Garrett's swing barely misses one of the marauding humanoids, and this one, a bit larger than the others seems to smile. It takes a step back, looking deep into the young warrior's eyes. Its darts forward, with a strike that would be deep and true, but the Elder Snow, now with more of his senses, interposes himself between he and his son. He grunts in pain as the blood wells up around the wound, and he falls again, having only just now brought himself to his knees. As he falls though, he removes the balde in one quick motion and drives it back into the creature, sendig it reeling in suprize several steps back.
The horde continues to chase various villagers and some of them fall,but mostly the horde now seems disorganized.
Elarya: 22 (acted)
Sansa: 21 (acted)
Garrett: 19 (acted)
Invaders:17(acted)
Jerem: 14
Townsfolk: 8
Amara: 6
Havak: 5
Corvina: 4
Losing sight of her family in the chaos, fear and anger course through Amara as she witnesses the horrors befalling the townsfolk. She steps out of range of any attacker and lets her arrow fly toward Jerem, the cause of this day's massacre, hoping to at least make his life a little more miserable.
Jerem snarls in frustration as Havak darts back with his amulet in hand, seconds later Amara's arrow skimming his cheek. He quickly gives her a sideways sneer, but returns his focus to the opponant before him."Blasted blue beast! I'll see you skinned for that, One above help me! It's bad enough that these other pinskins have disrupted my enchantment, now you further trouble me by taking my possessions? That WILL NOT STAND!"
He growls and hisses, chanting in a quick and deep tongue that makes the little hairs on the back of the goblin's hair stand on end. His outline shimmers slightly, and with a sound like moving earth, a dark chained whipe begins to congeal about the air in his hand. He clenches his fist tightly with it and cracksit once, slowly advancing on Havak.
Havak, content with infuriating the man and taking his amulet (and hopefully a fraction of his power), decided that discretion was the better part of valor here.
Havak will manifest minor metamorphosis and his hands will become thick-fingered masses with large blunt nails .
"Who you calling pinkskin? Bye Bye to you now!" Havak taunts as he turns and digs into the ground, leaving no hole as the dirt of his tunnel collapses behind him. (15ft underground now)
Unaware of what's going on between Jerem and Havak, Elarya lets loose a battlecry as cold and fierce as a winter storm and brings her axe in for another blow.
Round 3
Sansa's summoned Celestial Eagle appears and she commands it to attack the hoarde villain closest to her.
It flies, screeching, to the nearest villain and unleashes a full attack,
Sansa with readied mace runs forward and attacks the villain the celestial eagle has just attacked and is now flanking with said summoned creature,
As Corvina continues to waver slowly, yet fitfully in place, the chaos around her continues, even increasing in its intensity by some degree as villagers run for any kind of cover they can find. The hordes, vaguely human, show more bestial signs as they chase the hapless citizens of Solace down, often droping down to run on three limbs, all the while wildly flailing about with their jagged blades. Jerem audibly curses at the flight of Havak obviously denied the visceral satisfaction that his allies seem to be indulging in. He turns slowly and locks eyes with Amara, leaving no doubt to his next (intended) target.
Wallace Shale, having regained enough of his strength to stand, rushes to the aid of his fellow council members, who, save for Everett Snow, have managed to be lucky enough to have not been targeted.
Standing near Garrett he looks over the wound, and shakes his head worriedly, clear that the wound is deep. He does his best to stop it, tearing free his sleeve and pressing it over the wound.
"We can't move him, he's bleeding too much" is all that manages to make it out of his mouth.
From further away, a high pitched scream is evident and some catch a quick view of Celeste, with Dante in her lap, lying still. Her right arm, laying limp by her side has an immense gash just below the shoulder, but she doesn't seem to notice, only pausing in her wailing to tear the strange mask from her adopted son and lift his face up closer to hers and kiss his forehead.
For his part, it seems that Rook has rallied some of his avian brothers to give some cover to the villagers, giving them much needed seconds, strafing the hored with their claws
Surrounded by the flurry of talons from a celestial hawk and the swings of Sansa's weapon, one of the horde falls, torn from both sides.
Elarya's foe, squaring off with her takes a heavy hit to the abdomen, and as red blood seeps from the wound, it beats its weapon against its chest, a thugish request for more.
Elarya: 22 (acted)
Sansa: 21 (acted)
Garrett: 19
Amara: 6
Havak: 5
The panicked cried of townsfolk can be heard from nearly anywhere as the mad orchestra of violence increases to a crescendo. The deranged forms of the transparent skinned horde shuffle and drag, bounding this way and that, directionless save for the opportunistic and bloody pull of predator to prey. One or two manage to fight one of the depraved creatures off, pulling the cumbersome robes over the faces of their enemy, or help just enough by the distractions of the diving crows; but the fallen begin to far outweigh the survivors.
The enraged creature in front of Elarya grunts an almost howl, caught in its throat, and blood gurgles up from it's human like maw. Her blow now clearly struck the creature's lung, but it give only slight pause, eager to join the dance of the others. Kill or be killed, the savage ballet.
