The boy, sensing the magical nature of Red's laughter was compelling his friends to flee, steps out where he can see his friends and imagines their courage returning.
Maintaining his hold on the skeletal construct, the monster roars, pulling at the thing with all his strength. Metallic plinks can be heard as the weaker joints and fittings that make it up begin to weaken and snap.
The boy's magic washes over Karthan, but the half-orc just keeps running. He's not sure why that magic didn't work, but the boy knows there's no point in trying it again.
Supernatural Abilities (Su): Supernatural abilities are magical but not spell-like. Supernatural abilities are not subject to spell resistance and do not function in areas where magic is suppressed or negated (such as an antimagic field). A supernatural ability's effect cannot be dispelled and is not subject to counterspells. See Table: Special Ability Types for a summary of the types of special abilities.
Fear Cackle (Su)
A red jester can unleash a fear-inducing cackle as a free action. All creatures within 60 feet that hear it must make a successful DC 22 Will save or become panicked for 1d4 rounds. Panicked creatures suffer a -2 morale penalty on saves and flee (if possible). A panicked creature has a 50% chance to drop what it's holding. If cornered or unable to flee, a panicked creature cowers. This is a sonic, mind-affecting fear effect. Whether or not the save is successful, an affected creature is immune to that red jester's fear cackle for one day. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Per your original post, Karthan should only be panicked for one round...
I do aim to do something clever when I'm able to.
Karthan stops. Scowls. Pulls out a bottle of Alchemical Grease as a power component.
He still has the Ventriloquism up...so his verbal components happen about 110' away from the fight. His right hand extends forward.
Perception
"Red, I know you've always appreciated slapstick."
Grease Spell - Reflex Save 19. No Spell Resistance.
Targeted on the deck of cards in Red's hand.
I am burning a Hero Point to subtract 4 from Red's Reflex save roll.
@Jorzan:
Red's eyes get big as Gray approaches him, his palms swirling with powerful magic. As that magic fizzles not even an inch from the undead old jester's chest, he lets out a wheezing laugh and turns to Cassandra. "AHAHAHAHAA! Okay...okay...ehehheheeee! Okay, little girl. I'll play with you next. First, I have to deal with my metal friend here." He turns to face Gray, but Karthan interrupts him with his spell. Suddenly, the deck of cards slips out of Red's hand, sending cards scattering all over the area just to his left and pitching him into a screaming fit of laughter. "Oh-ho-ho-hooooo! Karthan that's a GOOD one! You've learned! Wheeeeee! It's 52 pickup, my favorite game! Hahahahaaa!"
Red makes a 'pshaw' gesture at his fallen deck and turns to face Gray. "Watch this one, tinman! It's magic so you should like it! I'm going to pull a stick to beat you with outta my butt! HAAAAH!" He then reaches around into the disgusting and stained folds of his faded pantaloons and, sure enough, seems to draw a mean-looking mace from between his legs. "Wheeeeeyaaaahhh!" He gives a fierce cry and swings the weapon, but it merely glances off Gray's divinely-enhanced armor, leaving barely a smudge. "Oooh that burns me up, that does! I need a better tin beater!"
Meanwhile the skeletal constructs of Ormir continue their battering of the rest of the party; one turns to smash the incorporeal Zan and nearly falls over when its fists pass harmlessly through the shadow. Realizing it can't hurt that enemy, it turns to again face Kelne, who is already getting hammered by a different skeleton. Cassandra cowers close by, not wanting to get in the way but also not wanting to come to close to the gruesome and horrid Red. She gasps as the powerfull northman fights to keep his stance against the onslaught of the lead-covered construct, the force of its blows nearly pushing him back.
On the other end of the Promenade, the most heavily-damaged of the skeletons finally breaks free of the Monster's lethal grip, but it's clearly on its last legs, whatever magics that animate it are coming apart. The final skeleton just keeps up its relentless assault on the Monster, slamming his great furry back again and again with its lethal fists.
Alright, so standing up to the skeletons and waiting for help wasn't going to work. Both of them were about to come after him in earnest, and he wasn't going to be able to stand up to them forever. On the other hand, Red, now engaged by Gray, was considerably more vulnerable. If they could bring down the jester, they'd be free to concentrate their efforts against the constructs. Karthan looked to be back in the fight as well, which could only help them.
