At the sounds of fighting, Drogan breaks from the main group. "Stay there, and don't make a sound. We'll be back as soon as we dealt with whatever foul beastie Marsh kicked from the undergrowth."
The dwarf ran through the trees, following the sounds of the struggle. When he sees the ghouls and Marsh standing over them, he jumps into the air, bringing his waraxe down on top of the first one that his path crosses.
.
Drogan bursts into the clearing and finds a target quickly. Writhing on the ground are three, purple-skinned monstrosities hissing and flailing, claws tearing at the air and at their own flash as they attempt to extricate what looks to be arrows sprouting from their bodies.
Moonlight glints off of the keen axe blade as Drogan focuses on the closest target. He wades into the flailing claws and brings his weapon down. It should have bit deeper, but the wriggling monster presents a surprisingly difficult target.
miss!
lucky
As Drogan grazes the flailing creature, it lashes out blindly in its pain and frustration, but the wily dwarf is too quick and manages to move out of reach just in time. He sees the claws pass by his eyes and can smell the acrid poison dripping from them.
"Drogan! You are too close!"
Karl jumps in to flank with him on the prone ghoul. His sword tip seeking to skewer the ravenous undead to the earth.
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- Page 2 - Goptner's Grove & St Antoinette's
- Page 3 - the Clearing
Between Karl and Drogan, they give the ghoul its final rest. Carver seeks to do the same, drawing two arrows in rapid succession to finish off the one nearest him.
All that remains is the third ghoul, still writhing in pain but its clawed hand finally closes around the cold iron arrow, yanking it free in a squelch of tearing flesh. The effects of the metal begin to wear off.
For the fallen enemies, their unnatural green cloaks undulate with more intensity. One is pinned beneath Karl's sword where he'd run it thru. It begins to strain against the weapon holding it fast, a warbling snarl thick with fluids and hatred rises. Karl and Drogan watch as the cloak pulls itself away from the ghoul beneath it, and it raises its green head with hollow eye sockets and the rough appearance of a half-orc. Well, the skin of a half-orc!
"Aww, leave it out..." The forester calls. Opposite him, the green skin cloak has no such difficulty freeing itself from the destroyed ghoul. It floats upwards at an arming rate and surges at Carver, the upper half a fully formed orc, the lower half shredded and torn. A mass of undulating skin simply enshrouds Carver and his voice is quickly muffled and silenced as he's constricted!
- Karl Marsh - 31/31 HP
- Carver - 10/30 HP | Pinned
- Ghoul 1 - 10 pts Damage | Stunned Last Round
- Ghoul 2 - Destroyed
- Ghoul 3 - Destroyed
"Damn does Nosa have s$+%ty timing!"
Karl leaves his sword impaled in the skin and hurries to free carver. He grasps the skin with his opposite hand and tries to work his off hand blade into the skin with as little damage to Carver as possible.
"Drogan, can you finish that one off that's stuck on my sword?"
|
Phedron hisses in distaste. "I hate undead." he says plainly. Drawing his sword he moves to assist Carver. He hates them because there is little defense he has against them. Evocations he could never get the hang of. The mind has always been his realm, though he has learned others. These thoughts flit out of his mind and he goes to face these abominations.
Initiative:
If/when Phedron makes it to Carver, he carefully tries to cut just the skin, as if skinning wild game. He grabs the flapping skin, pulls it taut and then glides his elven blade across the creature.
Attack: Damage
"Me too kid. Watch your six cause that one behind us just about has that cold iron arrow dug out of it and I am all out of cold iron."
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- Page 1 - Demgazi & Inspitah
- Page 2 - Goptner's Grove & St Antoinette's
- Page 3 - the Clearing Battle
- Rollin' Knowledge checks for y'all
- Drog
- Phed
- Karl
- --- Attacks on Carver ---
-
- 4 out of 20 from PC attacks
- Status 3/30 HP
-
- --- Ghoul 1 Attacks! ---
- || 1 Karl | 2 Drog | 3 Phed
- |
- |
-
- 2 rds
Karl leaves the first undulating skin cloak pinned to the ground, dashing to Carver's rescue with his knife bared. His expert strike manages to cut into the rubbery cloak, earning a muffled cry of pain from Carver beneath.
