Well, it is Gerard's gold, not mine.
Even so, Terry reluctantly counts out the coins until his stare is met with approval, then enters the den looking for either an easy mark for theft (not likely) or a dealer to ply with Gerard's coins. He keeps to the edges of the room as best he can, avoiding contact until he has cased the joint.
"What... is... this?"
Grinner thinks it prudent to start by trying to zap her. He casts Ball Lightning.
Will
Will
Gerard focuses his power and tries to crush the mind of the interloper.
Grimnir stands steadfast, despite the fearsome sight.
His unflinching visage even encourages his companions.
The dwarf grits his teeth as the pain of the negative energy courses through his body, but he steps forward and begins to spin his dwarven chain flail in wide circles and readies to attack the woman if she gets any closer.
At a signal from Grimnir, his earth elemental lowers into the ground and tries to make its way behind the enemy.
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Terry finds several easy marks for theft as he scans the room as well as a small handful of dealers. All of which leave terry with a choice.
Grinner draws his webbed hands together and produces two balls of lightning that crackles and pulses towards the Cultist.
The cultist convulses as one of the orbs slams into her arm. Grimnir begins to swing his flail in a wide circle preparing himself.
The cultists head lurches to the side as Gerard shatters a portion of her mind. As she strides forward with her sickle the scorched marks on her arm seem to heal a portion of themselves as she regenerates.
She delays long enough as a unearthly creature appears from the opposite end of the room.
This gaunt, long-limbed quadruped has huge, soulless eyes and a toothy maw. The lean creature moves with a predatory grace. The creature drops it's invisibility as it steps from the shadows. The deep growl draws the attention of all in the party as they meet it's gaze.
You each watch as your flesh slowly tears open, starting like small paper cuts and turning into someone grabbing the edges and pulling the two halves further apart.
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???????? (Haste)
Ex-Communicate (-23; Haste)
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Grinner (45/52)
Grimnir (67/74)
Gerard (37/44)
Will
Fort
Well, since he is not looking for trouble, he will approach a dealer. He taps himself with a heightened awareness first.
"Say, mate, I'm looking to score shiver tonight. You got some for me?"
He tries to act a lot more self-assured than he feels. He can almost feel eyes on his back, and everything makes him jump.
Damn. I must actually look like a shiver addict the way I'm hopping about.
Grinner doesn't take so much from the negative channel, but...
Grinner rubs his eyes as the gaze attack rips through him.
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Grimnir's mind seems to be one of the few to survive the Hounds ripping gaze as he locks eyes with the beast.
The Ex-communicate utters a few arcane words and vanishes from sight.
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???????? (Haste) (DC 17 Knowledge Planes)
Ex-Communicate (-23; Haste)
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Grinner (33/52)
Grimnir (71/74)
Gerard (25/44)
"Guard!? Nah, but you are right about my being new. I took my first shiver a few days ago. Got it for free. Now its starting to cost me. You sellin' or not? I heard it was getting scarce so I'd like to buy a few just in case, you know. I only got one left."
Knowledge Planes
Gerard tells the others what he knew of the beast before casting See Invisibilty, to try and target the spell caster.
"Looks like she's getting some help from me... unintentionally."
Grinner directs the balled lightning more towards the center so he can zap anything next time.
"Whaur did she go?" Grimnir bellows, not having a way to see anything invisible.
At his queue, Grimnir's stone servant glides over the floor next to the invisible foe and lashes out with a stone arm.
Grimnir swings his dor dergar through the area his servant attacked, hoping to make contact with something.
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Gerard instantly recognizes the hound as a Hound of Tindalos. The Hounds are extremely resistance to weapons unless magic is used while immune to mind effecting effects.
Grinner does what he can and releases a meager wave of healing, knowing full well he is also healing the cultist.
Grimnir's stone servant swirls across the ground as he follows the invisible cultist.
The stone servant, while able to pin point her location is able to land a blow. Grimnir moves in where his stone servant is grinding away at but the invisible ex-communicate dodges his blow by nothing more than an inch.
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Hound of Tindalos (Haste)
Ex-Communicate (-7; Haste)
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Grinner (49/52)
Grimnir (74/74)
Gerard (41/44)
"Four, if you please."
Terry licks his lips as if in anticipation.
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Th Hound of Tindalos leaps in at Gerard. A uneasy sense of rippling permeates through the air, slowing all around it.
The excommunicate breaks her invisibility as she slashes her spider-leg sickles at Gerard as she now carries one in each hand.
Her wounds continue to heal as her body regenerates. Meanwhile Gerard is nearly eviscerated by the sickles as they slice into his gut and chest.
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Hound of Tindalos (Haste)
Ex-Communicate (-2; Haste)
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Grinner (49/52)
Grimnir (74/74)
Gerard (11/44)
Terry gives the man a disbelieving look. "200... gold?"
He can't help himself as he begins to bargain. "Make that 150 and you have a deal."
Grimnir's dwarven mind is not affected by the slowing magic. He takes a small step and pounds into the cultist like a hammer on an anvil. His stone servant tries to strike the reeling woman, but to no avail.
"So sluggish..."
Grinner takes a step towards Gerard.
He delivers a Cure Serious Wounds to Gerard.
Gerard takes a 5' step to the southwest and gain tries to crush the invisible caster's mind!
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Grimnir quickly pounces on the Ex-Communicate and bashes the woman's brains in with his spiked flail. She doesn't even have a chance to speak or plead as the dull thud concaves her skull.
Backing away Gerard invades the woman's broken mind, shattering it further, making sure she will never stand again, even with her regeneration.
The Hound lurches in at Grinner as it bites and claws at the Grippli.
The hound pounces on Grinner and shreds the Grippli's softer skin clean open, almost killing him in a single attack.
