Raquel delays to allow the warriors in the group to go through the tunnels first.
Arianna follows after Nariel.
ROUND 6 (continued)
As Nariel gives the all-clear, Aivar, Arianna and Tristan squeeze through the small tunnels. The way Nariel travelled is definitely the better mode of transport: quite aside from the discomfort of getting through the wall, there's the danger on the other side of tripping over the piles of rusted metal...
...and unfortunately Aivar does exactly that. Standing up as he finally squeezes himself through the wall, the Paladin stumbles over a the rusted remains of a breastplate; tripping, he grabs for balance on the nearest wooden bracket, which promptly disintegrates in his grasp, dropping several dozen pounds of rusted iron to the floor in a long, cacophonous moment, after which...
...
there is a sudden, dreadful silence.
ROUND 7
Attacks v Flat-footed AC
ROUND 8
W win so attacks v flat-footed again
A low, sibilant noise starts to fill the air
Hssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
quietly at first
Hssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
but gradually
Hssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
getting louder
Hssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
and louder
it's coming from the walls
This conclusion hits you at almost exactly the same time as the wall itself does, bulging in nearly half a dozen places into the form of squat, bulky humanoids with shadowy, spectral beards. They lash out at you with their claws! Even caught off-guard, Nariel somehow manages to escape harm, but the rest of the group are hit.
The things may look like stone wall, but they move fast. Even before the group can recover, they are attacked again!
This time, Nariel's defences are not enough, and the elf is hit several times - or at least she would be if she hadn't had the foresight to prepare for this eventuality. As it is, the strikes target her illusory doubles instead, leaving the elf safe - but alone. Tristan however has no such protection and is hit again. Arianna and Aivar are clearly more used to fighting for their lives at this point, as the flurry of claws fails to pierce their (magically-assisted) defences.
Aivar 34/52 hp, shield of faith (4 minutes), bless (4 minutes)
Arianna 36/41 hp, bless (4 minutes), shield (4 minutes)
Nariel 28/28 hp, bless (4 minutes)
Raquel 33/36, 4/5 channel, bless (4 minutes)
Sasha 35/36, shield of faith (4 minutes), bless (4 minutes)
Tristan 17/32, bless (4 minutes), heroism (40 minutes)
Air elemental 8/12 rounds (extended)
Fire elemental 5/6 rounds (not extended)
"What in the hells?" Tristan yelps as he is cut. He does his best to return the favor.
"Not much of a welcome party, fellas!"
Arianna is startled and shouts at the appearance of the creatures, but rallies and takes a swipe at the closest one. Simultaneously in the back of her mind she's trying to think of what these things are.
As the noise of Aivar clambering about echoes through the chamber, Nariel squints as if the sound was causing her physical discomfort. Opening one eye slowly, Nariel suddenly began to realize what was happening, managing to dodge as the first round of attacks began.
Struggling to keep her cool as her illusions were shattered around her, Nariel finally managed to produce and introduce the creature nearest her to the business end of her magic missile wand.
Instructing her elementals to concentrate their efforts on the one nearest them, Nariel shifted into the opening left by the fire elemental as it moved west.
"Help is on the way!" Raquel shouts as she struggles to squeeze through the wall. "Gah! Damn these curvy hips of mine!" Eventually, she manages to make it through.
Aivar tries not to think. For one, he doesn't know how a wall could spit out spectral figures with beards and secondly, thinking isn't exactly his strong suit.
And so, he simply acts.
ROUND 8 (continued)
Tristan recognises the creatures as undead, meaning that mind-affecting effects are unlikely to work on them.
Arianna recognises them as walcofinde, the unfortunate remains of those who have been buried alive (either deliberately or through accidents such as a cave-in) and died of starvation. These undead resemble the decayed appearance of zombies, albeit with vicious bony claws — the result of desperate escape attempts prior to the starvation that ultimately sealed their demise.
Whatever the case, the group's attacks prove to be effective: Tristan and Arianna score damaging hits against their opponents, while Aivar goes one better and annihilates one of his attackers.
Raquel and Sasha manage to squeeze through the wall, joining their companions on the other side.
Aivar 42/52 hp, shield of faith (4 minutes), bless (4 minutes), LoH 2/4
Arianna 36/41 hp, bless (4 minutes), shield (4 minutes)
Nariel 28/28 hp, bless (4 minutes)
Raquel 33/36, 4/5 channel, bless (4 minutes)
Sasha 35/36, shield of faith (4 minutes), bless (4 minutes)
Tristan 17/32, bless (4 minutes), heroism (40 minutes)
Air elemental 8/12 rounds (extended)
Fire elemental 5/6 rounds (not extended)
Pink - destroyed
Red - 11
Yellow - 6
White - 4
ROUND 9
The undead continue their attacks, although with less success: only Raquel and Aivar succumb to damage, the creatures showing their clear hatred for the followers of the divine.