Out of the forest emerges the half-elf Phedron, curve bad gleaming in the lunar light as he flays more of the abhorrent cloak from Carver.
Drogan manages to end the squirming of the skin claim pinned by Karl's sword. As he does so, his studies in the Iron Archives produce something of a identification of the monster under his blade.
As the battle prolongs, the remaining ghoul - undulating cloak still upon its shoulders - wrenches the cold iron arrow free. It shrieks triumph and plows into Drogan, poison drenched claws finding purchase in the dwarf's flesh. The poison seeps into him, seizing muscle and tendon and paralyzing the bard!
As the other two heroes strove to keep Carver from further harm, the skin cloak squeezes him further.
- Karl Marsh - 31/31 HP
- Drogan - 16/22 | Paralyzed 2 Rounds!!
- Carver - 3/30 HP | Pinned
- Ghoul 1 - 10 pts Damage
- Ghoul 2 - Destroyed
- Ghoul 3 - Destroyed
"Carver's dead if we don't get this thing off of him. I hope I don't kill him in the process. On a side note I've got two potions on me, but don't do anything stupid and get yourself killed. Are the others right behind you?."
Karl switches his main gauche to his main hand and thrusts and rends as carefully as possible forgoing his second attack to give him a firm hold on the skin in order to limit damages.
Karl's blade expertly flays the skin from Carver's head and torso, killing the horrid monster outrjght. The forester crumples, senseless to the ground.
"Help Drogan! I'll be right there!"
Drogan struggles against his own body - unable to will it to movement. His words come out in a flail of spit as he struggles to ungrit his teeth.
"Leave me. I'll be fine. Put the bastards down. Ye could'a told me we were dealin' with shredskins, Marsh!"
Drogan lets out a grunt, followed by a guttural howl.
"Don't let 'em get ya, or they'll be wearin' you like a skin suit. Somebody stay on Carver. Weak as 'e is, it'll try and get him!"
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- Page 1 - Demgazi & Inspitah
- Page 2 - Goptner's Grove & St Antoinette's
- Page 3 - The Clearing Battle (updated)
The group of adventurers, lead by the mercenaries Stitches and Carver are protecting a trio of nobles seeking an underground entrance to the shadowed, gothic-spired bulk of St. Antoinette’s Academy. On their approach through the darkened Goptner’s Grove, Karl, Linkah and Carver set off to scout the shrouded path ahead.
In a clearing lit only by spears of pale moonlight the scouts find three shadowed shapes huddled over a grizzly meal. Not wanting their comrades to be taken unawares, Karl and Carver stalk the feasting fiends and send Linkah back to the group to warn them of the danger ahead. Both veteran warrior and forester draw back their arrows and let fly cold iron arrows…
...meanwhile, back at the main group, Drogan and Phedron ply their skills of social etiquette to draw out information from the three nobles in their midst. What that gathered information means to the party is still up for debate for the halfling Linkah Merrywater bursts upon the scene to deliver his ill tidings.
Back at the clearing, the battle is joined as one after another, the ghouls are sent to the ground writhing in pain from the touch of the cold iron arrow tips. The two archers continue their volley until one of the creatures is laid low, but one manages to launch itself at Carver, gouging him furiously. But it too is felled by arrow and blade. It is then that the undulating cloaks that had been upon the shoulders and heads of the ghouls come to horrific, independently mobile life! The first enshrouds Carver, forcing its will upon his flesh with the goal of killing and turning the forester into its new puppet. The second attacks Karl, only to be pinned to the ground by his expert stabbing attack.
From the main group, Drogan and Phedron join the fight! Between Karl and Drogan, the pinned skin cloak (or shredskin) is dispatched. Then the veteran warrior seeks to team up with Phedron to free Carver from his carnivorous cloak. While Phedron’s attempt to grasp the shredskin is balked by its growing control over Carver’s maneuverable form, Karl’s main gauche expertly peels away the shredskin from Carver’s countenance and deals a nasty bit of damage, killing the monstrosity. With it dead, Carver collapses to the ground, alive but grievously wounded.
As the shredskins are being dispatched, the final ghoul, still bedecked with its beastial cloak, frees itself from the effects of the cold iron arrow. It’s poisonous claws tear into Drogan, rendering the dwarfish percussionist immobile! But in short order, Beckett and Lavios burst into the clearing; the first attempts a swing at the ghoul attacking Drogan but only manages to bury his Lucerne Hammer in the ground at the purple fiend’s feet!
