As the disembodied voice from above finishes its spell before he has a chance to stymie it, Raliscar pulls his hand away from his necklace, leaving the trinket alone for now. Grumbling about necromancers and their wretched deeds, he reloads his crossbow while the bulk of the zombies seem to still be hindered by the webs.
HP: 56/56
AC: 22 (13 T / 19 FF)
CMD: 19
F/R/W: +8/+9/+4
Ranger's Focus (+4/+4): [ ] [ ]
Level 1 spells prepared (1+1): gravity bow [ ] [ ]
Necklace of Fireballs: 6d6 [ ] // 4d6 [X] [ ] // 2d6 [ ] [ ]
Silver Blanched Bolts used: 0/20
-Ongoing Effects-
Favored Terrain (underground/dungeon): +2 to Initiative, Perception, Stealth, & Survival for ALL party members
Barkskin (+2 AC): 1/30 minutes, 2/10 rounds
Rutter swings at the zombie that managed to emerge from the webs.
And misses.
Neva also began cranking her crossbow back. Hers loaded faster than Raliscar's and she sent a bolt at a zombie in the second row, out of reach of Felgar's axe.
Vyshael, acting just as the zombies begin to tear themselves free of the webbing, shoots one of te closest ones. Despite it being an arrow, the shot does enough to stop the zombie from moving.
As Raliscar reloads the heavy crank on his crossbow, the voice from the balocny casts another spell, where again the effects are indeterminate.
Vyshael makes his way past his friends, heading through the bottleneck to give himself room to shoot another zombie, forcing some of his magic into the weapon as he does.
for
Felgar hefts his axe again and levels a hefty swing at the one zombie left standing before him. The once living man erupts onto the webbing in a spray of viscera and meat as the dwarf's swing violently splits it asunder.
Neva fires into the webbing at the zombie straight ahead of her, only for the bolt to simply travel straight through the rotting creature's decaying flesh. The hole seems to mean nothing to the undead.
Rutter steps up toward the foremost zombie, but gets there too late to swing at it before Felgar turns it to just hunks of gore.
Despite the many strands of sticky web between himself and the zombie, Vyshael moves up to the nearby parlor and shoots the thing. Much like Neva's shot, the arrow flies right through the creature, and it remains oblivious to it even being hit.
The zombies continue to fight against a web that has kept them under steady control since it was put in place. One of them manages to break the hold it has on it, while the other two are able to move through it to get to the living entities before them.
Neva grimaced in horror as her bolt ripped through the zombie's flesh with no effect. She felt a surge of anger at whoever created these abominations. She focused on the voice from above.
Raliscar! Come with me up the stairs!
"What?! While there're blighted zombies still swingin' at Felgar an' the others?" He starts to raise his crossbow, then his shoulders drop as he lowers the weapon. Trusting his cousin and Rutter to be able to finish with the straggling shamblers, he mutters a litany of oaths and soft curses under his breath as he trots past Neva and starts to climb the stairway. "I thought I was bein' plenty helpful doin' what I was doin', Neva, so I hope whatever madcap scheme yer workin' up works!"
HP: 56/56
AC: 22 (13 T / 19 FF) (includes barkskin)
CMD: 19
F/R/W: +8/+9/+4
Ranger's Focus (+4/+4): [ ] [ ]
Level 1 spells prepared (1+1): gravity bow [ ] [ ]
Necklace of Fireballs: 6d6 [ ] // 4d6 [X] [ ] // 2d6 [ ] [ ]
Silver Blanched Bolts used: 0/20
-Ongoing Effects-
Favored Terrain (underground/dungeon): +2 to Initiative, Perception, Stealth, & Survival for ALL party members
Barkskin (+2 AC): 1/30 minutes, 2/10 rounds
Felgar attacks the zombie in G7
Seeing most of the disgusting walking remians being dealt with, Raliscar makes a beeline for the upstairs, possibly looking for the source of the voice. The foremost zombie swings a rotting fist at him as he passes, but it was too slow and clumsy.
