It was all going so well. The site had been cleared, an artifact discovered, and examination was commencing. And then, like hearing darkness, or seeing a smell, you sense a door, so old it is almost new, opening, and the world disappears into madness.
For a moment, an eternity, or perhaps both, there is only chaos, and a grey presence, standing at the threshold of everything. As you pass through, it takes note.
Smelling candles, and hearing weeping, your senses return, to a scene from a bad Andoran opera, or terrible reality.
You are in a bowl of some kind. The ground slops steeply upwards from the relatively flat center where you stand. A stone building of some kind stands on one side of the lip. Black candles burn at the points of a summoning circle which surrounds you. Five young women, girls really, lie bound at the edge, eyes wide with terror. You almost do not notice the corpse near them, throat cut and bloody knife still in hand. Behind them, perhaps twenty feet from you, stands a man, naked save for his many tattoos. Eyes wary, but without a hint of fear, he gestures at the maidens and shouts... something in a vile tongue.
Initiative:
Gethric steadies himself by taking a knee at the transition, allowing his will to become centered. His cobra Naja tenses firmly around Gethric's left arm, the snake discomfited by the change that had befallen them. Right arm moving to push back his hood the seer blinks his eyes slowly to take in the surroundings, before cocking his head quizzically to one side.
Whether through luck or conditioning, Thom's body reacts quickly while his brain still grapples with … whatever just happened. His nearly-black eyes dart to a few of the more jarring details of his surroundings before fastening on the tattoo'd source of the shouting.
Whatever this is.. it isn't good...
Thom, your up! Then I'll post for the bad guy, and then everyone else, including Thom, post your actions.
After a few seconds, the man scornfully says a single world, and from the corpse at your feet comes the sound of tearing flesh.
Out of the corner of your eye, you notice that the corpse at your feet seems to be twitching and something moves beneath its skin.
"Uh, guys?" Thom mutters as he steps back from the body, eyes flicking between it and the spell-caster. "What's going on?"
Apparently not willing to wait for an answer, he whispers a few words and clears newly-sprung sweat from his eyes with a gloved hand. The familiar sensation of one of his inherited 'tricks' snapping into place in his mind precedes the more obvious and mirrored sounds of creaking leather and rasping iron as shield and sword slip into his readied hands. It all happens in a blink.
The familiar mingling of luck and adrenaline thrills in his veins.
Thom, as your trick begins to manifest, you understand the last word the man said, Feed.
The corpse sits upright, and with a hideous retching and tearing sound, the man’s face blooms out like a rotten flower and a pallid, five-jawed worm extrudes itself from the ragged hole in the neck where, only a moment before, a head sat. A ring of darkness emanates from worm's opening mouth.
Gethric and the little girl, who certainly wasn't with your group before, stiffen under the pain, but Beylinda is particularly affects as she feels the life pulled out of her.
Round 1
Hurting from the darkness coming out for the worm's opening mouth.
In draconic Gethric take out the spellcaster
The little girl dressed in a purple dress and a small backpack with a stuffed bear hanging from it. wearing a berrett with bear ears decorating it. she has redish eyes and purple hair.
Annis spea back from the creature that inflicted the pain on her Owwww she yells in pain and suddenly her hand is engulfed in a little flame.
Take that! she yells as a bolt of fire hurls from her hand toward the ugly creature.
the blast stiking the ground next toi the creature burning some of the debis lying on the ground there.
was that flame coming from the little girl? i thought she was one of the sacrificed. If she becomes a threat we will deal with it accordingly
Gethric raises an eyebrow at the strange words spoken by Beylinda as the dark energy washes over him. Taking a step back from the risen corpse, he looks to the side and sees the tattooed man. Trusting that his actions had something to do with their state, he blows the man a kiss... and as he does, part of the essence of his patron carries with it.
The tattooed man feels a veil being pulled over his senses...
Beylinda's sword strikes true against the... thing., just below its jaws, but what should have decapitated it instead feels like trying to cut leather with a dull knife. The creature is wounded to be sure, but not as much as you know it should be.
With a cry, Thom sinks his blade deep into the creature, causing a offended shriek. Whatever hindered Beylinda's weapon did not affect Thom's.
Gethric fills the man's mind with the Maiden's haze, and he slumps to the ground twitching and muttering. !
The little girl's fire splashes off the creature, having no more effect than water.
