Well, Jorzan's actions had certainly given them a nicely concentrated target, Kelne reflected, but the thralls weren't falling for it, and any moment one of them would turn their head and spot the enemies in their midst.
No, further delay would net them little more, and besides, Karthan would begin hurling fiery death in a moment anyway. Kelne swung the hammer over his head and brought it smashing down again and again upon the seal. Ormir would surely know his doom was upon him, but there would be precious little he could do about it.
"Also I know I have no right to but I wanted to know if you have any magic items you could spare that could aid me in assisting my friends, we've used up a lot of our fighting power in the last battle with the baron's men." He asks Van-Harra with a bow.
@ the dragons offered invitation
"Though tha world be collapsin in upon itself, let now one say I ever turned down an invitation of trust an hospitality from a dragon!"
With a grateful smile Gray shakes his head to Van-Haera.
"Sorry... I must stay here and watch the tapestries. Thank you for the offer. Tho there is something I do want to ask you. Do you know what that obelisk....tower perhaps of souls...in the sky is?"
Looking back up to the sky with a soft sigh. Wanting to investigate himself but does not want to leave the tapestries with noone he can truly trust.
Looking to Mai gray points to the tapestry the sky knights entered.
"they entered there."
When Kelne leads off with strikes to the seal, Sir Justahl drinks the potion of Enlarge Person and grows twelve feet tall! [Large]
Then he takes a step forward while drawing his siver holy warhammer.
AC 27-- TouchAC 10-- Flat-FootedAC 26 ... CMD: 25
CURRENT HP 90 (100%)
CONDITION: Nominal, 2 points Con damage, 1 points Str damage
...Spells...
Enlarge Person (10 rounds)-- +2 ST, -2 DX, -1 to hit, -1 AC, large wpn damage.
Haste (16 rounds)-- extra full round attk, +1 to hit, +1 AC and Ref saves, +30ft movement.
Hide from undead (99 rounds)
@Jorzan, @Justahl, @Karthan, @Kelne:
Once! Twice! Thrice! Kelne's magicked hammer comes crashing down on Baron Ormir's vault lid, shattering it into dozens of pieces. The rest of you barely leap free in time, while Zan simply floats up a couple inches and out of harm's way. In the vault is a wooden casket, ancient and a little warped and completely unadorned. The inch-thick wood is now all that stands between Kelne and revenge.
The thralls immediately spin and lurch and rush towards you, weapons drawn and looking for blood, but the spawn still have no idea where any of you are and mill around in confusion, not sure what the thralls are doing and not sure what to do with themselves now that they realize there is no one in the hall.
None of the thralls are able to so much as nick any of you except Karthan, who is not used to close-quarters combat, and Justahl, against whom a thrall manages to land a lucky hit. The big, charismatic half-orc bellows out a series of magic commands and launches a massive fireball out the east door, nearly incinerating every single thrall and spawn out there. All of them remain alive, but many are very close to crumbling to bits and all are very badly hurt.
DC18 Cast Defensively check:
Cast Fireball at U-7, 40' radius:
Bad guys' reflex saves:
Thralls: - fail
Spawn: - fail[/ooc]
Spawn: 20
Kelne: 16
Justahl: 13
Thralls: 12
Karthan: 11
Jorzan: 9
Map is here.
Thrall stats:
AC18 HP37
Saves: F/R/W 6/4/2
CMD: 20
Spawn stats:
AC17 HP32
Saves: F/R/W 4/3/7
CMD: 16
@Belsarious, @Maiathreen: Van Haera smiles indulgently at Maiathreen. "This is a library, luv, not an armory. You should inquire at the barracks; tell them you are with the Skyknights and you need assistance, and see what aid that brings you. Nothing I have in the library could help you with fighting quickly enough to be of immediate use. You need strength of arms, and that can be mustered quickly."
To Belsarious she says "Master elf, why did you fly away, just now, what did you see?" The dragon cranes her neck over and peers through the rain. She is looking right at the Tower of Souls but appears not to see it.
@Gray: Small pieces of the strange, shadowy Tower appear to break off and begin floating down towards you. Slowly, they grow wings. Vicious red eyes appear in the dark.
AoO
Sir Justahl only gets one AoO against L-8.
