Dalkk is gone for a moment, his body remains but clearly he is not all there. Once he comes back he coughs, blood spurting from his lips. He spits at the ground towards her feet. "I am reminded me of an old Dwarven saying... Kiss my pick!" Dalkk rolls back through the paralyzed Trolls legs trying to make it to Vuzi. He does all he can to avoid getting hit by the trolls while he does. When he rolls through he draws the light crossbow from his leg holster.
Dalkk practically barrels into the only friendly green skin for miles. He levels his light crossbow at the troll easily over the heads of the fur-fighters, and fires the pheromone bolt, tossing the crossbow aside shortly after.
The the trio engages the priestess and does some serious damage. Almost every strike hits and whether it's death by a thousand cuts or Cain's savage strikes she is taking a beating. She seems to be protected from acid and fire as her regeneration is clearly still active. Some foul deity is probably protecting her!
Maglin successfully disengages and casts.
The priestess literally shaves hair off Dalkk's back with her Morningstar as he rolls away. Dalkk reaches Vuzi and gets some much needed healing, then he foes. She neatly dodges Dalkk's bolt, unfortunately.
Vance tries to tear out the paralyzed troll's throat, but it doesn't come loose on the first try.
The monster behind the priestess breaks free and moves south to get out of the web. He breaks free with a furious roar!
The front liners take a pounding from the trolls!
The males all fail to successfully strike.
The priestess, however, is a force to be reckoned with. Her first strike impacts Simon and bones audibly crack. The second is an exquisite backswing that catches Cain directly across his face!
Maglin runs back the way he came awkwardly, with one hand staying at his hip in his component pouch. When he gets within thirty five feet of Simon, five waves of power pulse from Maglin in all directions. He then disappears and reappears ten feet to the west.
A large boar suddenly appears at the edge of the heavy vegitation, charging towards the queen.
As the ravaging female troll hits her brother, Emily sees red.
This creature will not harm her brother anymore!
With a furious bite, she tries to catch her off-guard, trying to draw her attention away.
"Vhat do ve do?" She reaches out and heals Simon.
Emily, still having her maw fiercely embedded into the leg of the towering priestess, continues to rip and tear at the enemy that has just pained her brother.
Brother's so fast.
And yet he got hit.
It can't be!
She must be using evil magicks!
A pain so harsh and surprising explodes in Simon's chest as the oversized morningstar hits the small catfolk, crushing several rips at once.
Only sheer determination keeps him upright, then he feels the touch on his back and all his rips knit themself back together.
Spitting a mouthful of blood, Simon takes a resolute stand, flicking his two weapons around with the enhanced magical speed Maglin provided again.
"Thank you, Vuzi-purrurr.
We're fighting-frch.
It's them, or we.
We're in the wild.
It has always been like this out here-meow.
We better make sure that we win, or we'll end as their food-grfrch."
Piggy's attack and Emily's revenge both miss, but the duo's follow up routine is vicious and accurate. The Priestess is gravely wounded, but still stands and is Very upset with your life choices.
Having severed most of the nerves and muscles of the trolls left leg with a deadly strike, Simon calls out for Cain and makes himself even smaller.
"Finish her off, Marco-Cain-purr!"
Cain carefully steps five feet to the south east as he brings bone spikes to try to tear off her arms at the shoulder, but without the coordination he was used to from the two cats he faulters and his swords slide off her shoulder
To cain's surprise, even with the slight stumble he actually impaled the monster mid trip hopefully no one saw my stumble
Vance continues to tear at the paralyzed troll's throat, but the thing just refuses to die already.
The northern trolls all fail, again, in their attempt to relieve the pressure on their leader. The troll to the east takes a healthy bite out of the Pig, but fails to kill it outright.
The priestess is perfectly capable of relieving her own pressure, however, and flies into a clearly desperate berserker rage as she bleeds from multiple (quickly healing) wounds. She lashes out at Simon repeatedly in an effort to bring him down, but the wily cat dodges all blows in a truly impressive display of agility while wounded!