Upstairs, Raliscar sees finely framed works of art cover the walls of this gallery, looking down upon the hall below. Great windows look out to the west and south, and an alcove to the east is set with chairs for musicians. In mockery of the room’s beauty, several costumed corpses stand about the hall, some posed like ghastly statues while others stand like contemplative critics. The three of them turn to face the newcomer in their midst.
The webs from Vyshael's spell downstairs extend up to the ceiling, but are blocked by the railings from going into majority of the second floor.
The voice titters with glee, "Oooh... tee he, has the fat-headed dwarf come to look at the works of art? ...he he he... Not the boring crap hanging on the walls,... tee he he... the real works of art that I made." the voice seems to travel from the east end of the room, along the north wall, toward the west.
Felgar continues to hack at the oncoming horde of dead, or what's left of them, but the irritating voice upstairs taunting his cousin throws off his swing.
Vyshael, seeing his arrows sinking in with no damage, drops his bow and reaches behind his head and draws the comfortable, familiar weight of his mother's blade, trying to use the momentum to swing the blade in an arc to cut down the zombie as he channels some of his own innate magic into the blade.
for
Neva followed Raliscar up the stairs, doing her best to avoid the swings of the zombie. As she reached the top of the stairs below Raliscar, she saw even more of the foul creatures, and she let out another wave of disgust-fueled positive energy.
Rutter swings his mace again at the zombie in front of him, and feels like he connects with a glancing blow.
Even in the dim light filtering above from the magical source downstairs, Neva can see the zombies shambling about. With a blast of positive energy, she blasts all of those upstairs and down, except for the one in the parlor behind the wall. Unfortunately for her, the power does not strike them as hard as she would like. The westernmost zombie upstairs crumples in a heap, and the one before Rutter does as well. The other three rock from the blast, but it doesn't put them down for good.
Rutter watches the zombie in front of him dissolve, then looks up the stairs, recognizing Neva's work. He shrugs and follows them up the stairs, leaving the last two zombies to struggle among the webs or be cut down by Felgar and Vyshael. Upstairs, he looks for the source of the taunting first and then settles for the nearest zombie, looking to intercept him if he starts toward Neva and Raliscar.
Rutter follows, and passes the other two on the stairs, setting himself up to be able to act against either zombie heading toward them.
Vyshael switches weapons and demolishes what is left of the parlor zombie.
The zombies themselves are undeterred or worried about the consistent destruction of the others. As such they continue to press forward toward the group. The last one downstairs manages to make its way through the zombie-coated webbing to face off against Felgar. As the other two do what Rutter intended and go for him as the closest target. The southern one misses, but the one to the east slugs hit fairly hard with a meaty fist.
"Quit yer hidin', ye twisted wretch! If ye like dancin' so much how about ye dance wi' this?!" With that, Raliscar rips an orb from the chain around his neck and tosses into the northwest corner of the room.
HP: 56/56
AC: 22 (13 T / 19 FF)
CMD: 19
F/R/W: +8/+9/+4
Ranger's Focus (+4/+4): [ ] [ ]
Level 1 spells prepared (1+1): gravity bow [ ] [ ]
Necklace of Fireballs: 6d6 [ ] // 4d6 [X] [ ] // 2d6 [X] [ ]
Silver Blanched Bolts used: 0/20
-Ongoing Effects-
Favored Terrain (underground/dungeon): +2 to Initiative, Perception, Stealth, & Survival for ALL party members
Barkskin (+2 AC): 1/30 minutes, 4/10 rounds
Felgar again attacks the zombie in G7.
Raliscar hollers as he hurls a golden orb from his necklace. The sphere, reaching the corner burst into flame in a great ball. The flames lick at the walls, floor and ceiling, leaving scorch marks but luckily not catching fire.
