| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Imix throws up a hand to shield his eyes. "My nightvision!" he rumbled, adding "What is it?"
Left arm raised, her tattooed palm glowing softly, she moves past the doorway and into the front room.
Drazan, Isitel, go on upstairs. I will try and see what is happening here. Oios mutters as he concentrates.
A bead of sweat forms on the old man's brow as he closes his eyes and reaches out with his new senses. He had spent a lifetime understanding and intuiting the desires and motivations of people and so sensing their loyalty divinely felt like an extension of a lifetime of experience.
Magic though. Magic was different. Foreign. But the times demanded that Oios move beyond the mundane and so, with great effort he did.
Makaya. Mistress of Magic. Help your servant understand how your might is perverted here. he prays.
To understand what kind of magic is around.
Istiel makes her way up the stairs and to the second floor in an effort to find the source of the previous noise.
Drazan follows after Istiel leaving Oios alone to his ritual in the night twilight.
==============
Round 2
==============
Without breaking stride, you round the landing and head up another flight, the stairway curving along the wall. Atop the third floor, a lit torch burns in the brazier at the head of the stairs, leading down a hallway flanked by doors, both closed. In the middle of the hall, an attic door lies open, a ladder extending from it, folding down to the floor.
Lying on the floor at the base of the ladder, a single torch, its flame snuffed out.
As you stare into the darkness, you realize it is fading, until after just a couple of seconds, it is gone.
Drazan and Istiel are nowhere to be seen.
The Lady Bellet draws a dagger from under her shawl, and makes her way down the hallway opening a door with one hand as the tip of her dagger pings into light. "'Tuck?"
On the ground, the dead soldier's hand spasms and clutches at the wood floor. Her head lifts and eyes, the light long gone out of them, drift as if unattached in her sockets.
Istiel's heart is pumping from bounding up flights of stairs, and it feels good to move so much after sitting for three days on Monk's mound.
She yanks the torch from the brazier and stalks down the hallway, smoke trailing behind the warrior.
The snuffed torch (the sound of the earlier thump?) and attic ladder is all the evidence she needs to give chase, leaping onto the rungs and quickly ascending.
The Dead Walk! Oios shouts in warning snapping out of his trance Beware Up Stairs. There is Foul Magic at Work!
Wordlessly, she prays; and Ayida-Wedu's light pierces the gloom, shining down on her and invigorating her companions.
Oios stabs at the rising abomination over and over and over.
Staring at the risen soldier, Nat's eyes glow with light, with life; a haze of vital energy surrounds the shambling corpse, burning it with holiness.
Life talent: 1 spell point, Close range: 2d8+3 positive energy damage (Will save DC 16 for half)
Using 1 spell point to add 2 to the DC: DC 18.
Drazan thought to himself as he looked over his shoulder to recieve Oios's warning. 'Undead? A rare consequence of life in the mountains wherever corpses were left to rot instead of being consumed, but how would undead get here? How did the first flame get them here? Drazan followed up the stairs behind Istiel and readied to tap the divine energies of war and let his body transformed to bring the battle wherever and however it was needed.
1 act move
2 act ready spell to transform when he spots the enemy
Imix closes, Terbutje rising and falling in metronomic precision. A decade of training leading to an attack as scripted as that of a marionette.
==============
Downstairs
==============
Young alt-bodak = -5
Bellet last
Oios up!
============
Upstairs
============
Istiel bounds up the ladder, torch in hand, Drazan right behind her. Atop the ladder, in the attic, a gruesome scene confronts you. The ceiling is low, you both are forced to crouch as you enter lest you bump your heads. Like below, there is death here; three guards, including Antuk, lie within the attic, their forms lightly smoking, though not on fire.
Of more immediate concern, a face you haven't seen since the day the invasion began: Shadeholme's Chief Engineer, Matla Tolita, once aged and absent-minded, stands before you. Most of her hair has fallen from her head. As have her teeth. Her flesh is withered and taught, and gleams slightly in torchlight. Most notably, perhaps, is the hole in her stomach, from which dangles a coil of rotted intestines - the killing blow, perhaps.
A low howl reaches your ears from downstairs, while Matla Tolita balls her fists and clambers towards you.
Welp. This could be quick :). Drazan and Istiel are up. One move to get to the Engineer.
=============
Upstairs
=============
Acts
Readied Act: Shapechange Small Earth Elemental +1 bonus to attack rolls and to AC
Rage +2/+2 (free)
Swift Feet Use (free)
Charge +2/+0 (2 acts)
Power Attack -2/+6 (free)
Judgement +0/+1 (swift)
=============
Downstairs
=============
A loud and angry abyssal battlecry can be heard from upstairs.
=======================
Upstairs, Round 4
=======================
As the flickering torchlight dances across the gruesome scene, Istiel can only focus on the one still standing. There was no hope that the figure was the survivor- no, the monk only imagined a twisted horror for her to slay, to rip apart with a week of pent up frustration.
What reflected in her hazel eyes was the focus she sought.
An abomination, a true gibbering horror the likes of which she couldn't have begun to imagine was brought to light. She was going to pound it into rotten offal, sealing her last act of glory in Shadeholme and take revenge for the fallen guards.