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Hound of Tindalos (Haste)
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Grinner (7/52; Slow)
Grimnir (74/74)
Gerard (37/44)
Gerard casts Haste on his gathered friends, hoping they could finish off this evil beast that was threatening to rip them all to shreds.
Oh, well, not my money. I think Gerard would be more pissed if I returned with no shiver than if I payed this ridiculous price. I suppose I should look for a better deal, but who knows what's going on back there.
Terry pays the gold and returns.
Grinner steps back to allow Grimnir a charge lane.
He moves the Ball Lightning onto the Hound of Tindalos.
He selectively channels to get some healing in, excluding the hound.
Grimnir adjusts his grip on his dwarven chain-flail to give it reach, then pounds at the enemy. "Git behind me!" he shouts to his wounded allies.
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The balls of lightning send several shock waves through the Hounds taut flesh causing it to ripple in all directions.
Grimnir crashes his dorn derger into the beasts side. Gerard helps relieve Grinner and speed up himself and Grimnir.
The Hound of Tindalos turns and renews its efforts against the more heavily armored dwarf.
The hound flails about and manages to cause several small injuries all over Grimnir.
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Hound of Tindalos (-43; Haste)
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Grinner (19/52)
Grimnir (51/74; Haste)
Gerard (44/44; Haste)
"Let's keep it up!" *Ribbit*
Grinner steps back.
He directs the ball lighting once again.
He selectively channels again.
Gerard moves 5' to the right and casts Bear's Wndurance on the dwarf, helping to steel him against the Hound's relentless attacks.
Grimnir absorbs much of the creature's attacks and shrugs off some of the damage.
The dwarf plants his feet and sends his flail into the creature multiple times.
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The hound begins to catch onto the slow moving balls of lightning as it leaps over them.
Grimnir is able to catch it with his flail once more as the Hound lands. Gerard does what he can to steel the dwarf's defenses against such an abomination.
With numerous wounds the Hounds steps back. It's form wavers for a split second as a green crack slowly crawls across the fabric of reality on the corner of the wall. The Hound of Tindalos steps through as it disappears.
Within minutes Terry opens the door to a scene of battle as the group licks their wounds and a dead shadow cultist lying on the floor, fresh blood pooling underneath her body.
Grinner (37/52)
Grimnir (74/74; Haste)
Gerard (44/44; Haste)
"What the... "
Terry looks around hurriedly when he notices the hyper movements of Grimnir and Gerard.
"Are they invisible again? Where are they?"
he immediately assumes a Total Defense posture and considers casting shield.
"Looks like its time to move. Or should we try the shiver. Oh, the shiver cost us a pretty 200 gold. Sorry about that but the man was not in the mood to bargain."
"They know where we are now. I'm not sure that if we wait, that we will actually get the research all the way finished. That might have just been the greeting party. I say we move somewhere else and rest for the night and try the shiver tomorrow."
"I'm still shaky on trying the Shiver, but we may be left with no choice. I agree, we can try it out."
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[ooc]Alright sounds like consensus is skipping the rest of the ritual and trying the Shiver (Link). I will get a post of soon.
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With half of the ritual complete the group feels the Cultists begin to press in on them and want to enter the Dream realm before it is too late and another assassin or the Hound of Tindalos shows back up.
With nervous hands, one by one the group decides to try the Shiver vials.
One at a time the group's eyes close as they rest comfortably in beds and chairs. Your minds wander into another realm entirely. The Dream Realm.
Response.
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Thinking collectively the group does the wise solution and slowly returns to the Inn itself where they are able to group back up, seeing as everyone made it to the Dream Realm safe and sound.
Though to end this madness they know they must head back into the House on Hook Street where the exiled cultists dwell. Walking through the streets prove to be normal at first before they themselves spin into nightmares of their own.
The baying of shadow hounds echoes through the streets and alleys of Bridgefront’s dream realm. The bay causes several, including some of your own to panic and run off for a brief moment. More dangerous are the hounds themselves, which typically run in packs of three or more and can often be found materializing from shadows to tear cornered dreamers limb from limb.
Sometimes the streets of dreaming Bridgefront simply quake, crack open, and swallow passing dreamers. When the cobblestone streets of Bridgefront’s dream realm aren’t threatening to collapse, the massive muddy puddles they harbor try to smother the life from passersby. The mud animates as a Huge mud elemental and attacks, though it is confined to the space in which it animates.
Dozens of voracious nightgaunts fly above the streets of Bridgefront’s dreamscape. The nightgaunts typically gang up in flights of three, taking cover in the roiling clouds some 150 feet above, then dive down to snatch exposed dreamers and feast on their terror before dropping them to their deaths below. They have no way of telling lucid dreamers from non-lucid dreamers until their victim’s final death throes, when a broken body gasps its final breath and fails to awaken or fade from the dreamscape.
Some buildings exhibit supernatural hungers akin to living beasts, animating to swallow those who pass before them. Though they typically animate as nightmarish forms with leering windows for eyes and doorways morphing into gnashing maws.
Though what seems like days of walking, actually turns out to be hours as time runs wonky in the Dream realm, you find yourselves standing once more in front of the House on Hook Street. In the dreamscape, The twisted, foreboding ancestral estate of the fallen Caligaro family stands amid a rubblestrewn field that stretches from the Old Wall to Hook Street. Strange shapes leer from the corner of the viewer’s eye, and it appears as if mocking figures stare from the manse’s high windows, only to disappear when looked at.
With the exception of the hewn stone walls adjacent to the old temple structure on the house’s ground level rooms, the house has 6-inch-thick wooden walls. An imposing manse rises from a radius of wood comprised of the splintered remains of dozens of destroyed hovels. Thick black ivy crawls across the walls of the house, and gnarled oaks reach from the surrounding waste like dark, crooked fingers.