"Ha! Now that the viper's dealt with, somebody help me up! Foul woman's magics haven't worn off yet an' I'm tired o' bein' on the flippin' floor!"
Neva looked with diminishing satisfaction at the smoldering corpse. How are the pustules still growing?
Once again, Neva cursed her lack of formal education. She tried humming some of the songs she once used to try to memorize religious facts.
No, that's the song for remembering grandma's stew receipe. Try again...
She rubbed her forhead
"Does anyone else know why this corpse is still...pustulating?"
"What?! Are ye sayin' that mud-sucker's corpse is bubblin' like one o' her nasty plagues?" The dwarf rolls around, hindered by his backpack, to look up and over at Neva. "She told us she'd plant that filth inside o' us just a minute ago - I'm bettin' she'd done the very same to herself and now that she's dead Urgathoa's lettin' it all loose within 'er. She's not much use to 'er now after all, 'cept by someone else catchin' what she's got."
He struggles to rise, but remains held on the floor by the dead woman's spell. "Vysh? Feldy? Isn't there somethin' either o' you can do here? This blasted room doesn't smell any nicer stuck down on th' floor like this, if ye were wonderin'!" He grumbles some more and kicks in vain at the air, still unable to right himself.
”Not really stuff I like to think about, sorry. Can we lock her in here or fireball the corpse or something?”
"She might have some good stuff on her." Rutter muses. "Hope it ain't all scrolls."
"I dipped my blade in some of this stuff before I slashed her. That might be why she's looking diseased." Rutter starts looking in the basins of various liquids. "This stuff might've come in handy. Can anyone tell what they are? That one's obviously the Blood Veil. Not sure if I want to keep coating my blade with that. Maybe one of these others, though."
He looks over at Raliscar struggling on the floor and laughs, "10 gold says she comes down before he gets up! Any takers?"
Feldivarxon chuckles, "I'll take that bet! I have faith in that rascal!"
Vyshael smiles strangely, his spell filling him with temporary, false strength, then pauses as he watches the lady's corpse. Something about that seems familiar...
Vyshael has heard that some of the truly 'blessed' by Urgathoa are granted some sort of putrid ascendance on their death, and that they turn from their mortal coil to a more fearsome and powerful form.
To match what he's heard, her body suddenly crackles with unholy power and is lifted into the air to float just above the statue of her goddess. Her sundered flesh explodes with boils and pustules, while torrents of Urgathoa’s foul humors flood forth and congeal into a sickening new body for the unliving saint. What once might have been a woman now towers as a monstrosity of exposed muscle, twisting marrow, and hellish majesty. Flesh worn like a tattered gown and bone warped into gruesome weapons, her rent gut spills a wave of hardened fluids, dried bowels, and supremely powerful muscles into a single tentacle tail, propelling the feminine horror forward.The Lady is instantly reborn as a Daughter of Urgathoa, brimming with profane power, and bent on revenge.
"That... is unfortunate."
Neva nodded in horrified agreement with the gnome. "What should we do?!"
Rutter looked up at the large, disgusting creature. "By the gods, you've got to be kidding me."
"Holy sh- Rutter! This doesn't count for the bet between you and th' gnome!" Then, driven by the crisis of the woman's pustulating body springing back to some twisted semblance of life, the dwarf too springs to his feet and lets a bolt fly.
"Huh. Guess I jus' needed the proper motivation."
HP: 55/64
AC: 20 (13 T / 17 FF)
CMD: 20
F/R/W: +9/+10/+5
Ranger's Focus (+4/+4): [X] [X]
Level 1 spells prepared (1+1): gravity bow [X] [X]
Necklace of Fireballs: 6d6 [X] // 4d6 [X] [X] // 2d6 [X] [ ]
-Ongoing Effects-
Favored Terrain (underground/dungeon): +2 to Initiative, Perception, Stealth, & Survival for ALL party members
Ranger's Focus (Evil Lady): +4 to hit, +4 damage
At the twang of Raliscar's crossbow, Feldivarxon realizes that his is loaded and ready and follows suit.
He nudges Esmerelda toward the other side of the hall as he begins to reload.
Rutter cautiously circles around the risen enemy, drawing both kukri. Once in flanking position, he tries to find a vulnerable spot to strike with the kukri still poisoned..
Vyshael puts both of his hands on his mother's blade and wills his own magic into it, while also loosing, carefully, the rage within him, Let's hope she's still weak from, well, dying..., and brings the massive thing down on the monstrosity with a snarl.
Vyshael's massive bulk made the wounds on his body that much more alarming. The sight of them took Neva's thoughts off the monster and her crossbow. She took a few quick strides towards Vyshael, pulling a slender wand from her belt and did her best to apply healing in the midst of battle.
Rutter reaches into one of his pouches, and pulls out his thunderstone. He hurls it at the ceiling above the risen witch's head. The sound of the exploding noisemaker echoes off the walls of the gruesome chamber.
At the development of a new form by their previous opponent, Feldivar realizes that he still hald a loaded crossbow. Taking a chance with it, he fired at the new form, hitting rather well, but only making a scratch.
Rutter, doing what he can from his distance, draws a small alchemically treated stone. Throwing at the ceiling above her head, the thing rings out with a loud boom, echoing about the chamber. The new form of their enemy seems to be unaffected by the noise, ignoring the sound's effect, but not its cause.