"Stick close, Cassandra, we're going to help Gray," he said, nudging her into motion before making his own move, making sure that he blocked any blows headed in their direction. He circled quickly around behind Red, intent on taking him down quickly. If he had to fight both the jester and the skeletons at once, he was really going to be in trouble.
Kelne descended upon the distracted jester, anger at both the old man and everything in this cursed castle of Ormir's driving his blade as he set about hacking him to pieces.
Karthan takes a 5' step to G8, drawing out the Rod of Extend spell;
"Red, I think you need to lighten up a little. Your humor's gone somewhat dark...I mean, really, bathroom humor? Where's your spark?"
Ranged Touch attack on Red.
And a writhing jet of sticky ectoplasm streams from his hand, splashing over the jester, and igniting in a sheer green flame.
Casting Extended Flaming Acid Arrow.
Fire damage to Red, round 1 of 6.
No save, no spell resistance. Here's to hoping he doesn't have fire resistance...
@Jorzan:
The two skeletons don't let Kelne go without a fight, each one landing a vicious punch as he slides up behind Red and rips through him with his magicked blade. There is a horrid moment where the undead thing looks at Kelne, then something changes in the eyes...they are almost human. Red gurgles two last words; "thankkk...youuuu..." and falls to the ground dead, his unlife ended.
Bizarrely, you all start to hear something over the yells of pain and grunts of effort; there is music. Music is beginning to fill the air. It is unlike anything any of you have heard, alien and familiar all at the same time, somehow, filling with you glorious and uplifting emotions. There is a faint glow up around the ceiling, and arcane characters are starting to appear, turning and rotating and whirling in the air, starting to form a circle.
hp:63/70
channels 8/10
AC 28 (anyone 5ft from me with a shield gains a +2 deflection bonus about 3mins left)
spells used: 4th and 3rd level domain spell.
Gray moves 5ft north to S-8.
"Pharasma. Heal."
Gray holds his shield tightly as he looks up to the ceiling. He touches Kelne's shoulder with Holy energy flowing from his hand as he heals the beaten fighter.
this 9 is from Healer's Blessing-increasing the amount of damage healed by half (+50%)
Kelne definitely hadn't come through the fight unscathed, and in fact looked almost ready to drop once he'd accomplished his immediate goal. Gray's healing was definitely appreciated, and he now looked prepared at least, if not eager, for another round with the skeletons.
On the one hand, the music and lights display up at the ceiling wasn't anything he'd associate with Ormir. On the other, it clearly wasn't any of their doing. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it, save that if it did nothing more, it would wait until they'd dealt with the remaining constructs.
"Thank you, Gray," he said, turning his gaze to assess the situation. It still didn't look all that good to him, but by damn, they were going to win this. "We need to help the big guy. He's been taking a lot of punishment," he went on decisively. They ought to be able to get around the skeletons, though whether they'd be in time, given the other pair's relentless assault on the monster, was an open question.
Hearing Kelne's pronouncement on Monster's condition, Zan moves over to try and at least help distract one of the skeletons from pounding him.
Knowing it will have no effect, it still reaches out to touch the construct
Do I feel any bars or walls?
You begin to circumnavigate this...room?...that you are in, intending to find out how big it is. As you shuffle along the wall, you give a start when your foot bumps into something that feels fleshy, like human skin.
As Zan floats eerily over by the Monster, arcane characters and strange music course through the air above, and skeletons rush at you, a heavy rolling sound starts up in the east ballroom, as if someone has set loose a bunch of cannonballs and rolled them all at you.
Suddenly the music stops and there is a tremendous shift in the air, and you have company. 40' up in the air, almost right over Kelne's head, is a troop of soldiers of some sort, each one astride some fantastic mount. All are clad in the same dark blue livery, with a symbol clearly emblazoned on the front; a longsword with angel's wings. They carry a large banner of the same design.
In back of the diamond-formation of cavalry is a pair of strange, elf-like creatures, both covered in sinsiter-looking tattoos and carrying powerfully magicked weapons. In front of them is a Dragonrider astride a silver dragon, with a wood elf riding behind him. Off to his left is a sylph astride a majestic celestial pegasus lord, an angel accompanying her in the form of a helm. In the center is a young boy riding a cloud dragon, a creature very rarely seen in the Land. At the head of the formation is a stern and focused soldier wearing insignia of some sort, and he is riding a hippogriff. All of the mounts are armored with magic barding.
