The two allips fly into the walls, and emerge a second later flanking Argor. They reach out to grasp him with their spectral claws. Both of their ice cold hands pass right through Argor's chest, and immediately his mind fills with thoughts of madness and suicide.
Argor gapes in terror when he realizes the dangerous situation they are in. "Allips! Their touch ravages your minds! Kill them quickly!" He takes a step into the room and tries to cast a spell to render him invisible, but the creatures claws have already had a negative effect on his mental faculties.
Nyugusk stares in horror and wonder at the allips, his massive jaw hanging open and drool coming down his chin.
Grommuk continues being too weak willed to resist any effect ever conceived by any creature anywhere ever. He joins the other orc-blooded Pathfinder in drooling fearfully.
Hrimnagel is caught up in memories all of the sudden, flashing back to Maeva, and experiencing it all over and over again in his mind.
Cladissa shakes off the babbling insanity in her mind. She blinks several times, then casts chill touch, designating Cole as the toucher. Then she pulls out a flask of holy water.
================================
The two allips see that everyone but a cat appear to have succumbed to their muttering, and stick on Argor, wanting to taste more of the wizard's delicious mind. The drift out of the other side of the corner and attack him again. Their claws pass through the wizard's chest again, and he collapses in heap, twitching slightly before laying still. Arcytryx flutters alarmedly from his staff, flapping his way to the ceiling and squawking loudly.
___________________________________________
Cladissa moves into the hallway and immediately tries to hex the allip on the right. Cole! Go for that one! she instructs. Her familiar jumps at the ghostly apparition to try to deliver the spell.
______________
fail
fails
rounds.
The two allips see that everyone but a cat appear to have succumbed to their muttering, and stick on Argor, wanting to taste more of the wizard's delicious mind. The drift out of the other side of the corner and attack him again. Their claws pass through the wizard's chest again, and he collapses in heap, twitching slightly before laying still. Arcytryx flutters alarmedly from his staff, flapping his way to the ceiling and squawking loudly.
Cladissa moves into the hallway and immediately tries to hex the allip on the right. "Cole! Go for that one!" she instructs. Her familiar jumps at the ghostly apparition to try to deliver the spell.
================
The allip which the cat touched flees the terrifying feline. It leaves the wall and crosses the room, disappearing out of sight. The other allip emerges from the wall, and attacks Cole, seeing what the cat did to its companion spirit. Cole nimbly dodges out of the way.
_______________________________
Feeling desperate watching Argor collapse, Cladissa grabs the shadowy form in front of her and shakes it. Hrimnagel! Snap out of it! Don't listen to the voices, block them out!
Shouting next to her familiar, she instructs, Cole, get ready to run. If I can't wake these up, we're going to have to go get help.
_______________________
Hrimnagel awakes from the fascination wanting to go fight the two allips, but he knows that he needs to wake his friends first.
I'll get them, don't worry! We have half a minute before the other one comes back! Can you fight them? Is Argor dead?
Cole hisses, coils, and springs at the remaining allip, trying to deliver another jolt of the necromantic energy.
miss
hits
saves
When the shadowy gnome shakes him, Nyugusk lets out a startled "Whaaa--!?" but then his instinct kicks in and he sees Argor unconscious on the floor.
He reaches out with his accordion-arm, throws the mage over his shoulder, and starts to run, hollering "Let's get out of here while we can!"
The allip which the cat touched flees the terrifying feline. It leaves the wall and crosses the room, disappearing out of sight. The other allip emerges from the wall, and attacks Cole, seeing what the cat did to its companion spirit. Cole nimbly dodges out of the way.
Feeling desperate watching Argor collapse, Cladissa grabs the shadowy form in front of her and shakes it. "Hrimnagel! Snap out of it! Don't listen to the voices, block them out!" Shouting next to her familiar, she instructs, "Cole, get ready to run. If I can't wake these up, we're going to have to go get help."