Aivar 37/52 hp, shield of faith (4 minutes), bless (4 minutes), LoH 2/4
Arianna 36/41 hp, bless (4 minutes), shield (4 minutes)
Nariel 28/28 hp, bless (4 minutes)
Raquel 27/36, 4/5 channel, bless (4 minutes)
Sasha 35/36, shield of faith (4 minutes), bless (4 minutes)
Tristan 17/32, bless (4 minutes), heroism (40 minutes)
Air elemental 9/12 rounds (extended)
Fire elemental 6/6 rounds (not extended)
Pink - destroyed
Red - 11
Yellow - 6
White - 4
Aivar finds himself having troubles utilizing the full length of his glaive in the cramped and overpopulated corridor. It's that he's a tall bastard or else he'd be forced to swap to a more delicate sidearm. "Band together! Whatever these unfortunate spirits want from us, we'll send them to Pharasma's arms!"
Nodding as Aivar rallies the troops while easily dispatching one of the undead creatures, Nariel redirects her attention to the creature her elementals were attacking.
"Some kind of zombie? At least it can be cut like normal!" Though sadly only with steel, not words, as seemed more likely than not.
"Care to trade places, love?" Tristan asks Raquel.
"Argh!" Raquel winces as the creature's claw slashes her. She nods to Tristan. "Of course, feel free to cut in!" The cleric moves further down the hall, risking an attack from the undead to allow the bard to get into melee. Once clear, she channels healing energy.
"Walcofinde--undead creatures--" Arianna grunts.
She swings hard but cuts only air. "Raquel, any positive vibes would be very helpful right now!
"I'm vibing as hard as I can!" Raquel says. "Let me keep you all alive first, then I'll try to make these things dead again!"
ROUND 10
Aivar cleaves his target almost in twain, his glaive striking sparks as it hits the wall/undead with extreme prejudice. Nariel's summoned fire elemental vanishes as its spell duration expires; neither elemental lands a hit, but her wand of force inflicts damage on its target.
Tristan and Raquel deftly trade places; the bard's rapier inflicts some damage but Aivar inflicts the killing blow. Raquel channels healing energy, but Arianna's attacks all miss.
The remaining trio lash out with their claws, but are unable to harm Aivar. Arianna is hit, one of the undead opening a nasty gash across the redhead's face.
Aivar 48/52 hp, shield of faith (4 minutes), bless (4 minutes), LoH 2/4
Arianna 32/41 hp, bless (4 minutes), shield (4 minutes)
Nariel 28/28 hp, bless (4 minutes)
Raquel 34/36, 4/5 channel, bless (4 minutes)
Sasha 36/36, shield of faith (4 minutes), bless (4 minutes)
Tristan 24/32, bless (4 minutes), heroism (40 minutes)
Air elemental 10/12 rounds (extended)
Pink - destroyed
Red - 11
Yellow - destroyed
White - 10
Blue - unharmed
Raquel channels energy again, this time focusing it on harming the wall-dwelling undead creatures.
Aivar is too caught up in the deadly dance of his glaive to speak words of encouragement. With one more apparition gone, the paladin steps into the now empty space to find room for the polearm so it can perform its dance.
Running out of options, Nariel draws her bow forward as she instructs her elemental to continue the attack. Though inwardly frustrated with herself for having missed the walconfides, she was happy to see the tide of battle turn.
Sasha steps in, thrusting her blade towards one of the walcofides.
"Aivar, your lack of finesse makes this rampage somewhat more endearing!"
Tristan steps to the other side of the tunnel and tries to spit another of the creatures - but his movement and the illusory effect of his enemy has him attacking the wall they so resemble, instead.
"Nobody saw that!"
Arianna's swing is ineffective at best, putting her off-balance as she misses totally.
ROUND 11
Raquel's channeled energy washes over the undead, harming them to some extent but not enough to take them out of the fight.
Aivar and the summoned elemental combine to return another foe to its eternal rest. Nariel's bow-shot misses. Sasha puts her skills to good use, scoring a damaging hit on her target, but Tristan and Arianna both miss.
The two remaining undead focus their attention on Sasha; the young rogue ducks and dodges, but the go-high/go-low approach works and the combined efforts sucker her into stepping straight into a slashing claw that punctures a vital artery.