The skeletons all look up at these newcomers and, realizing instantly they can't do anything about them, carry on with their current tactics.
Karthan had just taken out a metamagic rod when Kelne dropped Red in a crumple of bloody rags...and then the room got a lot more full. How those winged mounts can fly in that confined a space...well...
There's problems abounding and abundant here. The first is that the damnable constructs are immune to any direct harm he can do by might of magic. He casts Gravity Bow from the Glove of Amun-Thul (Move action) and summons a conjuration of force (his voice again sent off somewhere else - anyone looking at him can see the gestures and his lips moving, but no sound comes out).
The Unseen Servant is near Karthan's crossbow, which it will pick up (Move action) and carry towards Karthan (15' move action). Hopefully, the skeletons will simply ignore it.
For those with an appreciation for crossbows, Karthan's bow is made of darkwood with very solid construction, and is loaded with a bolt that's more than two feet long...and the crossbow's metal cross-span is more than four feet wide, with an impressive windlass for reloading it. It's more a portable manballista than a crossbow.
Then Karthan notices the Sylph. He cocks an eyebrow eloquently at her.
Karthan is bigger and broader shouldered than you remember him being; it's been a few years. And even at 6'2 and 240 lbs, that crossbow is...big...for the half-orc.
Through the Message cantrip, "I recognize the Sylph; the banners look like Iomedaeans."
Kelne's response to the new arrivals was a burst of incredulous laughter, "Ormir's ticking all sorts of people off today, isn't he?" he asked, tossing a quick salute to the new arrivals with his blade before leveling it at the skeletons, "The skeleton constructs are the enemy here," he called, "Everyone else is on our side." No doubt the new group had their own motives for being here, but he was chalking their arrival at this particular place and time up to divine providence.
"Thank you, Callistria," he murmured, still bubbling with amusement. This was by no means the kind of response to his prayers he'd expected, but it was oh so much better. If he couldn't achieve his revenge on Ormir now, he'd have only himself to blame. As it should be.
Once they'd dealt with the constructs and rescued Kevin, they could stir up some genuine mayhem. The only fly in the ointment was that they still had no idea where Red had sent Justahl. Nowhere good, he was sure.
[ooc ][b ]Round 3, Init 29, Altitude 40'[/b] AC 23, HP 67/67 Buffs:
Arcane Pool: 10/10 Spells: shield, shocking grasp(4), warding weapon, bladed dash, mirror image, bears endurance, ablative barrier, vampiric touch (2) [/ooc]
Maiathreen glanced around the room identifying some of the occupants by their descriptions, others he had no idea why they were there. Though he did know one thing if he didn't get to the aid of that creature that was fighting those skeletons then it wouldn't be long till it fell. "Livain I'm going to go and help that creature if this keeps up he is dead give me dome cover fire ok my love." Maiathreen says to his wife as he drops down towards the battle when he is almost half way to the skeletons he suddenly disappears in a blur only to come back into focus
Mai rockets down to the aid of The Monster, taking a tiny chunk out of the metalshod skeleton in front of him, who now whirls around to face him.
Damian launches out of the portal and tries to make a quick assessment of the situation. The four massive skeletons obviously pose the largest tactical problem for them. The two metal skeletons that are fighting the beast are most likely the most dangerous for the long-term skirmish, but the others are closer to the more vulnerable members of the other party. As Maiathreen lands near the summoned monster, Damian starts shouting out orders. "Livain, shoot the injured skeleton! Brook, get Cassandra up in the air! Min, let's get between those skeletons and the others!"
Min was still reeling from the abrupt exit from the ley line. As a thousand thoughts toe through his mind, he felt dizzy with the unfathomable power the Dragonsingers wield. I have to ask them how they discovered such power.... It was then that he started to take in the seen and Captain Damian's words broke through the chaos of his thoughts and lurching feeling that twisted his stomach. The best he could offer was a brief nod as he looked where Damian was looking.
Lin gave a direct low growl at the foul constructs, threatening a child was enough to sway her to join the battle and these things would fall beneath her claws shortly thereafter. With her growl still rumbling through her chest she responded to Damian's command in her riders stead. "With pleasure Captain Damian, lets crush these abominations!"
Pausing at the touch of flesh, Sir Justahl slowly crouches down and feels around.