There was no sign of anything else being burnt. The door to the north suddenly opens, and the voice calls out from beside it, as it moves west and then south along the western wall. "Oh, poor dumb dwarf... tee he... is him fwowing a temper-tantwum?... So sad to be so stupid... he he he... but at least there's fire, fire is always fun... he he.." Through the door, Raliscar can see two more zombies milling about. One is dressed as a Galtan queen, her sprawling pearl-studded gown flowing around her and her elaborate, powdered wig nearly brushing the ceiling. The second zombie is dressed as a Qadiran princess.
Felgar takes a hearty swing at the last zombie downstairs, decimating it in one great swing that sends spatter across the webbing.
Hearing the voice and bristling at its insults, Neva grew impatient with the zombies blocking the path. She drew a small spiral in the air.
A translucent, glowing dagger appeared and slashed out at the nearest zombie.
It left only a meager scratch on the undead flesh. As the eldritch dagger returned to her side, she gave it a disapproving growl.
Rutter reaches behind his back and brings out his quickdraw steel shield. He takes a defensive stance against the two zombies and whips around his silver mace in a wide arc.
Vyshael retrieves his bow, sliding it back over his shoulder, before looking up at the stairwell... If I run up the stairs and tumble past... no, I don't think that'll work... He shrugs and moves to the back of the line of his friends, ready to try his rushing and tumbling plan as soon as there's an opening.
Neva's newly summoned force Skane offers a thin wound to the targeted zombie, leaving a gash on its arm.
Rutter takes up a defensive stance, holding his position as target for the foul undead. As he does, he takes a swing at one of them, but falls short in order to maintain his defenses.
With the last downstairs zombie reduced to a pile of gore, Vyshael collects his weapon and follows the others upstairs.
The two zombies around Rutter swing at him once again. Lacking any sort of thinking brain, they ignore the obvious opportunity to flank him, only knowing how to swing with a hatred for life. One of them gets pretty close, but Rutter is able to turn it into a glancing blow off his armor.
The other two zombies, the 'queen' and 'princess', groan in discontent as the shuffle from the room and move toward the group.
Raliscar slips around toward the southeast corner of the balcony area, ducking past two zombies as he hustles by, then turns and shoots at the nearest one harrying Rutter.
HP: 56/56
AC: 22 (13 T / 19 FF)
CMD: 19
F/R/W: +8/+9/+4
Ranger's Focus (+4/+4): [ ] [ ]
Level 1 spells prepared (1+1): gravity bow [ ] [ ]
Necklace of Fireballs: 6d6 [ ] // 4d6 [X] [ ] // 2d6 [X] [ ]
Silver Blanched Bolts used: 0/20
-Ongoing Effects-
Favored Terrain (underground/dungeon): +2 to Initiative, Perception, Stealth, & Survival for ALL party members
Barkskin (+2 AC): 1/30 minutes, 5/10 rounds
Felgar rushes upstairs to J33 and attacks the Zombie in K33.
Rutter takes another defensive swing at the zombie at the top of the steps and misses. He then starts to circle around it to draw its attention from Vyshael as he comes up the stairs.
Vyshael rushes up the stairs and swings his blade at the zombie that Rutter so kindly set up for him.... though, in his haste, he makes the attack before recovering his balance from the stairwell.
for
Raliscar scrambles to the west side of the balcony, he easily skips aside of the reactive blow from the first zombie, but the second one he passes gives him a wallop hard on his left shoulder. In return, Raliscar whipped around and launched a heavy bolt right through what was left of the thing.
Suddenly, there is a loud scream tearing through the air, as a bolt screeches across the room to strike Raliscar. Just then an odd-looking woman in clown paint and a jester's hat appears next to the northern door. She has a light crossbow in hand. Finally, the voice has shown herself. She is giggling excitedly, and slightly bouncing in a dance of enjoyment.
Raliscar reels from the crossbow bolt and staggers back a step from the blow. He growls at the clownish woman as he rips the bolt free, "Nice of ye ta show yerself. We'll be endin' yer evil now, don't ye doubt."
