Looking a bit singed in places and medium rare in others Tal looks to Monday. You wouldn't happen to have a bit of your touch remaining to heal these burns do you? We run into something like that again and I will be toast, literally and figuratively.
Having spent most of the time thus far just standing around almost asleep she snaps to once Tal calls on her. "Oh, of course!"
Moving over to the fighter positive energy starts to swell about her hands as she examines what parts of him that she can. Starting to say her usual charm she stops as she sniffs about him as she begins touching him. "You smell delicious by the way."
Cringing at the sounds of the skeletal hounds clawing at the door behind Tal, Naberius lets out a sigh of exasperation.
He clears his throat, saying, "Well... That was unexpected. We might have to come back to deal with those horrors, but for now it might indeed be best to focus on finding the ringleader..."
Glancing worriedly at the door, the wizard mutters, "If he is able to create or control such things, I am afraid this Palaveen might be more powerful than I thought... We should be cautious."
"What I'm wondering," the man said thoughtfully. "Is if they were indeed under control--why didn't the Tieflings here use them? They are resistant to fire, as you said."
He reached for Naberius's cane , and laid his hand on it , and asked, "Can we share this? Tal needed this."
"Are we sure we want to keep them ali--I mean moving?" he asked, glancing at the door, which was glowing an ominous red. "I'd hate for a quick and silent Tiefling to unleash them behind us while we're fighting. The room might even contain something."
"What I'm wondering," the man said thoughtfully. "Is if they were indeed under control--why didn't the Tieflings here use them? They are resistant to fire, as you said."
Naberius sighs again and answers, "That is valid point, but the fact that they are here is worrisome by itself. They have to have come from somewhere, and it is unlikely that the Bastards would have been able to contain them for a lengthy period of time without a way of controlling them. While they are more resistant to fire than a human, the tieflings are not impervious to their fangs and claws, unlike Tal."
He reached for Naberius's cane, and laid his hand on it, and asked, "Can we share this? Tal needed this."
The wizard glances at the cane, and replies, "Hm? Oh, by all means. I've been meaning to get a new one for a while regardless... Something a bit less plain..."
"Are we sure we want to keep them ali--I mean moving?" he asked, glancing at the door, which was glowing an ominous red. "I'd hate for a quick and silent Tiefling to unleash them behind us while we're fighting. The room might even contain something."
Naberius nods and says, "Personally, I would rather be done with them as soon as possible, but I do not believe that is my call. We really do not have time for a lengthy rumination, either..."
He turn to Tal as he is being tended to by Monday, and asks, "What say you? Do you think you can finish them if you get your hands on something blunt? Perhaps we can lure them out to a more tactically advantageous position, so that it will be many of us against one of them..."
Tal takes the cane and weighs it his hand. This should work well enough unless we can go upstairs to break the table into something that I could use with two hands. This is one of those times where I think blunt force rather than tactically defensive measures are in order. As for multiple people attack them, anyone next to those creatures will get burned. Instead it would be better to have everyone who can attack them at range to avoid their flames.
After receiving Monday's cooling touch, Thank you my dear. That is a great relief to my aching skin. Although I worry if you think I smell better now.
"I fear that such a table-leg won't be best suited for battle," the man sighed, giving Tal the cane/cudgel. "Such a weapon might splinter or break against them . This might be unimpressive, but it does the job, as they're down their last breath...so to speak."
[Standard]
[Move]
Open the door when Tal is entering.
Not wanting to leave such deadly guard creatures behind you. Tal grips the cane as Raveen opens the door.
From the safety of the stairway, Naberius whips yet another magical projectile at the skeletons, focusing fire on the one that looks more damaged from the group's efforts.
A magic missile from Naberius' wand puts down the wolf skeleton that Tal has been wailing on. The other less wounded skeleton continues to growl menacingly.
With only 1 skeleton left Tal goes for damage and power rather than defense. Dropping the tower shield Tal grips the club in both hands as he brings it down on the bones of the wolf.
Two handed power attack for
Mera, figuring Tal can take care of the last remaining wolf, yells words of encouragement, but keeps her crossbow handy just in case he can't. Tal, not wanting to be burned anymore, tries to finish off the wolf skeleton, but misses. He gets burned by the proximity of the wolf.
The wolf steps right up to Tal and tries to bite the warrior.
The wolf misses and growls in anger.
Aid another to attack for Tal.
Naberius weeps inwardly for the loss of precious magical energy from his wand, and fires once more.
Raveen tries to aid Tal, but will need to get into mrelee - and in range of the fire aura to do so.
Naberius shoots another magic missile at the wolf and the wolf growls as more cracks form along its bones. The wolf's aura burns the warrior again as it tries to bite him.
The wolf bites nothing but air as Mera offers words of encouragement.
Tal continues to swing at th bony menace trying to put it down quickly. At least it seemed that the flames were diminishing. Either that or Tal was so charred already that he wasn't feeling the heat as much anymore.
