hand up to Yura for him to stop where he is. Vanishing, he quietly follows the duke up the left-hand corridor.
As Rasil moves, he hears the ethereal maiden voices that, apparently uncaring of Vars' answer, keep asking inane questions about the family, the tomb and the world outside.
Gabriel looks around the room, looking for any non-obvious details, secret doors, anything fun.
He will also cast Detect Magic to look for anything magical.
Once the women become inane Vars just ignores them and looks around for anything interesting.
Rasil also tries to get a good grasp of the state of the room, but he tries to avoid the sources of the prattling voices.
Vars will continue down the stairs.
Mahb scans the room with eldritch and mundane vision. She pokes the bird on her head. "Wait in the hall in case this is a trap."
The four ghostly maidens burst into eerie laughters. "Welcome! Welcome to our home! Where are you, sister? Come give us a kiss? Come give our guests a kiss?"
The lid is loosely bound by mortar, you may be able to push it out of the way.
The lid is loosely bound by mortar, you may be able to push it out of the way.
Rasil palpates the areas beneath the frescoes and the sides of the coffin to try to identify who's tomb this was.
"Oh hell, gotta do it eventually.
then he will check the coffin for traps and if clear, open it
Once the bird is clear of the room, Mahb steps a little further in and then calls on the elemental lords to advise her, asking them, "What will happen if I open the sarcophagus?"
Spell Effects:
Ascendant Mage Armor - +6 AC, 50% critical hit or sneak attack becomes normal hit - 15 hours
See Invisibility - 150 mins
"If your question's phrased that way
"It would open" I should say.
But you got me in a good mood
So more context give I should:
There's no trap and there's no curse
In the stone coffin itself
But a treasure you will find
That may harm you in your mind.
It has power, it is rare,
But you really should beware."
The two elderly men's fingers have barely brushed the coffin as a screech pierces the air. The four maidens yell and a fifth ghostly figure emerges from the pillar behind the coffin. Her face is shifting between a comely, young woman and an ugly, dessiccated ghost, and the four maidens swirl around her like clouds moved by an ill wind.
The new apparition acts faster than you and lunges at Vars with a clawed hand as one of the spectral maidens plunges into Rasil's chest. A feeling of sickness strikes the pair as the foulness of the undead corrupts them from inside.
Vars scream out in pain as his vitality is drained from him.
"What in the Nine Hells!"
he then swings at the one that hurt him.
power attack
miss
Mahb rubs her bony hands together... a move that generally presages the old woman doing something dangerous.
Reeling from the pain, Rasil rushes back out to the area before the split and shouts down the other two halls, "We've got company!"
Gabriel was hovering in front of the sarcophagus, contemplating whether or not to open it up by himself or go get the others, when Rasil's call comes echoing down the hall. That answers that question - let's go see what foolishness they've gotten into. Bolts of electricity flows over his skin, as he then flies off for about 60 feet. He then charges up and does it again.
Hearing Rasil's shout, Mahb waggles a finger at the sarcophagus. "To be continued." She scrambles out of the room as fast as her boney legs will carry her. She rounds the corner and heads down the stairs as the bird flaps after her and lands on her shoulder. "Coming. Coming."
Stopping near the base of the stairs, she takes in the battle and the strange figure. "Bloody hell! A Nemhain, a regenerating spirit! Gabe, lightning is best, fire and acid are a poor second! Don't bother with cold. Light the b~~~+ up!" She looks around and sees the other spellcaster lagging behind. "Gabe?"
Spell Effects:
Ascendant Mage Armor - +6 AC, 50% critical hit or sneak attack becomes normal hit - 15 hours
See Invisibility - 150 mins
Nemhain: Attack and send ghost to attack.
Vars: Full attack.
Rasil: Run for help.
Mahb, Gabriel: Run to help.
The ghosts screech in a horrifying cachophony as Vars strikes, the four spirits speaking over each other and the nemhain's voice shrieking. a thief a scoundrel a burglar a robber kill them kill kill sister kill Father Father we watch we keep Father Father safe
The ghostly ensemble reaches again with a hand towards the fighter's grasp, and a far stronger stream of necromantic energy grasps his heart, stealing lifeforce from him.
HP (30 down from con loss so 75 more, so 19/ 94 current)
"ARGHHH! Dammit I hate ghosts!"
and he again tries to beat it down.
power attack
miss
Seeing the ghostly being, Gabriel's eyes widen briefly. "Done pissed off a ghost, fool? Not good." Don't let it touch you, Gabe... Stopping just barely in range, Gabriel begins to charge up, swirling bolts of electricity swarming in toward him, searing flashes of light and loud cracks of thunder bouncing off the walls. He then extends his hand, and a steady stream of water comes gushing forth, with streams of electricity coursing through the water. The shot just barely edges past Vars and slams into the ghostly figure.
Things happen quickly. Mahb hustles forward as her hair sprouts like tentacles in all directions, grasping at pillars, sarcophogi, the living, and the dead. Leaving her hair to its own curious logic, her mind is assaulted by Pyewacket pouring the knowledge of one of his lesser used spells into her skull. With a shriek, she tries to draw the ire of the Nemhain. Her voice is a bitter scourge, "F@c< your limp-dicked pappy and your whores-for-sisters! I'll tear this tomb down and piss on the rubble!"