HP: 22/56
AC: 22 (13 T / 19 FF)
CMD: 19
F/R/W: +8/+9/+4
Ranger's Focus (+4/+4): [ ] [ ]
Level 1 spells prepared (1+1): gravity bow [ ] [ ]
Necklace of Fireballs: 6d6 [ ] // 4d6 [X] [ ] // 2d6 [X] [ ]
Silver Blanched Bolts used: 0/20
-Ongoing Effects-
Favored Terrain (underground/dungeon): +2 to Initiative, Perception, Stealth, & Survival for ALL party members
Barkskin (+2 AC): 1/30 minutes, 5/10 rounds
Shaken
Felgar steps forward from his position behind Vyshael and attacks the zombie.
The shriek rings through the hall, and Rutter cringes. He looks for the source, and instinctively backs away from the spellcaster. He stumbles past the zombie at the top of the stairs, and then rounds the corner to face the two zombies blocking the hallway. Senses regained, he shrugs, and then heads straight for them, replacing his quickdraw shield on his back. As he reaches them, he tries to spin between the left zombie and the banister, giving them no chance to attack as he passes. Once through the undead blockade, he twirls his mace in his hand and approaches the spellcaster.
Neva sneered at the bolt as it screamed by, and would have laughed had it not been for the halting steps of Felgar and Raliscar.
As the bolt slammed into Raliscar, however, her derision was replaced by anger and determination.
"You sick woman! Behold the Lady's face and be judged!" With this she traced a spiral and an 'X' in the air.
Looking back to the blocked stairs, she pointed her finger and sent the glowing dagger at the zombie still in the way.
With the crazy woman now exposed, Neva turns and tries to lock down her movements with a prayer to Pharasma. Sending the spell forward, the woman's eyes go wide... with excitement, but she merely laughs off the effect. "Ha HA! You poor foolish Pharasmin. What's the matter, you don't like all my toys? [i]he he he... or are you just jealous your boring god doesn't let you have any?"
Meanwhile, in her distraction, Neva's dagger whips harmlessly at the nearby zombie.
Rutter disregards the one lone zombie, his sights set on a different target all together, the voice gone visible. With a spring to his step he dances past the other enemies to reach her as soon as he can.
Vyshael is unmoved by the screaming bolt zipping past, but it is his own hasty footing that does him in as he swings at the zombie and just misses destroying it.
The same zombie swings equally back at the elven swordsman, unwittingly yet successfully it takes advantage of his maneuvering and hits him hard.
---------------------------------
The two zombies swing late and misguided, as they do not have the ability to recognize that Rutter was moving past them and not right before them.
Right after he moves past them, their mindlessness has them turn and follow him.
--------------
Raliscar slams another bolt into his crossbow's cradle, winching the string into place as quickly as he can. Glaring at the singsongy woman, he growls, "No, we don't like yer blighted toys, ye twisted maniac. Now hold still so I can bury this bolt in yer black heart."
HP: 22/56 (-8, -26)
AC: 22 (13 T / 19 FF) (includes barkskin)
CMD: 19
F/R/W: +8/+9/+4
Ranger's Focus (+4/+4): [ ] [ ]
Level 1 spells prepared (1+1): gravity bow [ ] [ ]
Necklace of Fireballs: 6d6 [ ] // 4d6 [X] [ ] // 2d6 [X] [ ]
Silver Blanched Bolts used: 0/20
-Ongoing Effects-
Favored Terrain (underground/dungeon): +2 to Initiative, Perception, Stealth, & Survival for ALL party members
Barkskin (+2 AC): 1/30 minutes, 6/10 rounds
Shaken: 1/1 rounds
Ranger's Focus (+4/+4): Freaky Jester Girl
With Rutter so close, she dances backwards a step, then leaps over the railing at the corner to the floor below, laughing and giggling the whole time. As she hits the floor, she moves towards the front door of the manor.
--------------------
Rutter turns his back on the zombie following him and chases the woman down the hall and over the railing. He doesn't miss a step as he hits the ground and heads toward the door.