With a disgusting slurping noise, the creatures pulls itself from the corpse, leaving little more than a raggedy skin suit as the flesh seems to meld and flow into it. Healing Beylinda's wound entirely, and leaving only a small hole to indicate it was ever stabbed. Shrieking defiance, it shudders, and black smoke rises around you. Suddenly there are four new creatures! About half the height of a man, these pallid beings are somewhat like obese goblins. As the worm continues to shriek, the newcomers to begin to tear with tooth and claw, focusing their efforts on Beylinda and Thomdril. Though the one attacking the little girl seems to have the best luck. Fasting teeth and both claws on her.
Able to understand him now, you understand the tattooed man's words to Gethric to be an insult, you gather it has to do with his sexuality. As he writhes on the group, the only intelligible words, if they can be called that are, Acid! Tripping balls man!
As the worm shrieks you find yourself able to understand it too, though you feel defiled simply by listening. Come to me! before the other beings appear. Once present, Kill them and the virgins are yours!
Round 2
Beylinda will take a step back and call upon her magical energy
Round 2:
Gethric watches as the new beings come, though his focus is upon the tattooed man that he has caused to become insensate. Spinning as he withdraws from the goblin like creatures, Gethric cuts a path around the maidens to stand before the man that has succumbed to Chucaro's Kiss. Naja coils tight around his left arm as his right brings forth a morningstar. In an unhurried and distracted voice he calls out to the others "Mercy... or death? - my whim would be to repay like with like."
He attacked us first, and our safety is more important, just do it, Gethric
"Hey, Gethric," Thom grunts as he lashes out with a back-hand shield strike, "if every demon-summoning nightmare story i've ever heard is anywhere near right, that guy may be the one with the answers here." He lets his shield's momentum twist his torso, becoming a quick stab of his sword.
"Also, Gethric, he said something about your tripping acid balls..."
11
13x5
It takes the dwarf a bit longer than the rest of you to orient herself, the stones of this place feel different that what she has encounter before, and it takes a few seconds to connect with their power.
Shouting at Thom in language that sounds like stones cracking, thankfully he understands her words, Duck! as an explosion of stones erupts from her feet. Twisting away, Thom manages to avoid most of the blast, though an errant shard leaves a unpleasant gash along his head. The creatures take the full blast, though one is protected by its fellow acting as an unwitting shield. Though not as devastating as it could be, the rocks do substantial damage.
From the back you her the child giggle, Me next! and a wave of flame washes those nearest her, includes Thom, though it does little more than singe his hair.
With the dwarf as partner, Thom is able to slip his sword past the worm's defenses, once again piercing the its flesh.
Shrieking the worm raises itself up, and dives into the rocky soil, disappearing from sight.
The summoned beings, split to surround the fighter with the deadly sword, and the dwarf who hurt them. Claws tear at the oracle, wounding her badly.
It is Thom though who suffers most, nimbly avoiding claws and teeth, you see the fighter suddenly gasp and cough a mouthful of blood. A lucky claw got underneath his armor and puntured a lung.
Round 3:
Hearing the cries of pain from his companions wash over his ears, Gethric sighs as he resolves himself to the task before him. "The dream will not last for long... I must end him before it ends itself." putting one foot atop the man's chest to steady his involuntary movement in the lucid nightmare that Chucaro gifted the man, he raises his morningstar high with his right arm "Go with peace into the great dream." and the spiked ball of steel is brought down upon the tattooed man's head with a sickening thump...
Thom gasps, but all that comes out is a bloody mess. Looking for breathing room, he dives around one of the little fat things, only to trip on his own feet, opening himself up to both of the things threatening him.
Thom pivots in place, coming up in a flanking position of his own and delivering a vicious sideways chop with his longsword.
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E-Terah reeled from the disgusting fleshy things as one struck her hard enough to make her falter from the pain,the blow gouging her flesh beneath her layers of clothing and masterwrought chain shirt. She snarled, the sound like crunching gravel in Terran.
She shook her initial bewildered stupor once it registered that this wasn't some exhausted dream. All she remembered was lying down to sleep by a slab of stone from a cluster of ruins she'd happened upon after pushing herself to walk nearly twenty some odd miles withou any civilization in sight.
Now...whatever the lump this mess was. Again, accidental adventure.
Grimacing at what she guessed was the flesh of her belly skinned raw from the thing's teeth scraping and dragging her chainmai, she noticed the other people she was apparently fighting alongside for survival. When she noticed the ground undulating near one of the human males swinging swords,she belted out what she hoped to be a warning.