It raises weapon hight and darts forward, headless of the young warrior woman's own intensity, beckoning her to join it in death.
but it is clearly either to caught up in the moment to be accurate, or has lost too much blood, and she easily sidesteps the clumsy attempt.
Another hordesman, nearly naked, eyes the kneeling Garrett, standing guard over his father. It's heart is clearly visible, pumping wildly under the strangely transparent skin and it makes its way towards the group of three men. It rushes in, heedless of the young man's readied stance, and only swings out reflexively when Garrett's steady swing catches it in the neck and it falls.
Samel has found his footing now, and shakes himself to focus, unable to focus at the carnage all around him. Noting the fallen Everett, he rushes to retrieve a handful of herbs from the still body of Abram, tearing a pouch from the later's belt and tossing it to Walace.
He notes Jerem's intense stride; the pointed way as he lightly steps through the surrounding tumult of activity, focused on the young girl with the bow. The young girl who Samel had begun to think as his own daughter. It was a strange thought, and selfish he knew, but he rushed the newcomer, pulling his hunting knife and gritting his teeth, intent on protecting Amara from harm.
Before he can reach the dark priest, however, Jerem whips the summoned weapon out and strikes the older man clear in the face, halting his run and leaving him on his knees, clutching at a great wound across his eyes.
Jerem continues to stride, slowly, confidently towards the girl,now only several feet away, an evil grin playing off his sharp features.
Elarya: 22 (acted)
Sansa: 21 (acted)
Garrett: 19 (acted)
(acted)
(acted)
(acted)
Amara: 6
Havak: 5
Havak surfaces 30ft back from Jerem and chucks a firebomb at him before he can get close enough to catch Amara in the blast.
"Samel!" Amara screams as Jerem's wicked weapon brings Samel to his knees. She can see the malice in his eyes and the sadistic pleasure he is getting from the carnage. Determined not to be another one of his victims she again attempts to skewer him.
Luck is not with Amara her arrow flies past Jerem and he grins mockingly at her. She backs away from him with fear showing in her eyes as she tries to keep out of the reach of his attack.
A visible yet barely tangible wave of force centered on Corvina shoots out quickly as she drops to her knees, the air around her wavering with an effect that blurs sight for only moments.
The wave quickly moves across the scene, and each person it touches feels a slight chill and a minor start as if someone had barely touched the back of their neck with a pin. Even the horde pauses for precious seconds, unsure of the sensation. They quickly regains themselves, though and continue their pursuits, chasing and cutting down the panicked folk of Solace.
Corvina pulls her dirty and drenched sleeve to her mouth, wiping the blood from her face, although a good portion of it has been washed away by the rain. She staggers over towards Amara, nearly falling again as she reaches the young archer.
Clearing her throat roughly, she spits a deep wad of red into a puddle in the ground.
Her voice is low, overshadowed somewhat by the sounds of chaos all around.
I believe I can help end this. But there are several paths to the end, and I am no tracker. Run to your friends and ask them; shall it be red, or shall it be black? Is it blood that ends this all, or do we simply close our eyes?
Elarya: 22 (acted)
Sansa: 21 (acted)
Garrett: 19 (acted)
(acted)
(acted)
(acted)
Amara: 6 (acted)
Havak: 5 (acted)
4 (acted)
Elarya's fury burns too hot for her to notice the chill that swept over her. Her eyes were locked onto the thing that was begging for more.
"Then come get it."
Her feet bring her under the thing's guard as her axe rips into it's gut.
Round 4
The Celestial Eagle who partnered her disappeared back to from whence it came and Sansa felt the tug and then release.
Sansa moves to the next closest horde member and strikes at him with her light mace,
and she manages to strike true.
She is reminded of her odd recent dream and the strange suddeness in which the attackers appeared, as if from nowhere.
What the heck, it is worth a shot. She briefly closes her eyes and imagines the scene as it normally would be.
** spoiler omitted **
p.s. this only costs you a free action
The chaos of the horde seems to steady a bit, if that can be considered possible, and the bloodshed and screaming settles into kind of supernatural norm. It is almost as if it has been going on for decades, rather than seconds. The shadows seem to rise and fall around each figure with an alacrity unparalleled by the swiftly beating hearts of the panicked residence of a town called Solace. One would think that as they fell, the sounds of screams would drop, falling softly into the background, but instead the noise of horror only builds, rising with each frantic step of fear, and with each gallop of slathering animal rage.
Another two clear skinned monstrosities step towards the fallen Snow, Garrett standing guard over his still form, Wallace Shale finishing a hastily tied bandage to his fellow council member and friend. The creatures carefully step around their fallen "brother", and Garrett lashes out angrily as one steps in range, but his blow is bat aside with their own steel. They strike as one, one at the youth and one at the council member;
Wallace manages to bring his hammer up just in time to block the jagged blade, but Garrett is not so lucky.