WARHAMMER +2, Silver, Axiomatic: HIT! for crush damage.
As the thralls seek to surround him, the rogue's amazing combat agility allows him to last out at each of them in turn
AoO in order vs K6,L6,L7,L8
But only one of his strike manages to hit
Damage+sneak vs L6:
As the battle is fully joined, first Zan floats to K5, flanking one of his master's enemies, and reaches out with it's touch of the grave, absorbing just a small amount of his prey's life force this time.
Touch attack vs K6:
Haste Touch attack vs K6:
Dex Damage:
Meanwhile Jorzan, grinning murderously as the battle lust takes him over, swiftly applies a bit of poison to his blade before lashing out with it at the same foe Zan attacks
Attack vs K6 AC17?:
Damage:
K6 Fort save vs Blue Whinnis DC14:
The rogue's first attack hits and the poison on the blade causes the guard to immediately crash to the floor in slumbering unconsciousness, allowing Jorzan to turn his next attack onto the next foe. Yet this guard manages to jerk back just in time from the blade slashing mere inches from his nose.
Hasted Attack vs L6 AC18:
Damage:
"Tis a tower of souls, or more correctly an solid stone pillar with a multitude of souls trapped within, I flew around it, and tried to call out to those within. You see it not!"
"Can you join your mind with mine an see through mine eyes, I heard dragons had such abilities. Look through mine eyes and trace it's fearful symetry!"
"Grey sees it as well, tis what makes me certain I am not yet madd!"
@Belsarious, @Maiathreen: Van Haera smiles indulgently at Maiathreen. "This is a library, luv, not an armory. You should inquire at the barracks; tell them you are with the Skyknights and you need assistance, and see what aid that brings you. Nothing I have in the library could help you with fighting quickly enough to be of immediate use. You need strength of arms, and that can be mustered quickly."
To Belsarious she says "Master elf, why did you fly away, just now, what did you see?" The dragon cranes her neck over and peers through the rain. She is looking right at the Tower of Souls but appears not to see it.
"Understood.. Thank you. " Maiathreen says as he heads towards the barracks in the quickest way possible flight. When he lands he looks for an officer, and makes his request. "My name is Maiathreen Gyssearnith, I'm a member of the the Silver Flame 3rd Cavalry, Air Division, the Skyknights under Captain Damian. They've gone on ahead to try and rescue children from what are possibly demonic gaolers, I humbly request supplies and any assistance you may be able to offer as soon as possible. I was personally sent her by Van Haera, we expended much of our own strength helping on of your own. A Sir Justhal a paladin I believe." Maiathreen asks with a surprising amount of diplomacy expecially from the normally abrasive aellar.
"Canst thou share in mah vision dragon?"
In Pechora: Now that they have been hurt by him, the spawn of Ormir are able to see Karthan, and they all roar and screech with rage, brackish spittle flying from their disgusting maws and their beady eyes gleaming with pure hate. They flood back into the room, even the badly burned ones, and rush up to take positions behind the thralls.
@Mai: You walk into the barracks and make your request, astonished at your own silver tongue. This barracks is distressingly empty, though you hear raucous laughter and the slamming of dominos on a table from a separate room a little ways away.
The man with whom you are speaking, you realize halfway through your spiel, is not a paladin of Izmir at all -- his skin is a deep, rich black and his eyes are like polished onyx. The shoulder plates of his armor have giant spikes on them and his breastplate is adorned with a familiar skull-and-crossed-swords standard.
It is the standard of Warbane.
The city-state of Warbane is so named because its denizens are, literally, the bane of war. Their race is a strange splinter of humanity; men and women that always grow huge and strong, with a lust for battle unmatched by any other race in the land. Most are mercenaries of some type or other.
This warrior slowly grins as you describe your plight. "Demons, eh? Well, all the paladins are out on distress calls, some kind of badness is loose in the city tonight, so since we're on the payroll, I guess we'll just have to answer the call!" He stands, then, and his height and breadth alike are monstrous. He is well over seven feet tall and his thick muscles are hard cords under his mail. He turns and yells toward the other room "LOOK ALIVE, FOOLS! WE'VE GOT A MISSION!" There is a huge racket, and a dozen more men and women, all black-skinned and black-eyed and heavily armored, rush out into the main room. Each of them has a claymore or greatsword on their back, and each sword is clearly magicked.