The low howl that drifted up through the stairway was challenged by a powerful yell, the monk opening her mouth and bellowing defiance against the undead Malita that returned to its former bodies' home. She leaps up from the top of the ladder and nearly knocks her head on the ceiling, growling and keeping low. Istiel advances, and in a moment of clarity knows her usual style will not work in this enclosure.
She stays hunched over, using her torch hand to distract the undead while simultaneously unleashing a series of precise kicks aimed at breaking the thing's legs. Again and again her boots smash into its knees and shin with enough force to splinter wood.
----------------------------
----------------------------
----------------------------
----------------------------
=======================
Downstairs, Round 4
=======================
A guttural yell rebounds down the stairway to the foyer, as if challenging the howl from below. The sound is unmistakable to Oios and Imix; Istiel's battle cry reverberates from high above.
===========
Upstairs, Round 4
===========
-46
Turning, Matla lashes out at Drazan, her first swing flying high, though the second connects solidly with the Mountain Man's chest, leaving a rotted black mark where she struck.
Behind you, two of the bodies begin to twitch, and wobbling, Antuk and a guard rise once more to their feet, moaning as they stand...
. Round 5 is a go!
============
Downstairs, Round 4
============
Over and over Oios stabs at the creature trying to put the unnatural thing down before it causes anymore damage.
How many were in the house!? he shouts a question at Bennet.
------------------------
Round 5, upstairs
------------------------
Despite her repeated blows the undead engineer still stands, as sturdy as the structures she once designed.
The twitching and shuffling of the bodies behind them would fill most with dread, but instead a smile appears behind Istiel's mask, unknown to all by her. The glory grows.
Stopping her assault briefly the monk concentrates, forcing pressure into her temples and drawing Domhnall's strange powers from her mask. She feels it suddenly, her ears popping as time slows to a crawl around her.
The feeder streams of time extend from Drazen and herself, disappearing through the roof. She was momentarily shocked to see even the undead had their own streams coursing from them, undifferentiated from the living. All that can change the future are part of time?
Her philosophical musings are interrupted as she watches Drazen be struck in the chest in slow, leaving a horrific black mark.
A great yell escapes the warrior-monk in an effort to attract the abomination's attention, time crashing around her as she lunges forward with a series of powerful kicks.
-------------
--------------
---------------------
---------------------
---------------------
---------------------
---------------------
------------------------
Round 5, upstairs
------------------------
The small roiling humanoid dirt pile pauses to look down at the blackened dirt that crumbles away, only to be replaced with more tumbling earth, and then looks back up at the corpse letting an avalanche of abyssal swears pour forth in growing anger, !Cfrwy zmywy vyiv! !tmyh oyir lazmulq; laz yjyl tiwzrizual! Flames escape the cracks of Drazan's rock arms as he swings Bane, and the flames trail up onto the blade of his weapon.
Effects
Small Earth Elemental form: +1 bonus to attack rolls and to AC
Rage +2/+2
Power Attack -2/+6
Judgement +0/+1
Serendipity:
+1 luck bonus to attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws
Acts
Elemental strike +1d4 fire damage (swift)
Haste Act
================
Downstairs, Round 4
================
Turning, the Lady Bellet looks to Oios, fear playing across her face - of the creature, or for her manservant, it isn't clear. "I don't know! I said grab some guards and pack!"
From upstairs, the sounds of howling to mix with Istiel and Drazan's yells, multiple howls...
Growling in frustration Oios manages to drop out of his almost manic combat focus to remember how Nat had dealt the most damage to the unnatural abomination. He moves a hand off the but of his spear and reaches back to grasp Telowo's staff which is strapped to his back...
=================
Downstairs, Round 4
=================
Oios' hand goes to Telowo's staff, and with a flash, it glows with a bright, white, light...
Dropping the spear from his hand Oios steps up to close with the evil in front of him and brings Telowo's staff down on the creature's head.
Free action drop spear
Move action step to bodak
Combat Action 1: Attack with staff. No MW, No ABP, No focus. so +4 attack.
Combat Action 2. Another attack
For each negative level a creature has, it takes a cumulative –1 penalty on all ability checks, attack rolls, combat maneuver checks, Combat Maneuver Defense, saving throws, and skill checks. In addition, the creature reduces its current and total hit points by 5 for each negative level it possesses. The creature is also treated as one level lower for the purpose of level-dependent variables (such as spellcasting) for each negative level possessed. Spellcasters do not lose any prepared spells or slots as a result of negative levels. If a creature’s negative levels equal or exceed its total Hit Dice, it dies.
"Channel again!" he demanded of Nat.
5 ft step back and channel.
Channel is reduced to 2nd level, I think. That means 1d6. Spend a spell point to pump it 2d6. Spend a second spell point to empower it. Have I got that right?
If so
Will DC 15 (I believe) Channel resistance applies to halve it.
======================
Round 5 Upstairs
======================
Matla lets loose a low, spine tingling howl, and the others in the attic join in, sending shivers down your spine.