Elarya nearly takes the head off one enemy and is wiping the thick blood from her eyes when another comes running in and screaming at her;
cutting a deep gash down her arm that quickly goes numb (in her rage?)
Another hordesman eyes the tasting blue morsel that just surfaced and attempts to skewer him;
but greatly miscalculates, and swings a good foot over his head.
Another creature, who moments ago has paused for a second to lapp at the river, eyes Sansa, and runs at her with a dagger in each hand (one of them looks somewhat familiar);
ripping deep through her tunic but barely drawing blood.
Elarya: 22 (acted)
Sansa: 21 (acted)
Garrett: 19 (acted)
(acted)
(acted)
(acted)
Amara: 6
Havak: 5
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Amara is steels herself as the chaos continues around her. The riddle Corvina put to her must wait as Jerem bears down on her and her friends seem in no position to ponder its meaning. If she means do we want to fight or try our luck in the next life, I choose her and now!
"Corvina! Aid us in saving the townsfolf and destroying the attackers!" Amara begs as she once more sets jerem in her sights.
Amara is almost weeping in frustration as her arrow once again misses the learing Jerem. She backs away from him further hoping to avoid his wicked blade.
ranged touch
DC 14 Ref halves
Jerem staggers as the vial hits him and explodes, washing him over with flame. The flames lick over his body and go blue for a moment and then dim slightly, as if some of the heat was taken out of the reaction itself. He turns and sneers at the goblin menacingly, his face contorting in an unnatural way, but continues to plod towards Amara and the witch girl Corvina even as the little flames continue to dance about him.
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Corvina, for her part, seems quite spent, as though she had been running for days. On her knees,she gives a last grunt and exhales deeply. The ground around her shudders, as does the Great Black Tree at the edge of the cliff. Then like a wave, the earth between them ripples, and deep black roots wend and wind just below the surface, jumping for moments like swimming fish, the back down into the soil. They move with such speed towards Corvina that anyone watching could have blinked twice, and it was done. The roots finally fully erupt from the ground around her, wrapping her up in a dark embrace, snaking up and around her body until she is lifted off the ground, and several feet into the air, until she is fully enclosed in the plant matter, in the ancient part of earth. Only her hands and a bit of her forearms are exposed, reaching out, although apparently not in fear, but in welcome. One hand is the deepest black, glistening like the darkest of clay, the other, the reddest of reds, as if pumped straight from the heart, it's color rich and vibrant.
Elarya: 22
Sansa: 21
Garrett: 19
Amara: 6
Havak: 5
Something pricked through the rage-fueled haze that Elarya was in the full embrace of. She looks around, ignoring the strangeness that was enveloping Corvina. Her eyes fall on Havak, then Amara, before fixing her ice-cold gaze on Jerem.
"You brought this."
Her steps begin slowly, first one, then a second, before suddenly erupting into a thunderous charge that was heedless of the foe that had struck her arm. Pain and fear were drowned by a bellow that was inhuman, that echoed with the full fury and power of a winter storm. Every scrap of anger, self-loathing, and impotent rage from the past year was put into her wild wing that was intended for the false priest's neck.
"Come coward! Face the fury of a Whitescale if you wish a fight!"
Gray eyes burn in a face contorted by fury as she stands defiantly against Jerem's advance.
Round 5
Amara had said that Corvina had enquired, Shall it be red, or shall it be black? Is it blood that ends this all, or do we simply close our eyes?
Who's blood does Corvina mean? Jerem's? So the choice is bloodshed or (our) death? She abhorred Corvina's riddling ways and attempted to decipher it swiftly.
Sansa rans her hand down her side where the horde-man's dagger tore through her tunic and nicked her skin but not deeply. There is a fire now in her gold and silver eyes.
Lifting her light mace she attacks the horde creature who attempted to slash her with his dagger:
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Round 5
Lifting her light mace she attacks the horde creature who attempted to slash her with his dagger:
[dice=Attack with light mace]1d20+2
[dice=Damage]1d6+2
As Elarya's focus shifts to Jerem, she breaks away with speed. Her former opponent, the hordesman, takes the opportunity to swing at her when her defenses are lowered.
But she manages to break away without harm.
When she reaches the "false priest" her blow strikes true, and even through the chill rain, she can feel a spray of his blood warm on her face. He staggers back, the blow very nearly landing on his neck, instead cutting deep across his chest. "Blast you! I will not be done in by a pinkskin CHILD!" he screaches, coughing blood. He points madly at the girl and the dark whip rises slowly in the air, coiling.
Elarya: 22 (acted)
Sansa: 21 (acted)
Garrett: 19
Amara: 6
Havak: 5
Elarya doesn't quail, she's too deep in her rage for that. She snarls, and something about her seems more than human. The air seems colder around her. Perhaps it is nothing more than some imagined effect of the young barbarian's anger.
The ice in her voice, though, is very real.
"Then come get me false-priest."