The leader looks down at you and smiles, his grin brilliant against his dark skin. "My name, by the way, is Mfuse , master aellar. Lead on!"
@Belsarious: Van-Haera shakes her head. "I am afraid I do not have any telepathic magics available to me at this time. I wonder why the two of you can see this but not any others? Distressing. Well, come into the library with me, perhaps we can learn something there..."
Maiathreen nods at the newcomers and heads back toward the quad. "They entered through this tapestry it is a cl erly disguised portal to another area. Careful I was told the air and ground are almost unbearably hot." " Maiathreen says just before entering the tapestry.
Kelne wasn't precisely ignoring the thralls, but he was devoting but a small part of his attention to fending them off. Still, he was paying enough attention to the flow of the battle to make a suggestion, "Justahl, if you could finish the spawn with some positive energy?" They had obligingly clustered around far too close to the paladin, after all. That ought to deal with the already injured spawn, and hurt the rest.
For his own part, he smashed in the coffin's lid with his hammer, before reaching into his coat pocket for a wooden stake.
"Aye tha library may hold answers."
AC 29-- TouchAC 12-- Flat-FootedAC 28 ... CMD: 25
CURRENT HP 90 (100%)
CONDITION: Nominal
...SPELLS...
Enlarge Person (10 rounds)-- +2 ST, -2 DX, -1 to hit, -1 AC, large wpn damage.
Haste (16 rounds)-- extra full round attk, +1 to hit, +1 AC and Ref saves, +30ft movement.
Protection from Evil (79 rounds)-- +2 Deflection bonus to AC, +2 resistance bonus to Saves
Hide from Undead (99 rounds)
Prepared to bring the hammer down, Sir Justahl was startled at Kelne's idea. Realizing he was right, he grasped his holy symbol and raised it high.
"In the Name of The Inheritor! Behold the LIGHT!" A silvery light flashes forth, washing over the crowd around them.
Channels Positive Energy to harm Undead: damage in 30 ft radius. Undead Will save DC18 for half.
In Pechora: Silver flame arcs out from Sir Justahl, striking down over half of the spawn of Ormir, and hurting all the rest, so tightly bundled together are they. As they crumble to dust, some of the spawn let out strange sighs of relief.
While a few thralls have been hurt or eliminated, there are still plenty around to press the attack. Unfortunately, their slower reflexes and fogged minds are no match for the four of you, all fresh from battle as you are. Only Kelne, momentarily distracted by the activity of preparing a stake to end Ormir's life, takes a single sword stroke in the back of the leg.
Spawn: 20
Kelne: 16
Justahl: 13
Thralls: 12
Karthan: 11
Jorzan: 9
Thrall stats:
AC18 HP37
Saves: F/R/W 6/4/2
CMD: 20
Spawn stats:
AC17 HP32
Saves: F/R/W 4/3/7
CMD: 16
In the coffin is a half-formed, not-yet-awake Ormir. Even as you watch, his hideous flesh and muscle are stitching themselves together. One eye is under a closed eyelid, the other stares sightlessly straight ahead. All this, you more-or-less expected.
However, on his chest is a medallion that looks impossibly old, and is written in an archaic tongue you don't understand. It is round, and bears more than a casual resemblance to the seal of Ormiria. In its center is a glowing purple stone, whose light does not pulse, but is steady; a constant dull gleam.
To the left and right of Ormir's head are a pair of identical glass phylacteries, each one bearing a crest you don't immediately recognize; a grinning full moon and crossed rapiers. The phylactery to the right of Ormir's head has a whitish-green glow to it, while the one on his left has a whitish-blue glow. All three items -- the amulet, and each of the phylacteries -- are connected by sinister-looking streams of red energy. Some kind of flow is clearly happening here, as you can see coruscating streams and waves moving back and forth.
The amulet is directly over Ormir's heart, right in your way. Even now, just standing there, you feel the thing...repelling you.
@Gray: As you maintain your vigil by the tapestry, the two strange, shadowy, winged things fly up to you and land. They speak in voices that hiss and burble and slide, words unkind and unseemly; "Ssssssservant of the llllllady, we know of yyyyyyyyour duty and dealingsssssssss, we bring you a gift, one which will hhhhhhhhhelp you free the sssssssoulsssssss in our tower once they have sssssssserved their purpose. Do you wisssssssh to accept our gift?"