Hrimnagel awakes from the fascination wanting to go fight the two allips, but he knows that he needs to wake his friends first. He runs over and slaps Hrimnagel's rump hard, snapping the half-orc out of his fascination.
"I'll get them, don't worry! We have half a minute before the other one comes back! Can you fight them? Is Argor dead?" Cladissa calls after the gnome.
Cole hisses, coils, and springs at the remaining allip, trying to deliver another jolt of the necromantic energy. The spell is successfully delivered, but the allip shakes off the fear effect.
When the shadowy gnome shakes him, Nyugusk lets out a startled "Whaaa--!?" but then his instinct kicks in and he sees Argor unconscious on the floor. He reaches out with his accordion-arm, throws the mage over his shoulder, and starts to run, hollering "Let's get out of here while we can!"
================================
The allip drifts over for a view of the hallway, and then swipes at the cat again. Cole ducks under the blow, hissing and yowling at the undead.
_______________________________
Cole! We are LEAVING! Cladissa announces after Nyug sounds the retreat. She turns and shakes Grommuk out of his fascination, then passes by him to move out of the crypt while Cole dashes through the hallway in retreat.
____________________
Hrimnagel moves back to the group and readies to attack an allip if one gets within melee.
Doing his best not to bump Argor into any walls, Nyugusk take a look to make sur they're all together and then starts to hustle back up the stairs and outside, glancing back to see if they're being pursued.
Grommuk follows behind the rest obediently. Part of him wants to march down the hall and start punching the things in the face, but a more dominant factor in his mind tells the brute he wants to be as far away from the terrors as orcishly possible.
Arctyryx follows closely behind Nyugusk in their retreat, though he does not take roost on the orc as he normally does upon his master's staff. ()
Hustling along, Cladissa turns to scoop up her cat and keeps moving. So brave of you! Fighting those spooky old ghosts, she coos to him while cradling him in her arms.
The allip drifts over for a view of the hallway, and then swipes at the cat again. Cole ducks under the blow, hissing and yowling at the undead.
"Cole! We are LEAVING!" Cladissa announces after Nyug sounds the retreat. She turns and shakes Grommuk out of his fascination, then passes by him to move out of the crypt while Cole dashes through the hallway in retreat.
Hrimnagel moves back to the group and readies to attack an allip if one gets within melee.
Doing his best not to bump Argor into any walls, Nyugusk take a look to make sur they're all together and then starts to hustle back up the stairs and outside, glancing back to see if they're being pursued.
Grommuk follows behind the rest obediently. Part of him wants to march down the hall and start punching the things in the face, but a more dominant factor in his mind tells the brute he wants to be as far away from the terrors as orcishly possible.
Arctyryx follows closely behind Nyugusk in their retreat, though he does not take roost on the orc as he normally does upon his master's staff.
Hustling along, Cladissa turns to scoop up her cat and keeps moving. "So brave of you! Fighting those spooky old ghosts", she coos to him while cradling him in her arms.
================================
The allip moves up to Hrimnagel, who swings at it with his mace, but misses.
The undead fiend reaches out and grabs Hrimnagel's shoulder. The gnome tries to pull away, but the Allip's draining touch does its work on him before he can. Hrimnagel's mind fills with dark thoughts as the Allip grows more substantial.
_________________________________
Hrimnagel withdraws a little more insane.
Cladissa retreats to safety, following everyone else. Cole is cradled in her arms, limbs all askew yet maintaining as much dignity as he can.
The Pathfinders make it out of the necropolis and back into the muddy lakebed where the trapdoor is. They stand there panting, hearts racing for a few moments, unsure whether they are being pursued by the allips or not. After some time it becomes clear that they are safe - for the moment.
As soon as it appears that they are not being pursued, Cladissa drops Cole onto the ground to let him make his own way. She waves to the old caretaker as they move past him. Sorry, Mr. Marlinchen! We'll be back. We just forgot some... oh, goodness. Um. Forgot Argor's medicine here. He needs it or he just... She gestures to the limp form in Nyug's arms as if that's enough explanation.
