Olaf's blade blasts through skull and shoulderblade and is followed by a similar eruption of cold from the disintigrating corpse.
Halfhand circles the beast and provides some means of distraction for Hilde to exploit, before he calls upon shadow to slink backwards again. Kelgar calls for Hilde to strike and withdraw, while holding aim with the bow...
Cearb approaches the remaining bandit lass and draws her off guard.
Action Tracker (Round 9): Banditos and Fae, Olaf, Halfhand, Bastagar, Cearb, Hilde, Kelgar
Bastagar five-foot-steps to N6, bringing his shillelagh down upon the helpless bandit with several loud cracks, before doing a jig atop his battered form. "Three, Bastagar has felled! Three! A mighty warrior is he!" he shrieks with delight before turning and stuffing his gnarled fingers inside his mouth to silence himself as the bandit's still-living kinsmen look on. He seems to shrink several inches as his eyes dart from the foes across the room to several hiding spots elsewhere.
Hilde once again swings with her sword.
Bastagar steps forward to cave in the skull of another opponent that could not fight back as Hilde's blade is again denied the pleasure of a successful strike. As she and Halfhand withdraw, Kelgar lines up a bowshot and places a shaft deep into the mephit's throat.
The sprite cries in concern before the mephit shows that it yet lives by taking to the air and fleeing West with haste. The sprite follows it's superior's example and also flees - leaving the bandits to their fate.
The half-orc before Cearb sees the blue skinned beast outside flee and notes that the only two bandits still standing are choked with sickness and puts up her hands wardingly "Quarter... I'll not die for Rokhar, wherever the feck he is." The other two bandits follow her example, hopeful eyes looking toward the manic gnomes and towering Ulfen.
Action Tracker (Round 10): Banditos and Fae, Olaf, Halfhand, Bastagar, Cearb, Hilde, Kelgar
Olaf glowers at the remaining bandits, gripping the haft of his axe tightly.
"Where was your mercy when it came to slaughtering merchant-folk, kidnapping nobles, and reanimating the dead as Draugr?"
Grunting to himself in satisfaction at his well-placed arrow, Kelgar squints as the blue-skinned devil flaps away into the white haze.
Slinging the bandit longbow over his shoulder, he reaches down to pull his greataxe from the snow and steps forward to peer into the cabin to get a better look at where the shouts of quarter came from.
"Hrrmph, dun like it. Throw down yer weapons if yer serious, otherwise yer offer falls on deaf ears, orc."
Kelgar cannot get a good read on the half-orc lass, so is left unsure about her intent.
To the half-Orc, "Drop the weapon and we start talking, like where where is the pretty lady, if she is alive, things go better for you, if she dead, you will soon see her to say you sorry. "
With a fearful gesture towards the bloodied Bastagar that has taken such glee with covering his bludgeon with the greyish matter that inhabits skulls "She's alive, but what about him... call him off."
Hilde will walk through the door on her initiative.
"Mercy shall thee have,
if mercy thou deserve,
the puck shall not slay thee,
if your life will better serve.
I heard my brave companion,
give thee a reasonable command,
'tis you who begs for mercy,
that goes not with demands."
Cearb keeps his guard up waiting for the woman and the guards to yield. If they try something, he tries something.
Bastagars eyes widen with glee as the half-orc addresses him. "Does it... fear... Bastagar?"
Clambering atop the table, he lopes toward her to K7, squatting bow legged and peering at her, head cocked like that of a vulture. "It heard the lady-bright, the Puck shall not slay thee unless she bids."
As the gnomes threaten the half-orc with nascent violence she measures the situation and with a pleading glance to Hilde lowers her weapons. The remaining bandits do the same, collapsing to the floor in exhaustion as their exertion catches up to their sickened physiques.
But then you hear footsteps crossing the room to the corner where bandits and death are piled high. Dark words from a dark tongue can be heard seeping into the air, staining your ears with the hearing and portending doom...
Caster Level check:
..."Quam de morte ad mortem ... Surgunt! Et pasce!" and with the final word spoken... the dead answer.
Those bandits with shattered skull or cloven breast that lie like cordwood stir, arms and legs moving with jerking motion as muscle and sinew is forced to constrict and move. Without spoken word the dead men push from the ground and stand, eyes bereft of life gazing outward at the group with a nascent hunger. From behind them in the corner of the lodge you hear a dark and cruel laugh before a single word is spoken "Kill!"