Then, as the two risen howlers stumble forwards flailing wildly, Matla lets loose a barrage of swings at you both, leaving festering black streaks across your flesh...
======================
Round 5 Downstairs
======================
Imix: - 1 level
Bodak: -51
Bellet: -7, -1 level
The Lady Bellet charges down the hallway drawing a dagger as she comes, and stabs at the creature's back, more a distraction then anything meant to harm. "I'm useless against such horrors!"
Lashing out wildly, the creature strikes Oios across the face, leaving a festering mark, and then again, at the Lady, a long black streak running down her arm, which immediately grays and withers...
From upstairs, howling, many voices, low and vibrating, in a manner that brings a crawling sensation up your backs...
-----------------
Round 5 Upstairs
-----------------
Istiel is caught off guard as the other undead lurch towards her, the ex-egineer slamming a fetid elbow diretly into her chest. The monk coughs as acrid vapor rises from her flesh and robes, before clenching her teeth against the pain.
Given the ineffectiveness of her previous attacks against Malta, Istiel turns and focuses her strikes on the surrounding minions. Her torch whirls and sputters in the darkness of the attic with her furious kicks into the former guards, keeping them off Drazen long enough for him to slay the one that spawned them.
-------------------
---------------------
--------------------
---------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------
Round 5 Upstairs
-----------------
Watching his attacks graze off and Istiel's strikes Drazan shifts to a more deliberate tactic, every blow needs to count. The things armor is strong. Precise strikes over reckless might.
Effects
Small Earth Elemental form: +1 bonus to attack rolls and to AC
Rage +2/+2
Judgement +0/+1
Serendipity:
+1 luck bonus to attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws
-----------------
Round 5 Downstairs
-----------------
Lady, your bravery gives you credit Oios says with gritted teeth as the staff blazes with a pure white light in his grasp and his wound burns with unnatural energy. But save yourself, this thing fears the sun and the will of Damballah and little else
He calls out upstairs Isitel! Drazan! Lead your foes to us! They resist much, including fire. But they fear the holy light of true faith!
So saying he slams his staff into the bodak over and over and over.
Full Attacks
1
2
3
1 SP for power
1 SP for mass enhancement
1 SP for arcane empowerment
CL = 3+1-1+2=5
+3 (greater enhancement) bonus to 4 (mass enhancement) items
Imix - still out of reach of the abomination before him - calls upon Power. Light shines from his shield. The walls around crack. The wood creaks. The stone shifts. A nearby vase shimmers, falls, and bounces on the ground. Oios' armour, Bellet's clothes, and Imix's armour and shield shimmer and glint like diamond.
==================
Upstairs, Round 6
==================
Istiel buffets Antuk, but still the creature stands, unleashing its own attacks at the monk, unwieldy and erratic, but leaving festering marks across the monk's skin.
The other undead guard attacks Drazan also spreading its blight across the Mountain Man - in three quick swipes, Drazan's chest is criss-crossed with black streaks.
A low moaning joins the other two, as another guard rises to his feet...
===============
Downstairs, Round 6
===============
Breathing heavily, and wearing the largest frown you've ever seen, the Lady Bellet pulls a chunk of skin from her hair.
Upstairs, an audible thump as a body hits the floor, and a constant, low moaning...
I hear more upstairs. We must put them down and the power of faith is the most effective weapon we have. Lady, the safest place is with us at the nonce. Oios orders Stay with us and after we have slain the abominations we will see what we can do to heal you! I will go first, then Imix, then the Lady and Nat at the rear! Fast!
Oios moves upstairs.
=================
Upstairs, Round 6
=================
Intense thuffling and a loud THUMP combine with yells of triumph and pain, echoing down the staircase to those on the ground floor. The battle rages on; Oios seems to go unheard.
Istiel yells with pain as undead Antuk's heavy arm slams her in the head, the monk stumbling and nearly dropping her torch. Reeling, she watches as two of Malta's heads roll parallel across the floor. Fortunately her vision quickly clears and the images combine into one. They can be destroyed
Whipping herself back upright, the bloodied and blackened warrior focuses her own life energy into a series of accurate attacks. Kicks and strategic deflections attempt to snap the joints of the undead guards into uselessness.
--------------------
--------------------
--------------------
--------------------
--------------------
=================
Upstairs, Round 6
=================
Effects
Small Earth Elemental form: +1 bonus to attack rolls and to AC
Rage +2/+2
Judgement +0/+1
Serendipity:
+1 luck bonus to attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws
"This is an infection. Better to burn this place to the ground before they spread." Realising he is talking to Oios' back he bites back a curse and follows the older man upstairs, calling out as he moves.
"Nat. Bellet. Ensure a perimeter is set up outside. If one of these things gets to the Hospice, it'll convert everyone."
============
Round 7
============
Lying on the floor at the base of the ladder, a single torch, its flame snuffed out.
Above, in the attic crawlspace; flickering torchlight and the sounds of fighting: Istiel's grunts and shouts, the sound of a body hitting the floor...
Another guard risen to her feet, charges Drazan, landing two solid punches to the Mountain Man's chest.
Stumbling from the darkness, a third guard, though he'll not get an attack this round...