When they're out of the caretaker's earshot, Cladissa slows up, panting, and asks, Can I take a look at Argor? I don't see any blood, but he's breathing.
Cladissa thinks about what sort of treatments might help to restore his consciousness.
Grommuk scratches under his armpit before giving it a quick sniff. A satisfied look settles on his face then he looks at Argor. "Clerics cure Grommuk's noodle-face kiss. They fix that too?" The burly orc grabs Argor's left arm and raises it, releasing it and watching as it falls limply again. He repeats this motion several times.
I believe so, Grommuk. She stifles a smile at Argor's treatment.
"Before we get him cured, maybe we can fasten some strings to him and Grommuk could use him as a puppet. Let's go."
Cladissa allows herself a giggle this time, realizing that Argor is not awake to hear her. The same clerics who cured Grommuk can probably help him. They also might have some ideas about what to do against those ghosts.
Thinking of the insane babbling, she adds, At the very least, maybe we should get some earplugs.
After the spells are administered, Cladissa crosses her arms and looks over Argor. Welcome back. She looks deep in his black eyes, and using her training in medicine she pronounces her diagnosis: You got your mind wiped by some undead. I'm pretty sure you'll recover in time, but you need to take it easy. I think I have some ways to speed it along.
I think in a day's time, you'll more or less be healed up, but you have to put your big old brain to rest. Doctor's orders, she wags a finger towards him. You too, Hrimnagel, she addresses the patch of shadow lurking nearby.
Back at the manor, Cladissa unpacks her healer's kit and prepares some rubs, salts, and brews some tea-like concoctions to aid in the restoration of the mind.
It was strange, coming out of his coma. He had no memory of the events as his mental faculties were withdrawn from his mind. All he could seem to remember were visions of madness. Homicidal. Suicidal. Pure insanity.
He barely recollected the words Cladissa had spoken to him as he came to. Once back in the manor, after having received treatment for his ailments, he realized just how indebted he was to the team. While clearly he was not at fault for their failed first foray into the necropolis, as if they had listened to him and not surrendered to the Allip's babbling like simple minded buffoons, he realized that despite their primitive minds they still chose to insure his safety.
As Cladissa turns to walk away, Argor reaches out quickly with his gloved hand and halts her departure by placing it on her fur covered forearm.
"Cladissa," he said. "Thank you. I'm not...not accustomed to relying on someone like this. I know it doesn't seem like much, but I appreciate what you, and the others, did by getting me out of there. I will find a way to repay the debt."
He then leans his head back onto his pillow and tries to clear his mind of the lingering urges to summon a pack of hell hounds to tear her apart.
Cladissa pauses at the threshold to Argor's room and forces away the thought that wow, he really did get his mind scrambled.
Instead, she debates about telling him that she didn't need to be owed, nor should he be in the others' debt. Yes, they had saved him, but not out of some desire to have something on him, but that it was simply the good and proper thing to do rather than leave him insensate on the floor of an ancient necropolis to die.
But she just shakes her head and leaves his chambers without a word, not wanting to introduce a concept that could possibly blow his fragile mind as it recuperates.
Predictably, Grommuk heads to the kitchen and begins pestering Mr. Goodpies for details of the whens and whats for the next meal. His mind wanders to thoughts of the creatures in the necropolis, and whether or not he can punch his way through smoke-monsters. Eventually, he gets up and makes his way to the Grand Lodge, where he spends the better part of the early evening pestering Pathfinders and Pathfinder hopefuls about what he can do against such a foe. Ultimately, their advice leads him to a nearby shop of oddities and magical baubles where he purchases a small flask of oil from a lady whose name he immediately forgot.
Grommuk returns, confident in his solution, and begins waiting eagerly for dinner again.
When Cladissa is finished with her ministrations of Hrimnagel, he goes to spend the rest of his cash on two flasks of holy water.