The dead legion respond, making to shuffle forwards towards the living...
Action Tracker (Round 10): Dead Banditos, Olaf, Halfhand, Bastagar, Cearb, Hilde, Kelgar
The wicked, almost predatory grin that Bastagar wore in his triumph turns at once to the look of a cornered mouse, milky eyes wide with fright. With a terrified look over his shoulder, Bastagar takes a wild swing at the half-orc, obviously not the source of the voice. "Call them off! Call them off!" he shouts, half shriek and half sob, punctuating his pleas with another swing of his shillelagh when they fall on deaf ears. "Ill luck to wake the dead men in one's home, yes. A terrible fate will find it, yes. Call them off now, yes, yes?"
Olaf roars in indignation.
"It was a trap! Kill the Draugr!"
He then takes a swing at the newly created Draugr adjacent to him, as it attempts to stagger to its feet.
While Olaf's first strike cuts deep the draugr does not drop until he follows it up with a second strike on the backswing.
The half-orc lass looks up in horror and surprise as the crazed gnome attacks attacks her, calling to Hilde as she weaves aside from the attempted blows "What?! I lowered my weapons... Where is your honor?!" the tenor of her voice showing genuine surprise... at both the rising of the dead men, as well as Bastagar's betrayal of terms.
Action Tracker (Round 11): Dead Banditos, Olaf, Halfhand, Bastagar, Cearb, Hilde, Kelgar
"Where is it's honour calling nasty dead men to eat poor Bastagar!?" he shouts, eyes welling with tears. "Call them off! Call them off!"
The half-orc grits her teeth "They aren't mine..."
"Bastagar!", Olaf calls out gruffly, "Stop playing with the her, and focus on the Draugr!"
Kelgar rubs his eyes as he watches the men rise from the blood and strains to listen for the source of the unholy words that called the men back from their graves.
"What treachery is this, orc?"
Wheeling his waraxe around in his free hand, Kelgar charges up the wooden steps into the cabin, gives the fire a longing look, and swings his axe at the nearest draugr.
for
The Halfhand rounds the building just in time to catch a glimpse of the bodies rising from the ground.
"The necromancer is here!". The Halfhand glances down, wondering if they had the capability of dealing with a man skilled enough to raise the dead. With the Mephit gone, he'll stow his shield once more and focus on the newly-risen draugr, readying another acid splash.
"Those that bled, should be dead, something in the corner speaks their tongue, I say we collect it, and add it to the dead." Cearb stab at the cadaver nearest him, but does not care for it.
Halfhand's spittle and Cearb's knife both score strikes, but Kelgar's axe does not find flesh.
Hilde steps to the nearest risen bandit and lashes out with her sword...
Hilde Attack: for
...blade sinking deep into and flensing dead flesh from risen bones.
The half-orc lass growls and mutters "Feck this" and withdraws towards the front of the lodge.
The draugr reposition and lash out at the fae touched companions...
Slam at Cearb: for
Slam at Hilde: for
Slam at Kelgar: for
...Cearb struck with force in the upper arm, driving him sideways and into the wall of the lodge. The other flails of the draugr are easily avoided.
A flash of wan light pulses from the corner of the lodge to wash over the zombies and they are invigorated by it's passage. The energy does nothing to harm you, but leaves a dark mark on the air - devoid of taste or life.
Channel Negative (to heal Undead):
Even as the undead are bolstered by the necromantic taint, a figure comes into view from the haze. He is a man with a cruelness to his weatherbeaten and angular face. Stout of frame, though not muscular and bearing a symbol that he brandishes in one hand while the other bears a sword. His face bears a cruel smirk as he revels in the presence of the dead men beside him. "You can choose to die bloody and standing... or pray I have mercy when you surrender."
Action Tracker (Round 12): Banditos, Olaf, Halfhand, Bastagar, Cearb, Hilde, Kelgar
Dear Bastagar,
my word has been given,
would thou make me a liar,
Bereft of Honor, shriven."
and to the half orc,
"Thy parole I accept,
from us art thou safe,
defend thyself from others,
but do not leave this place."
Olaf growls.
"It is you who has the choice of dying, or surrendering, necromancer!"
To prove his point, he then slams his axe into the closest Draugr.
"We need to focus fire, taking these things down quickly!"