- --- Ghoul 1 Attacks! ---
- || 1 Karl | 2 Drog | 3 Phed
- |
- |
-
- Rds
The ghoul shrieks in defiance as Beckett’s swing chews up the ground in front of it, boldly dodging away and going after Karl as he turns to face the remaining threat in the clearing. Two sets of claws lash out, but only one finds its mark. Unfortunately, that’s all the undead fiend requires to slash him across the shoulder and inject Karl with its paralytic poison!
Upon its unholy shoulders, the shredskin controlling the ghoul’s actions shudders as the odds against its survival dwindle. But so fearsome is the hate that created the macabre cloak, it fights on!
- Karl - 21/31 HP | Paralyzed 4 Rounds!!
- Drogan - 16/22 HP | Paralyzed 1 Round!!
- Phedron- 25/25 HP
- Beckett - 26/26 HP
- Lavios - 31/31 HP
- Carver - 3/30 HP | Freed, stunned
- Ghoul + Shredskin 1 - 10 pts Damage
-
Ghoul + Shredskin 2- Destroyed
-
Ghoul + Shredskin 3- Destroyed
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- Page 2 - Goptner's Grove & St Antoinette's
- Page 3 - The Clearing Battle (updated)
Phedron slips into the fray, bringing his elvish curve blade across the ghouls shoulder and cutting it. Beckett lunges forward but his hammer only churns up more of the first floor add the ghoul springs out of the way. Lavios also finds his target with a quick stab of his trident!
Purplish black ichor drops from claw and fang as the undead fiend turns its attentions upon Beckett! It moves with sickening grace at the sun goddess worshiper, roping into him with one out its claws. Though it misses with the next swipe, the damage is done
- --- Lavios Attacks! ---
-
-
- --- Ghoul 1 Attacks! ---
- || 1 Beckett | 2 Lavios | 3 Phed
- |
- |
-
- Rds
- Karl - 21/31 HP | Paralyzed 4 Rounds!!
- Drogan - 16/22 HP
- Phedron- 25/25 HP
- Beckett - 19/26 HP | Paralyzed 1 Round!!
- Lavios - 31/31 HP
- Carver - 3/30 HP | Freed, stunned
- Ghoul + Shredskin 1 - 17 pts Damage
-
Ghoul + Shredskin 2- Destroyed
-
Ghoul + Shredskin 3- Destroyed
Drogan, feeling life return to his previously stiff and paralyzed limbs, shakes his head.
I've got nothing ready to heart these things. The ghoul is mindless and the shredskin is already wounded. Only one thing for it, and that's to end this.
Drogan lifts his axe and says, "Hey, you discarded knoll wiping! Less try this again!"
and with a shout, he lunges at the ghoul.
Drogan's eyes shine as he brings the waraxe down on the creatures shoulder, cleaving off chunks of flesh and rending the shredskin to tatters.
He is left breathing heavy over his victims.
"<<<lah>>> Nicesh shhhtrike shhhtumpy! <<<yeahrgh!>>>"
Drogan spits on the twitching corpse before taking his axe to it a few more times for good measure. "Shredskins. Bloody Shredskins. Tha's what ye get fer tryin' te take on an ANVILSONG!"
"<<<gag>>> ehhit ish againnah makesh shhhure esh deadah!"
". . . Sonnesh shaw bieotchesh!"
". . . Den elp meh up!"
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- Page 1 - Demgazi & Inspitah
- Page 2 - Goptner's Grove & St Antoinette's
- Page 3 - The Clearing Battle (updated)
Well done!
The tattered flesh and black-blooded gore cling to Drogan’s axe, the ichor seeping into the pressed sigil of the Blackhammers on its blade face. Seconds pass as the dwarf’s vehemence recedes like the poison that coursed his and his comrades’ veins, leaving himself, Karl and Beckett free of its paralysis. All still feel the burning fire of the ghoul poison under their skins like an echo of the monster's wounds that tore their flesh. Something they will not soon forget.
But Carver still lays with several gaping claw wounds and a crushed chest, wheezing for breath. It seems the wounds of the ghoul are one thing, but the near possession by the shredskin is another. The forester remains on his back, eyes staring upwards in gaping fear at the silvery moonlight above.