He understood, and responded to her help by sidling up to her side. She found that she had her maulaxe in her hand,apparently slick with ichor from one of the things.
When the swordsman suffered a blow that pierced his chest and made him turtle,blood bubbling up from a punctured lung she guessed. She reached out with a gloved hand and touched him,willing healing energies to flow and repair the damage.
CLW
Then she took on a defensive stance,maulaxe raised to lash out with a flick of her wrist.Her reach was long enough to hit anything before it could touch her.
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Initiative
E-Terah hunched her shoulders and slapped her bosom,giving her considerable cleavage a bounce. Once she saw the wretched lumps of pallid flesh advance for her,she made a motion like brushing dirt off her shoulder. Dust drawn from the air outlined her and formed jagged slivers of brown stone that fired in a flurrying barrage as though by a cluster of crossbow at once.
Once they struck, they clattered to the rocky soil like large chunks of.oversized gravel that made the area around her difficult to maneuver around.
Attack
Shard Explosion
Round 3
This is Fun Annie yells as she shoots a ray of fire from her hand at the beastie in front of her
but instead the ray of fire goes wild striking the ground and starting another small fire. which apparently Annie does not seem to care
THEME: Thunderization Climber vs Red Endzone
E-Terah flinched when she what looked like a prepubescent girl-child fired off a searing ray of heat that was utterly off target from hitting anything in the chamber and cut a swath into the churned soil,promptly lighting it on fire.
Sometimes there were no worse things than children with access to magic. A tyke that was a bomb ready to explode in a devastatingly spectacular way.
Like someone cursed with unluck prone to failures so tragically horrific it was fascinating.
THEME: Thunderization Climber vs Red Endzone
E-Terah flinched when she what looked like a prepubescent girl-child fired off a searing ray of heat that was utterly off target from hitting anything in the chamber and cut a swath into the churned soil,promptly lighting it on fire.
Sometimes there were no worse things than children with access to magic. A tyke that was a bomb ready to explode in a devastatingly spectacular way.
Like someone cursed with unluck prone to failures so tragically horrific it was fascinating.
Once again, fire emerges for the girl's hands, setting a clump of dry bunch grass ablaze. Thankfully the rocky ground is bare enough that you won't have to worry about being caught in a brushfire
Stepping over the worm's hole, E-Terah lays a glowing hand on the doughty fighter, despite distractions all around. Though it doesn't repair all the damage, Thomdril is at least able to breathe.
As the dwarf occupies the creatures' attention, Beylinda slips behind and lops the thing's head clean off! A moment later head and body dissolve into sooty smoke.
Outside the chaotic tangle of demons and companions, Gethric carefully places the mysterious man beyond all questions. To those of a more earthly bent, he unconcernedly turned a man's skull to mush.
As the creature behind him vanishes, Thom is able to turn full attention to the other, and sends it back to whatever pit it came from.
The remaining two withdraw and belch noxious clouds towards the three companions, leaving only the dwarf standing while Beylinda and Thom are overcome retching.
Round 4
In a language only thom understand because of his spell: Thom, take your breath. watch the girl in case she turns on us. I'll deal with the remaining two things...
Trusting that the others had things well in hand, Gethric kneels to put a hand on the corpse - silently mouthing a prayer for it's soul as he looks over the tattoos and sees if he can make any meaning of them...
Knowledge (Nature / Planes / Religion):
Searching the symbols for meaning, you feel certain a greater knowledge of the arcane help your understanding. However, your knowledge of faith and other realms does give you valuable insights.
1. Most of the symbols relate to the summoning and binding of outsiders, particularly daemons, though symbols used in the conjuration of demons, devils, divs, asursa, oni, and kytons are also used. This is bizarre, and insane.
2. The symbols of binding seem to be with the intent to bind the outsider to the man, though in spiritual form like a possession or some physical melding you cannot tell. Either way, dangerous magic.
3. Some of the symbols are painted on, while others are recently tattooed, some however, are noticeably older. He's had them for a long time. All symbols relating to outsiders or binding are recent.
Annie looking around seeing the ugly creatures back up and the others getting sick.
You really should have taken medicine. she says to no one in particular.
she looks at the creatures. Hmmmm those guys are sick and ... your... On fire!
and she hurls a little ball of fire at the closest creature.
Thom stumbles his way out of the fumes and towards the little girl. Whatever it is he's trying to say is lost among the retching sounds, but you think you hear the words "paid" and "baby-sit" in here somewhere.