Powers attack for
Round 2 cont'[/ooc]
Tal, having been burned once too often, just can't seem to concentrate and his swing goes wide. Raveen tries to help Tal out but still does not want to get close to the wolf.
Naberius keeps waving his wand around, feeling more and more as if he were conducting an orchestra.
for
for
for
for
for
for
Three fire aura damage:
Tal tries to find a comfortable place to attack the wolf and finding none wades in close and brings the cane down squarely on the skull shattering it. You all still hear growling and howling behind the northeast door.
While someone tends to Tal's burns, Naberius peeks in the crypt to make sure the wolves were not guarding something hidden.
He then waits for someone to lead them to the northwest.
Finally putting the last skeletal wolf down Tal looks to heal himself up. Not wanting to exhaust Monday's abilities he takes a couple of the potions of healing that they acquired previously.
cure mod wounds
Once he is feeling better Tal looks to the next doorway. If there are more of those creatures then I am goingto stand here at the doorway and make them come 1 at a time. If any of you can help by attacking them from range that would be greatly helpful. I am gong to try to close the door as well between attack to try and keep from being burned everytime.
Once the ok is given and Naberius is done searching the other room Then Tal will get his shield ready to face the next foe. Naberius, is it ok if I hold onto this for a bit longer?
@Naberius: There is nothing in the room but Erastil priest corpses.
@Tal: You can hear growling and scratching on the other side of the door.
Sound like there are more of them behind the door. Get ready.
The mortared stone walls of this room give way to roughly chiseled rock walls to the west, where a narrow corridor turns to the north. At the door are three large dogs with glowing red eyes and reddish fur.
Tal sees that the dogs appear to be more flesh and blood and drops the cane behind him. Drawing his sword he calls back to the others to step back to bottle neck the dogs. Keep them from swarming us while we can bring out numbers to bear.
In the meantime Tal swings at both dogs in front of him hoping to do some damage till a more tactically sound position is possible.
Power attack for
Cleave Power attack for
@Tal: You are correct, these are not skeletal dogs.
Tal swings at the first one and his sword connects. He wounds the beast, but does not bring it down. He swings at the second dog and greivously wounds the beast and it collapses on the floor.
1) for with cleave for
2) for with cleave for
3) for with cleave for
Tal, like a man possessed wades into the room swinging his sword at the hell dogs until all are dead.
As you enter into the room, you see that the carefully mortared stone gives way to roughly carved stone.
"I think whatever carved this tunnel was more like animal's claws than a manufactured tool," he said.
As you follow the tunnel you see an offshoot. Steep stairs lead up to a crude door set loosely in a brick frame. The door is boarded over with stout oak planks.
While Raveen slinks away to scout, Naberius glances at the marking on the walls, trying to ascertain what kind of creature might have caused them.
Tal continues to follow Raveen as he is leading at this time. No sense clouding the waters when Raveen supposedly knows where he is going and has scouted this location out already. The boarded up door Tal could understand bypassing as they would hear if someone tried to enter that way. It was clearly meant to limit entrance here and that suited Tal for the time being. Continue on but do you have any idea where we are at. Surely we have left the original temple at this distance.
The masked man scanned the (first) door--
If the door is in fact free, he will bar it after listening in.
"Continue on but do you have any idea where we are at. Surely we have left the original temple at this distance."
He whispers, "We have. These digging marks must lead to the Tieflings' true base, or at least to an armory, bunk, or wherever else they keep their ill-gotten gains--we're not done yet."
Upon approaching the second door, he listens in.
"I thought..." the man said, voice trailing off. He struggled for a moment with his curiosity, and spat, "Damn it. I want to see what's in here."
Unless interrupted or advised otherwise, he drew out his thieves' tools from his side-pouch, and began unbarring it with the tools (if applicable).
Do we need to open Pandora's box right now? Let's finish with what we came here for and then satisfy our curiosity later. If you must open it then go ahead and let me know what is on the other side.
Tal rests for the time being while Raveen does his thing sitting on his cloak to keep the dirt and grime off of his equipment. Tal also goes about cleaning his sword and shield to keep them in excellent condition.
"I must agree with Tal on this matter. Our operation has been stalled too long already because of those damnable hounds. We should get to this Palaveen as soon as possible. If you feel like this is something we should do presently, feel free to proceed, but if the possible threat is safely contained..." the wizard leaves the sentence unfinished. He shifts uncomfortably, and adjusts his mask.
More undead guardians, no doubt...
Pausing to listen to his compatriots, he sighed, putting back his tools.
"You're both right...though this dragging noise is maddening," he said, wedging the door in case the bar was false. "Let's cautiously continue on."
At the second door, the man sighed, and whispered to Tal, "I hear bones-on-bones. I guess you know what to do."
Making sure the door is unlocked (unlocking it if it isn't), the man waited for Tal to move into position before they broke through.
Door #2: Sound of something being dragged along the floor.
Door #3: Sound of growling and bones-on-bones.