Olaf's axe thunks solidly into undead bandit once again and tears a healthy chunk of it's stomach free. As entrails spill the zombie reels but remains standing.
Action Tracker (Round 12): Banditos, Olaf, Halfhand, Bastagar, Cearb, Hilde, Kelgar
Bastagar, after running off the half-orc, seems to snap to attention at Hilde's words. He mumbles an apology at his pointed boots before leaping back into the fray. He'll dash along the table, sending plates and flagons flying but carefully tiptoing past the salt bowl. Once he reaches the end of the table, he'll springboard into the fray, leaping over the heads of the druagr and into N7.
He'll then take a swing at the M7 druagr, hoping to take it down with Caerb's aid.
Cursing when he sees the evil priest appear, Kelgar continues to focus on the draugr lurking about the room.
Nodding when he hears Olaf's advice, he replies, "Ah-greed, Olaf. One.. more.. swing... on this one should do 't!"
for
As his axe connects, he gives the unholy cleric a grim look.
"Best ye consider yer situation now, priest - y'be outnumbered. 'Tis only a matter o' time a'fore we hew through yer pets and our axes meet your noggin'."
"What Bastigar starts, Cearb will finish, he take one leg, I take the other, killing easier once you already marked your cuts, alas this butter is spoiled, but dead-talky man still is still fresh."
The Halfhand jumps at the chance, as the necromancer reveals himself. "A foolish mistake!"
Hefting his crossbow up, he launches a bolt through the shattered window and into the man's flank.
Halfhand sends a quarrel at the revealed dark master and is rewarded with a grunt of pain as it lodges in his hip.
Bastagar begins his charge down the table, and draws opportunistic strikes from the zombies he seeks to pass...
AoO at Bastagar: for
AoO at Bastagar:
...weaving free of one set of slow moving arms, but the other one's forearm clips his ankles. All support from his legs vanishes and Bastagar collapses forward and his head strikes the table with an ominous crack and he lies still.
Cearb's knife still carves through flesh, though he is unable to sever sinew as well he might had Bastagar made it safely through. Kelgar's axe follows Olaf's success and the revenant falls to the ground.
Action Tracker (Round 12): Banditos, Olaf, Halfhand, Bastagar, Cearb, Hilde, Kelgar
Hilde steps onto the table (M7) and then down the other side (N6) as both draugr have taken their AOOs. She activates her Smite Evil against the caster.
To hit: +3 str, +3 smite evil, +1 BAB, +1 MW sword
If that hits, damage is: +3 str, +1 smite evil, +1d6 invoke the vaettir
Still can't roll over a 9, but here's hoping I finally accomplished something. 8)
Hilde is +3 ac as long as the necromancer is alive from her Smite Evil.
Hilde pushes her companions aside to engage the revealed Necromancer, calling upon her divine strength to help her smite him down. Her sword flashes forth and draws fresh blood from the man. He grits his teeth and looks about before his eyes settle upon Olaf, the reaver with the bloodied axe.
His eyes roll back into his skull and he speaks a black tongue "Próditur sanguinem percusserit eam"...
Casting Defensively:
...though his concentration errs due to his pain and the calling of the art falls on deaf ears.
The draugr maintain their assault...
Slam at Cearb:
Slam at Kelgar:
...both targets of the wrath able to avoid their skin being marked.
Action Tracker (Round 13): Banditos, Olaf, Halfhand, Bastagar, Cearb, Hilde, Kelgar
Olaf groans in frustration, as he sees that he can't really get at anyone without provoking from the dead.
"Kelgar! Move in! My axe is hungry, and I want to return the Dead to their rest!"
The Halfhand strains his ears, trying to make out the details of the necromancer's spell, but he's distracted by the furry black beast staring at him from the forest in his peripheral vision. "I'm ignoring you!" he yells, turning his head away and focusing on the necromancer once more.
"Poke the Bloke is not nearly as fun when they don't notice the knife holes, we need to hurry, Bastagar is getting whiter....I think...." Which gives Cearb pause to be a little more careful untill the Bigguns can provide some distraction.
Once again, Kelgar finds himself agreeing on the Ulfen's suggested tactics.
"Ah-greed!"
Kelgar takes a step to the left, and hesitates, eyeing the opening in the rear of the room next to the evil cleric.