With her so far above, it's all Vyshael can do to just have to wait for her to come down to a level where he can fight her. It doesn't stop Raliscar, though, as he finally fights off the effect of her previous spell. He jumps up and launches a bolt into her arm, and though it hits pretty hard, it's not quite enough to have a solid effect on her.
Almost out of options at this point, Neva puts her work into Vyshael, expecting him to need the healing she does have to offer the most. Drawing a wand, she strides up to him and uses its magics to recover some of the wounds he has suffered.
The thing looks at the group spread about the room, and decides to take her hell-bent vengeance out on the one that had peppered her with an array of crossbow bolts. She flies down to float just above the edge of the pool, and hauls back with a mighty swing of her now scythe-like bony appendage. The hit was just shy of a mortal wound, but nonetheless was still very powerful
"Holy- what th-!" The rest of Raliscar's shout is cut off in a straggled cry of pain as the repugnant woman's scythe-hand rips through him. Staggering back a few steps, he clutches the wound and nearly collapses, but the dwarf keeps his balance and brings his crossbow up despite his dizziness. "Oh, ye liked that, did ye? Have some more, ye twisted lunatic!"
HP: 11/54
AC: 20 (13 T / 17 FF)
CMD: 20
F/R/W: +9/+10/+5
Ranger's Focus (+4/+4): [X] [X]
Level 1 spells prepared (1+1): gravity bow [X] [X]
Necklace of Fireballs: 6d6 [X] // 4d6 [X] [X] // 2d6 [X] [ ]
-Ongoing Effects-
Favored Terrain (underground/dungeon): +2 to Initiative, Perception, Stealth, & Survival for ALL party members
Ranger's Focus (Evil Lady): +4 to hit, +4 damage
Deadly Aim: -2/+4
Con Damage: 4
HP: 21/64
AC: 20 (13 T / 17 FF)
CMD: 20
F/R/W: +9/+10/+5
Ranger's Focus (+4/+4): [X] [X]
Level 1 spells prepared (1+1): gravity bow [X] [X]
Necklace of Fireballs: 6d6 [X] // 4d6 [X] [X] // 2d6 [X] [ ]
-Ongoing Effects-
Favored Terrain (underground/dungeon): +2 to Initiative, Perception, Stealth, & Survival for ALL party members
Ranger's Focus (Evil Lady): +4 to hit, +4 damage
Deadly Aim: -2/+4
Vyshael moves around the fountain as best he can in his expanded form, to level a solid blow against the new form the previous lady has converted into. His hit is enough to engender a whip of her head around to look at the large elf.
Raliscar is rocked by the blow, but he feels some foul sensation creeping through his veins. His breathing is ragged and labored, his skin goes cold and clammy, as sweat builds on his brow. There is a growing darkness in his vision and he has the notion of cards swirling around him. They flutter wildly, before one, then another, a third, and finally a total of four cards turn to ash and fall to the ground. His eyesight returns, and he feels like the worst of the effect is gone.
Rutter moves behind the statue, careful to stay out of reach. Once concealed from the witch's view, he makes himself small against the statue and tries climbing again. Unfortunately, in his care to remain concealed, he's unable to find good handholds without reaching into her line of sight to give away his position.
Feldivarxon tries to glitterdust the aberration once again, knowing there's little hope it will work, but thinking it's about all he can do.
He moves down the passage, saying, "She has to come down into reach if she follows us down the hall, right?"
Rutter licks his lips as she drops into his reach. He circles around her carefully, drawing both kukri. He shrugs, certain that this won't work if she's now some kind of pestilence goddess, but swings up at her with the poisoned kukri first.
Neva ran to Raliscar, and gave him a treatment from the wand.
In an attempt to at least allow them some ability to get into better positioning, Feldivar tries to blind the newly acquired undead state of the priestess. After casting his spell, he backs into the tunnel for a funneling effect. Despite the spell covering her in a blanket of shiny particles, she is neither blocked nor distracted by the motes.
Rutter works with the fact that she is finally in range, doing a dive roll to get safely in range, he rushes his advance. She whips around with her scythe-like claw, slashing at the halfling approaching her right side. Even with the hit he took, he just manages to drive his second kukri into the Daughter, but sadly Vyshael is not at the angle needed to allow him to hit a vital spot.
Raliscar huffs his way back a step, giving himself a little leeway to fire at her some more. He releases two shots in quick succession, but they just harmlessly bounce off her thick bony shape.
Neva, holding to what she has available, rushes handily to Raliscar's side to bless him with positive energy from the wand, sealing the wound just received but not removing the entirety of the damage.
With the group converged around her, she does not look to be worried by the approach. Instead, she moves to where all but Feldivar are within her reach, and turns her attention back on Vyshael as the same threat that remained from before. She cuts into him hard with the natural scythe, and then follows up with just her regular claw hand.
Vyshael takes a breath, feeling suddenly light headed as his stolen vitality, and much of his own, gets taken. He grits his teeth, tightens his hands on his mother's blade and swings again, mentally pushing his magic into the sword as it strikes.
"Gahh!" Rutter exclaimed as she hit him with her scythe. Crap! I can't even get past her if I wanted.
With no alternative but to fight, Rutter steps up and lays into her with both kukri.
Vyshael, wavering on his feet, manages to just get his blade past the thing's defenses. His swing pushing through, is still able to cause at least some damage.