@Belsarious: In the library, Van-Haera has you look through a series of books with her, trying to find any descriptions or drawings of the tower you're seeing. Her knowledge of the books in the stacks is tremendous, and she is quickly able to pull a number of likely references.
The medallion and phylacteries looked sinister enough to be worthy of destruction, but Kelne had a very clear set of priorities here - destroy Ormir first, then deal with his little toys and underlings.
Reaching down into the coffin, he moved to twitch aside the medallion with his stake, only to find himself unable to complete the motion. The cursed thing was damnably effective at holding him at bay, but it wouldn't, indeed couldn't, keep him back forever. Frustration nearly saw him smash the phylacteries instead, but that just might be the desired outcome.
Snarling in frustration, Kelne whirled to strike down the nearer thrall, warhammer crunching into his side, then taking him in the skull and seeing him crumple to the floor on the follow-up.
"Bastard's still got protection," he said angrily, "Some kind of medallion keeping me from getting at his heart."
Knowledge (arcana)
Sense motive
Belsarious is suddenly distracted from his search for knowledge when he notices a page may have been tampered with.
"How now!"
"What do you make of this?"
Karthan glances around the room as the thrawlls and spawn counter attack.
He drops a fireball in the middle of the room using his rod of extends engulfing the thralls and spawn once again in a raging inferno.
@Gray: As you maintain your vigil by the tapestry, the two strange, shadowy, winged things fly up to you and land. They speak in voices that hiss and burble and slide, words unkind and unseemly; "Ssssssservant of the llllllady, we know of yyyyyyyyour duty and dealingsssssssss, we bring you a gift, one which will hhhhhhhhhelp you free the sssssssoulsssssss in our tower once they have sssssssserved their purpose. Do you wisssssssh to accept our gift?"
Gray holds his shield ready, to enter combat if needed.
With his mind racing with questions Gray cant help but to ask them all.
Speaking in a steady but almost excited tone. "What are you doing to those souls and what is their purpose?? What kind of gift are you offering?...For that matter..why are you offering to help me?
"What!??" Jorzan reacts to Kelne's words 'Damn it! What's he talking about!? We don't have time for this! Ormir could revive at any moment!' knowing clearly that taking out Ormir was much more important than fighting off his thralls, Jorzan uses his incredible dexterity to safely maneuover himself out combat and steps over to the coffin, once he sees what is within, he immidiately reaches in and attempts to move aside the protective medallion himself. Perhaps it is his determination to see Cassandra safe, perhaps it is something in his own darkness that resonates to whatever powers the strange devices, perhaps it is just plain luck, or some combination of all of those things. Whatever the reason, the rogue is able to almost effortlessly move the medallion aside.
Will Save DC20:
(AC 30 vs AoO's)
He doesn't make the final blow though, he knows that task must be Kelne's. With a final look to see if he can determine any dangers or recognize anything of the strange set-up, he turns a grim look to the Northerner and says "Finish it." before spinning back to face his foes.
Knowledge(arcana):
Knowledge(dugeoneering)
Knowledge(local): (+3 for Izma, Varna & Stormfare)
Meanwhile Zan glides to the next closest living target and once again attempting to drain it's life force
Touch attack:
Hasted Touch attack:
Dex Drain:
Dex Drain:
MA1 move to Ormir
MA2 move aside medallion
In Pechora: The last few Spawn that are left after your attacks and multiple fireballs from Karthan move in and attempt to strike you down, but are quite outmatched. One of the spawn misses so badly it knocks itself prone against the dais.
Kelne: 16
Justahl: 13
Thralls: 12
Karthan: 11
Jorzan: 9
Thrall stats:
AC18 HP37
Saves: F/R/W 6/4/2
CMD: 20
Spawn stats:
AC17 HP32
Saves: F/R/W 4/3/7
CMD: 16
@Gray: The creatures both suddenly rise up, becoming huge and dark and fearsome, each one towering over you. "NNNNNOOOOO QUESSSSTIONSSSSSSSS!" booms the one who's been doing all the talking. They stand there, each now roughly 18' tall and almost hitting the ceiling of the big gazebo in which you stand. "It issssss a gifffffft. Yyyyyyyou take, or do not take. That issssss alllll."