It's only moments later that the others arrive in the moonlit clearing, Stitches holding his earthbreaker before him.
In the middle of the clearing, where the ghouls had originally been huddled feasting, a mass of torn flesh and jagged bones are all that remain of two, small bodies.
- Karl - 21/31 HP
- Drogan - 16/22 HP
- Phedron- 25/25 HP
- Beckett - 19/26 HP
- Lavios - 31/31 HP
- Carver, half-elf Forester - 3/30 HP | Severely Wounded
- Stitches, half-orc Barbarian
- Allied NPCs - Linkah, Agidor
- Non-Allied NPCs - Reginald, Flavios & Gaston
Drogan kneels down by the body, grabbing what he needs from the pouch. He whispers the old words and his hands begin to glow.
"He'll be okay, at least enough not te die tonight. Someone's goin' te have te watch him though. He's goin' te need some help my magics won't touch. Ye can't look death in the eye that close without it shakin' ya."
He stands up, motioning to Stitches that he should carry him back to the wagon. He then makes his way over to their discovery. He pokes at one of the little fetishes with his axe, lifting it up on the blade to show it to Marsh.
"Whad'ya think, Marsh? Think these ... gnomes? yeah, probably gnomes had a thing fer the death dogs? Some sort a' cult 'er something?"
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Karl groggily wanders over to inspect the remains.
"These little wooden fetishes look like miniature versions of the statues in the warehouse. Like chaos spawn creatures. This friggin cult even has gnomes giving up their steam contraptions? I guess they could be cultists, but what the hell are two gnomes doing wandering around out here by themselves?"
"Phedron, can you see if there is any magic attached to these trinkets? I wonder if we can reconstruct a few. We have drawings of some like it, the big ones burned in the fire."
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- Page 2 - Goptner's Grove & St Antoinette's
- Page 3 - The Clearing Battle (updated)
Your divine senses immediately detect the resonance of unfettered, wild evil. Like seeing into a maelstrom of chaotic black swirling with frozen terror beyond your vision yet close enough to reach into your core with gnawing desperation.
For a lesser man, one not granted the mantle of Sarenrae, the force and fear seething within each of the fetishes would be enough topple his sanity over the cliff's edge. For Beckett Foxglove, the rippling horror dwelling beyond sight only gives him a glancing chill down the spine.
The trinkets, carved into horrid asymmetry, gives off a deep purple glow and all resonate with something at the edge of the clearing. Your keen eyes trace along the tendrils of aetheric energies, a spider's web extending to the north face of the clearing and beyond the darkness hinted at by the sparse treeline.
You close your eyes and for the briefest of moments you see the gold leaf rose emblazoned upon the cover of your book. That and a subtle glow of putrid green light movie about the deeper forest...watching you all.
You blink and the glow is gone, but not the icy grip of fear tickling along your scalp and down to the nape of your neck.
Stitches strides to Carver and pulls a phial of red-amber liquid. Once Drogan finishes his magical workings, he lifts Carver unceremoniously to a seated position. The forester opens his eyes groggily, dark circles under them where the taxation of harm and heal is eve doesn't. The giant half-orc tips his head back and pours the phial’s contents down his throat.
”Fascinating.” Reginald says, stepping cautiously towards one of the felled ghouls and its horror cloak.
”Leave over, Regi.” Gaston warns nervously, kicking his lips.
Reginald, for his part, gives pause to his progress, but continues to observe. ”So the gnomes are just as much a threat in spite of their...proclivities.”
”We move out soon.” Stitches says in his flat tone. ”Sun ‘ll be up in two hours. We must cross inna the caverns ‘fore that.” He looks down at Carver whose wounds are knitting together and offers a hand to get him to his feet.
”Quite.” Reginald acknowledges, but his eyes never leave the ghoul.
- Karl - 21/31 HP
- Drogan - 16/22 HP
- Phedron- 25/25 HP
- Beckett - 19/26 HP
- Lavios - 31/31 HP
- Carver, half-elf Forester - 27/30 HP
- Stitches, half-orc Barbarian
- Allied NPCs - Linkah, Agidor
- Non-Allied NPCs - Reginald, Flavios & Gaston