Aivar 48/52 hp, shield of faith (3 minutes), bless (3 minutes), LoH 0/4
Arianna 32/41 hp, bless (3 minutes), shield (3 minutes)
Nariel 28/28 hp, bless (3 minutes)
Raquel 34/36, 2/5 channel, bless (3 minutes)
Sasha 17/36, shield of faith (4 minutes), bless (3 minutes)
Tristan 24/32, bless (3 minutes), heroism (39 minutes)
Air elemental 11/12 rounds (extended)
Pink - destroyed
Red - 15
Yellow - destroyed
White - destroyed
Blue - 15
"Sasha! Hang on!" Raquel places her hands on the rogue's bleeding wounds and prays for healing magic.
With so many people in between his glaive and the foe, Aivar is having troubles finding an opening to strike at their foe.
Seeing little options, Nariel sighed and notched another arrow, attempting to hit the nearby walconfide.
With her air elemental nearly expired, Nariel makes one last gambit and instructs it to move towards the far end and strike at the walconfide attacking Arianna.
Now more focused on his target, Tristan drives home a solid thrust.
Arianna takes a swipe at the same Walcofinde she's been trying to hit, attacking relentlessly.
Sasha does her best to fend off attacks from both of the ghoul creatures when something sharp rakes across her arm. The rogue gasps in alarm, but before she can react further, the pain reduces by a degree. Raquel must be doing her thing, Sasha thinks, not stopping to check the damage done to her limb. Still, I'd better not push it.
Sasha drops into a defensive stance, more focused on slapping away any incoming attacks than landing her own. Cautiously, she probes the zombie's defenses.
ROUND 12
Raquel channels a burst of healing energy, patching up people's wounds. Aivar's glaive ends the existence of one more of the undead. Tristan and Arianna combine to take down the other one.
Nariel's summoned air elemental blinks out of existence as her spell expires.
Aivar 52/52 hp, shield of faith (3 minutes), bless (3 minutes), LoH 0/4
Arianna 40/41 hp, bless (3 minutes), shield (3 minutes)
Nariel 28/28 hp, bless (3 minutes)
Raquel 36/36, 1/5 channel, bless (3 minutes)
Sasha 25/36, shield of faith (4 minutes), bless (3 minutes)
Tristan 32/32, bless (3 minutes), heroism (39 minutes)
Raquel takes the time to patch up Sasha's more serious injuries.
"That was a rough one, eh? Shall we keep going?"
The paladin needs a moment to get his heartbeat down to acceptable levels. For now, the harsh beat still holds dominion over his neck as Aivar glances over their surroundings. What in the name of the Gods happened here? Just now, but also, way back? "Let's take a moment to investigate this hall before we move on? Whatever came from these walls, it ... they? ... it was something that boggles the mind."
Most of the weapons and armour on the rotted wooden racks have long since succumbed to the ravages of time and rust, but - here and there - your torchlight is answered by the gleam of bright metal.
A minute or so's searching uncovers two Mithral axes, their darkwood hafts proof against the centuries; and a set of Mithral full plate armour.
Up ahead of you, around the corner, the remorseless, slow thud of metal against metal continues, a heartbeat of waking death. Periodically, the flare of a dull, red, soulless light spills from the doorway into the corridor ahead of you.
Aivar 52/52 hp, shield of faith (1 minute), bless (1 minute), LoH 0/4
Arianna 40/41 hp, bless (1 minute), shield (1 minute)
Nariel 28/28 hp, bless (1 minute)
Raquel 36/36, 1/5 channel, bless (1 minute)
Sasha 36/36, shield of faith (1 minute), bless (1 minute)
Tristan 32/32, bless (1 minute), heroism (37 minutes)
As the group unearths the mithral equipment, Tristan lets slip a low whistle. "I don't know a great deal about armor, but this must be worth a small fortune."
"Something tells me we haven't dealt with all the trouble down here, yet. Anyone care to take a closer look? I promise I'll be right behind you..."
Nariels turns towards the group, and addresses them remorsefully "My sincerest apologies everyone, there was little to no sign of those things when I first investigated the hallway." Looking away, Nariel shakes her head, disappointed in herself "I will endeavor to be more careful before giving the heads up next time."
Approaching the equipment discoveries, Nariel runs her hand along the armor appreciatively "Mithral, a most valuable material. Elven smiths have sought out mithral for thousands of years, as it produces the most lightweight and durable of armor and weapons that is also well suited to enchantment. Pausing a moment, Nariel raises one eyebrow quizically "Actually, I wonder..." trailing off, Nariel waves her hand while speaking quietly in elven "Utua templa."
As you round the corner and look into the next room, the choking stench of smelted steel tinged with burnt hair and flesh wafts towards you, as if carried on a foul draft. The jangling of heavy chains echoes ominously. A hulking dwarf wrapped in heavy steel links pounds ceaselessly, remorselessly, on an anvil with a black iron hammer. The glowing coals of the forge burn with a light that owes more to its unholy nature than it does to coal.