@Belsarious: The librarian looks over. "Why, so it has! Who would do such a thing, and why?" She takes the book and gazes at it. "Tell me, master wood elf, can you or see the invisible in any way?"
@Belsarious: The librarian looks over. "Why, so it has! Who would do such a thing, and why?" She takes the book and gazes at it. "Tell me, master wood elf, can you or see the invisible in any way?"
"Aye let me have a go at detecting magic, first. Then I shall consider dispelling it if need be."
Casts detect magic......
Gray nods.
"I will take the gift." he says softly.
With the medallion out of the way, Kelne spun back, positioning his stake over Ormir's heart before driving it home with his hammer. It wouldn't be long now until he was dealt with permanently.
In Pechora: Kelne hammers home the stake, and immediately Ormir's corpse springs up into a sitting position. The scream it lets loose is far from human, and far from pleasant. An impossibly loud and ear-piercing shriek washes over you all, causing your very bones to resonate sympathetically.
Immediately, the spawn screech in chorus with their dying master and dissolve into ash, the piles of it blowing around the room.
What little of Ormir's skin was already formed begins to dissolve. All of you now clearly see the coruscating red lines of energy connecting the medallion to the two phylacteries. Both phylacteries begin to vibrate fiercely. The floor starts to rumble. Ormir is so ill-formed that he can barely turn his head, and Kelne can see his tongue and jaw muscles working through the side of his face. The one open eye swivels disgustingly and stares querulously, balefully at the northman.
"k...kel...kel...kelne...you...f...fuh...fuh...fooolllll..." he hisses through already-shredded and disintigrating vocal chords. The red lines of energy snap away from the medallion and Ormir explodes, showering all of you with hideous green goo and rotted bits of his corpse. The medallion goes rocketing out and bounces off the far wall, caroming off the floor and rolling right out the south door at high speed. Both phylacteries continue to vibrate and now start to jump and bounce off the inside of the coffin.
The floor continues to shake, deep bass pulses heaving the stone. A wind comes up, causing torches to gutter and spit and sometimes go out. You hear screams and cries and shouts from outside the coffin room, from all over.
@Belsarious:
@Gray: Both creatures hiss. Because they are made simply of shadow, you cannot tell if this is a hiss of joy or suspicion or hate or what; it is simply a sound.
There is a tearing noise in the air, and you have the briefest glimpse of a realm beyond, a place of shadow and darkness, of shifting proto-material and wandering voids and vortexes. A small fragment of this realm spins through the tear and whirls in front of you, its material coalescing into the shape of a small sceptre made entirely of shadow. While it is in your hand, your whole body is freezing cold, and it feels as if you are holding nothing at all. The sceptre is about two feet long and varies in width as it curves and undulates along its length.
"Yyyesssssss...the conductor of ssssssoulsssssss...hah hah hahhhhh..." The creatures say together. Then the quieter of the two takes off flying back towards the tower, which is taller than ever, and the other one remains behind for a moment longer. "You will be needed sssssoooonnnnn, when He returnssssss...hah hahhhh..." The horrid thing then leaps up and flies away to join its counterpart.
"Got you," Kelne whispered, taking a few moments to bask in the satisfaction of attaining his revenge before turning his attention to the room at large, "Ormir is dead!" he announced, seeing some signs of possibly returning free will among the thralls, "And not before time! Now get the hell out of here before the whole place comes down on your heads!" Ormir had one final card to play against his slayers, it would seem. Those phylacteries looked ready to explode at the faintest provocation, and he doubted it would be a small explosion, judging by the ominous shaking.
Spellcraft
"Dragon what does your lore say bout this page?"
Prepares to target a dispel magic at the page......
Without a word Gray takes the sceptre.
"Conductor of souls." Gray whispers are he looks over the item in his hand. Part of him wants to break it but the other part really hopes this item will help release the souls from their agony.
As the creatures fly back to the tower. Something late catches in his mind. "Who is returning?"
With a frustrated sigh he sits back down and waits for the others to return as he examines the scepter more.