Terror still coursing through his viens, Jorzons continues to flee for all he is worth, missing all the action in the next rooom and completely unheeding the strange new sounds and voices he hears
@Jorzan:
As Maiathreen rushes to the aid of the monster Livain lines up the injured skeleton and unleashed a blistering line of arrows. Unfortunately due to the disorientation of teleportation most of the arrows miss but she manages to get her aim back the last of the arrows hitting. Lodging itself into the skeletons right eye socket.
Damage:
Livain's last arrow hammers into the damaged skeleton's skull, blowing through the eyesocket and denting out part of the skull. The thing still stands, but is clearly not much longer for this world.
Belsarious tries to grasp the energies and awarness of the ley lines, having been interested in the power meridians for a long time.
Belsarious ignores the raging battle intent upon uncovering the secret knowledges of the protective force and the travel of the lines themselves......
Perception
Knowledge planes
knowledge arcane
Belsarious suspects other means than the dragon singers path would allow the same to be done by another.....
"This foul thing must fall!" With a battle cry, Damian zooms forward on Keythan's back. The Skyknight banner flutters as the Captain lowers his lance to bring to bear upon the towering skeleton. He slams into it with a thunderous crash, a glowing light emerging from the tip to blast open a hole in its chest. Keythan pulls out of the dive, nearly on the ground, as the skeleton statue teeters behind him. Damian steers his mount around with his legs, pointing towards the other skeleton. "Min, that one!"
The skeleton that Captain Lamorak hit teeters, then explodes in a shower of bones and cold lead, falling to the ground in a heap, utterly demolished. Meanwhile, his squire Brook yelps out a clipped "Yes sir!" and nudges his cloud dragon companion, Sarish, down to pick up Cassandra. The two land right behind Kelne. With big eyes, the little seer climbs on Sarish's back. "Snowy I'm gonna fly again! Just like back in the rainy city!" she calls to her owl.
@Sir Justahl: Feeling gently around, you start to get a sense of a young human boy, clad in a leather vest and short-legged pants, both of crude design and manufacture. Horribly, you also feel thick leather stitching at various parts on the boy's skin, as if it is holding him together somehow, stitching up terrible wounds. You realize, eventually, he is not breathing.
You flip the body over to check for a pulse and see a dim green glow, a horrid, sickly color. Unbuttoning the top couple buttons on the boy's vest reveals a pair of test tubes conjoined at top and bottom by some type of metal fittings, and then attached directly to the boy's sternum by a series of wicked-looking needles. In each vial is a small quantity of a viscous green liquid, indeed each tube is maybe only 1/5th full. The glow from this apparatus is quite soft and barely illuminates the underside of his face.
He bears a distinct resemblance to Cassandra.
Shockingly, his eyelids flutter open. His eyes no longer have pupils and irises like normal human eyes, instead glowing a solid terrifying green, just like the liquid in the vials on his chest. He can apparently see, though, as he looks you directly in the face and speaks, his voice barely more than a creaky whisper.
"...w...who are you?"
@Jorzan: You make it all the way through the west ballroom and a little ways down the stairs when the fear suddenly leaves your mind, like clouds clearing over the plains, your mind opens up, the darkness and horrid reds and blacks lifting.
Practically skidding to a stop on a landing halfway down the first flight of stairs in the southwest corner of the ballroom, you are about to turn to run back and assist your companions when you hear the heavy tread of large, feet walking up the stairs accompanied by some smaller ones, and an ominously large, low, deep voice speaks, answered by heavily-accented, gruff voices you've come to recognize as belonging to Baron Ormir's troops; either guards or possibly wolfguards. It's impossible to tell which just from their voice.
"STOP. WHAT IS THAT."
"I heard it, too. Quick, light steps. A rogue maybe. Maybe they sent a scout."
"SCOUT IS A FOOL IF HE CAME HERE ALONE."
"Well he's heard us, anyway. Nothing for it but to keep going. What do you smell?"
*SNIFFFFFF...SSSNNNNIFFFFFFF* "I SMELL SHADOW. I SMELL MANFLESH. I SMELL THE WILD AND THE STINK OF DWARVES."
"Right. Definitely one of them. Let's go."
The voices stop, then, and all you hear are the plodding, heavy steps of whatever the large-voiced creature is. You no longer hear any human-sized steps.