"Hilde! Make some room!"
for
Kelgar and Olaf's axes once again wreak bloody ruin on dead flesh and another draugr falls back beyond the veil. Halfhand lines up the necromancer through the window again and his accuracy with the crossbow proves uncanny once more - quarrel piercing the man at the base of his neck. He gurgles as he falls to the ground and begins to seep his lifeblood unto the floorboards.
Hilde swing at Zombie: for
The last draugr remains mobile for a few seconds longer, clublike forearm seeking Cearb's head...
Slam at Cearb: for
...bludgeoning the evasive gnome into the wall of the lodge, where consciousness flees his prostrate form.
Between the heavy blades of Olaf, Kelgar and Hilde though - the final zombie does not survive much longer. Leg cleft in twain and skull split, it returns to the floor boards.
Outside the wind howls, and you take stock of the ruined and blood spattered lodge. The half-orcen lass is nowhere to be seen, and the two living bandits look in no state to continue the fight, instead lying on the floor and drawing sickly breath.
The Halfhand lets out a bloodthirsty cheer as the man sinks to the ground, watching on gleefully as the others finish the melee.
He stalks towards the lodge, entering it with the air of a conqueror as he inspects the scene before him. He regards the two unconscious gnomes only briefly, stifling his amusement and remaining silent as he looks to the others.
"Well fought." He says simply. He turns his head to the leader. "We'll want him alive for questioning, I suppose."
He crouches next to the dying man, lifting the bloody holy symbol from the ground and raising it to the light as he appraises it. "Reveal your secrets to me, necromancer."
Meanwhile, Ormr scurries down from his coat to look for anything of interest. "Leave the sick ones be, Ormr. Disease is not our friend."
Kelgar lets his axe hand loose in his grip, it's blade covered in the flesh of the undead barely scratching the cabin's floor.
Squinting, he rubs his eyes with his free hand and kneels to examine the fallen bandit leader.
"Ah think that'll do eht. He'll live, 'n we can question 'im for whatever 'e was up 'ta."
Rising, he scans the common room for the half-orc and gives the sickened bandits a stern gaze that seems to imply he'll have nothing hostile from either of them.
"Ahl-right, lads. Where's yer prisoner? The fancy lady ye all kidnapped and 'oped t' ransom?"
The last daugr has barely touched the floor when Hilde is running for Caerb. Cradling his body in her arms, she lifts him onto the table beside Bastagar. Immediately setting to work on the two gnomes, she does her best to provide first aid to them both.
Breathing in a sigh of relief, she looks around the room, noting the sick bandits and their leader on the floor.
Afraid to leave the gnomes alone, Hilde moves them both into the room encompassing E5. Remembering the sick bandits, she uses her own gear to prepare pallets for her kin on the floor before the fire rather than risk the possibly tainted bed linens.
One hour after a tended, dying character becomes stable, the character must make a DC 10 Constitution check to become conscious. The character takes a penalty on this roll equal to his negative hit point total. Conscious characters with negative hit point totals are treated as disabled characters. If the character remains unconscious, he receives another check every hour to regain consciousness. A natural 20 on this check is an automatic success. Even if unconscious, the character recovers hit points naturally. He automatically regains consciousness when his hit points rise to 1 or higher.
Olaf lets out a great sigh when the last Draugr falls, and he realises that the combat is over.
"That... was a good battle."
He shakes his head sadly when he realises that both wee ones are down.
Moving over to Bastagar, he places a hand on the Gnome's bruised and battered flesh.
"The wound is not that severe. Up! Up, I say!"
He then turns to regard the downed bandit leader, and immediately begins rummaging around, looking for the man's holy symbol, which he then pockets.
"If we are keeping him alive (and I dare say the town would *love* to have him, to ensure justice is done), he should *not* be left with this."
Olaf turns to regard the surrendering bandits.
"Did you participate in the kidnapping of the Lady?"
"Hast thou yet another chant
for Caerb, who lies here too?
He held the line, not once, but twice,
and should be healed before we're through.
[ooc]We can retcon the rest of Hilde's action then. Considering what has happened to my other posts, I want to get in early. Assuming we are staying here for a bit, Hilde will take the room to the right off the front door - ie the one still standing.
Olaf shakes his head sadly.
"I am afraid that my skills are spent this day. Fear not, he may yet awaken under his own ability - he is a tough one, after all. In the morning, I will see what I can do."