Spell Effects:
Ascendant Mage Armor - +6 AC, 50% critical hit or sneak attack becomes normal hit - 15 hours
See Invisibility - 150 mins
Rasil moves to break the line of sight between himself and the spirits. He then spends a few seconds harnessing his ki before his form changes as if what he appeared to be before was a mirage and now you see his true form: a translucent replica of Pasco Adella's spirit (as he was described to Rasil by his comrades).
Vars' blade leaves a vanishing gash on the ghost's ethereal body and Gabriel's strike looks like it harmed her, but Mahb's words are what cuts deeper into her. With an inhuman, bellowing screech, the nemhain and the ghosts surrounding her rush wildly at the witch, an innatural cold unlike any winter clawing at her very soul.
Mahb's hair can't grasp the Nemhain before the spirit is on her. The old woman seems to wither and age under the undead assault. She staggers away from that offending spirit and gasps to Duke with a cruel laugh, "I really pissed that b!%#% off. Make it count."
Then the hag uses what little strength remains to her to weave a spell. A glowing shell of white light springs up around the witch, warrior, and rough-feathered bird. A wand slips into her hand.
Spell Effects:
Ascendant Mage Armor - +6 AC, 50% critical hit or sneak attack becomes normal hit - 15 hours
See Invisibility - 150 mins
CON -9 = 4 CON - 32 MAX HP
Rasil, as Pasco Adella, steps out from his pillar by the stairs, and approaches the spectres, doing his best impression of the fallen forefather.
he booms,
Dear Lady Calistria, let this work, he prays.
Gabriel raises an eyebrow at the appearance of the new figure, unsure of what is going on, but holds his next shot just in case the ghost listens.
"No ya don't, girly" Gabriel grunts as the ghost makes to attack again. A singular bolt of lightning shoots out from his raised hand, streaking across the room.
Mahb's attack misses by a hair, but the spirit is distracted by the roboant voice of the ninja. The dissonant choir of voices rises once again, each of the ghosts speaking over each other.
"Who is he who is he who is he I remember familiar face familiar words memory of a tale and yet he speaks for Father he is not Father Father is better Father is stronger Father is beautiful we loved Father they killed him they murdered him forced him to die accursed traitors it used to be good he was known all hailed Drusus Adella "
The logorrhea is halted by an annoyed Gabriel blasting his way towards the nemhain with lightning. Vars' attacks also connect, and the monstes is having a hard time keeping up with the onslaught. "HE HURTS US!" she yells, releasing magic from her body.
Now you remember! The last of the Sardisi clan, Drusus Adella, was known more for the fanatical devotion of his five daughters than for any significant accomplishments: his daughters had been married off to important aristocrats, who forbade them any contact or correspondence with their disgraced father. Soon after the lonely and destitute Drusus committed suicide, opening his veins in the bath of a seedy Absalom brothel, his five daughters became infamous for murdering their husbands in 4222 and then vanishing from society.
Not sure if Gabriel is close enough to note the nemhain's actions, Mahb barks, "Gabe, she's raised a Force Wall between you!" The old woman considers her choices, seemingly all bad. The ghosts' prattle gets her attention. "These are the murderous Adella sisters of the Sardisi clan! Maybe the sister's keepsake is hidden here - we need it!" Mahb glances at the weak wand in her hand, knowing it would only save one of them with an unbelievale amount of luck... that was greatly lacking in this fight so far.
She opts to go on the offensive - the really offensive. The hag calls upon the always mysterious, sometimes dark, and often fickle elemental forces. And they respond. Bolts of lightning strike everything within a wide circle of Mahb - the nemhain, her twisted sisters, every coffin, statue, and pillar. Everything except Mahb and her allies is lashed with furious electicity.
Spell Effects:
Ascendant Mage Armor - +6 AC, 50% critical hit or sneak attack becomes normal hit - 15 hours
See Invisibility - 150 mins
CON -9 = 4 CON - 32 MAX HP
In for a penny, in for a pound. he thinks to himself as he renews his attack on the spirit.
AOO
power attack, +4 adamantine
normal attacks
can't crit
"Heh, nice try, girly" Gabriel chuckles, as he begins to fly straight forward toward the ghost, "but not good enough!" After moving forward 30 feet, Gabriel extends his arm to the left, and a bolt of lightning shoots out from his extended hand. Instead of hitting the side of the room, though, the bolt curves around the wall of force, and streaks back in toward the ghost from the west.
Your onslaught grievously harms the spirit, causing her to contract wildly, as if she were having a seizure. The four weaker sisters cry out in horror and clench to the nemhain, as she's sucked into the furthestmost pillar at the deep end of the room, one that's painted white.
"Did we win? Is it just hiding?"
Gabriel shrugs and drops his hand. "I don't see her around anymore. I guess we won?" Gabriel flies toward the pillar where she disappeared and examines it and the room around it.
"Looks like the pillar has an inscription: Ursula, 4191–4222. Wonder if it's a tombstone of sorts?" As he continues to look around, he spots something past the pillar. "Looks like there's a hidden door here!"
Looking at Vars, he says "I missed the start of that - what'd you do to piss off the ghost?"
"At my age, I hardly have any idea how I piss anyone off anymore. If it's a ghost do you think it will be coming back?"
Mahb breathes a little easier and offers the healing wand to Gabriel as both she and Duke are in poor shape. "The Nemhain regenerates... so I wouldn't count her out. Let's get on with our business here quickly and get out. Who's gonna open that door?"
"Wait a sec, if it regenerates, and it went in here, there has a be a way to put it down for good. " and he starts hacking open the pillar the nemhain went into with his adamantine falcata.