The dwarf smith's face, hands, and body are riddled with glowing hot hooks and half-melted razor wire. Black smoke rises from its smoldering beard, framing its freakishly contorted face in ashy darkness. The tormented thing hefts the black iron hammer and looks upward to the ceiling as you approach, the chains draping its form springing to life like metal serpents.
"Droskaaaar! Why must you vex me with ceaseless toil? Have I not earned, at last, my final rest?"
As if in answer, parts and pieces of the armour and metal shards strewn across the floor start to draw together, as if my some blasphemous magnetism, rearranging themselves into two suits of armour, the empty helms glowing with dark, life-hating, light.
The chain-wrapped dwarf smith heaves a forsaken sigh, tossing aside the bellows it was using. "So be it, then. More souls I bring to you, Master of the Dark Furnace. But I know that you'll never be satisfied."
It turns to look at you. "So, come. Let your souls be refined on the anvil of the Dark Smith."
Aivar 52/52 hp, shield of faith (10 rounds), bless (10 rounds), LoH 0/4
Arianna 40/41 hp, bless (10 rounds), shield (10 rounds)
Nariel 28/28 hp, bless (10 rounds)
Raquel 36/36, 1/5 channel, bless (10 rounds)
Sasha 36/36, shield of faith (10 rounds), bless (10 rounds)
Tristan 32/32, bless (10 rounds), heroism (37 minutes)
Tristan blinks a couple of times, briefly wondering why he bothers being surprised by anything anymore. "Ah, I'm afraid I'll pass. But hold, my - er, uncomfortable-looking friend! Perhaps there's a way forward that doesn't involve... refining?"
He eyes the malevolent-looking armor suits as he speaks, fairly certain that - as seems to be the usual case in these parts - his attempts will be fruitless.
The dwarf smith shakes its head, as the chains surrounding it writhe and seethe. "No. There is only the hammer, and the anvil and the ceaseless, neverending toil. If I am to rest, it must be through the forging of your souls into this chain I carry."
"In Cayden's name!" Raquel declares, blasting the undead with radiant light.
Moving north, Nariel catches a glimpse of the horrid dwarf and recoils with revulsion. "What horror..." Reaching for her belt pouch, quickly makes an incantation to cast a spell that produces a slick substance under the monsters feet.
Tristan's attempt at diplomacy is for naught as the dwarf wants only one thing: their souls for his forge. With his heartbeat still elevated from the fight in the hallway, Aivar rushes forward and strikes at the perverter of the arts and the crafts, of that which is supposed to bring beauty into this world.
Arianna moves in beside Aivar and takes up a defensive posture, weapon at the ready and carefully watching the foes.
Raquel's spell is devastatingly effective in these subterranean conditions; the chain-wrapped dwarf tries to shield his eyes from the light but fails. "Ugh! Is it not enough that I must toil forever, but now my sight is lost, too? Dark Father of the everforge, is there no end to my suffering?"
In his self-pity, he almost doesn't notice Nariel's spell (he keeps his feet) or Aivar's glaive.
Turning in your direction, he sighs piteously, a long slow exhalation of darkness and ashes, soot and cinders. All of you are burned, but Raquel takes a particularly bad dose and is blinded!
The two undead suits of armour are lost to Raquel's spell and take no action.
Aivar 36/52 hp, shield of faith (9 rounds), bless (9 rounds), LoH 0/4
Arianna 24/41 hp, bless (9 rounds), shield (9 rounds)
Nariel 12/28 hp, bless (9 rounds)
Raquel 20/36, 1/5 channel, bless (9 rounds), Blinded 4 rounds
Sasha 20/36, shield of faith (9 rounds), bless (9 rounds)
Tristan 16/32, bless (9 rounds), heroism (37 minutes)
Dwarf - 17 damage, blinded 3 rounds
Red - blinded 3 rounds
Black - blinded 3 rounds
Arianna curses at the sting of the embers, wipes the soot out of her face. With a word, the edge of her axe freezes in an instant and condensate comes off; she steps forward and strikes at the dwarf.
Noticing that Raquel was ailing, Nariel paused and placed her hand reassuringly on her shoulder. Speaking with quiet admiration, Nariel spoke to the blinded priestess "Well done Raquel... you have turned the tide in our favor. I will come back to help you in just a moment."
Moving briefly into the room behind Tristan, Nariel quickly produced what appeared to be a gossamer like substance from her belt pouch. With a quiet incantation, a heap of spider webs suddenly appeared, frustrating any efforts by the suits of armor to move and engage.
Suddenly reappearing beside Racquel, Nariel stood close in beside her and placed Raquel's arm over her shoulder to help the blind Caydenite find her way in the darkness "I am here."