The two in the webs remain trapped.
Vuzi casts Protection from Evil on Simon.
Feeling the power of good forming a protective layer around his body, Simon uses a quick turn (accompanied by another long slash across the disturbing-tough Troll) to face Vuzi, her hand still raised we're his should was mere moments ago.
His voice, barely audible over the noise of battle and the quick hissing breaths of the catfolk, seems to fly past the half ork like a breeze.
"You're my favorite Ork, Vuzi-purrurr."
[ooc]Wow, 4 times a 1 for the damage die...[/dice]
AC is 32 for this round (CE) and 31 afterwards due to Protect-from-Evil.
Why isn't she going down?
No creature should suffer so much pain and remain upright!
rounds again.
The troll takes the hits and barely remains conscious.
Cain, drives his sword into the creature's neck, trying to put it out of it's misery at this point
Cain darts forward, impales the neck of the priestess, then pulls his weapon free. Blood flies from it in a grisly rainbow that catches the scant sunlight that has pierced the thick canopy of the marsh in tiny rays. They twinkle for a moment, then are gone.
The rest of the trolls descend upon you, but they are cut down in turn. Vance finishes off his paralyzed victim before retreating a little. He is badly wounded, but his face is set in a determined frown. Dalkk in particular fights like a dwarf possessed as a victory he only barely thought was possible comes within reach.
Finally, the little groove is silent. Streaming troll bodies surround you and even the constant insect chitter is silent for a moment. The ground is red with blood. An uncomfortable amount of it is yours.
The treasure pile in the center of the now empty mound currently contains over a dozen sets of light and medium armor, perhaps 20 simple and martial weapons, other skulls offered as trophies, 13,200 gp, 9,620 sp, and 31 assorted gems (worth 800g all together).
Amid the weapons in the pile, one plain, unadorned blade is actually a +2 flaming short sword of speed.
The moment the last troll falls, Simon takes step three steps before falling to his knees, gasping and coughing heavily.
After a few moments, he rises with the aid of Emily and walks away from the battleground on shaking legs.
"Excuse me my firends-purrur.
I cannot stand all this death any longer.
I must get away from it ...
... and pray for a while-meehw"
The two cats climb to the closest place that offers something of a vantage point, where Simon sits down cross-leged, facing away from the place of slaughter, Emily at his side, her head leaned against his shoulder.
Shortly after sitting down, you can make out a faint melody, clearly played on Simons bone flute.
It is a sad, slow, melancholic melody you never heard him play before - nor heard it anywhere else for that matter.
The melody slowly rises until it is clearly audible over the dead silence of the swamp.
The melody is of an incredible beauty, despite (or maybe even because of) its tragic, melancholic tunes.
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Dalkk looks around, crossbow still level, looking for movement. When he finally finds none he collapses, first to his bottom, then flat on his back laying in a pool of troll blood. After a short rest he stretches his arms and legs out fully and moves all his limbs back and forth in mad laughter. After some time he gets up and looks at the result of his blood angel on the ground.
He looks up and and realizes music has been playing. His smile fades while he sees his young friend sitting away. Just because one is good at killing certainly does not make it easy to swallow. Dalkk collects his empty sacks and begins the process of decapitating every troll fallen that day and tossing their heads in the bag.
When he passes Cain he speaks quietly "Go comfort the lad will ye? I dinnae think he's seen so much death before, let alone been the reason 'fore it."
When Dalkk comes across the priestess, he makes a point of going a step further with a fresh sack. First he will take any charm or holy symbol she may have. He will take any outer layer of clothing. Any and every possession on her is removed. Should she have any identifying markes or scars he will cut that away in whole or in part. He head will of course be removed as well. All of this will be preserved for Rubyfist, as proof of the hell his friends have put themselves through on Dalkk's behalf.
Dalkk takes the time to stack the bodies together. Trolls have a nasty tendency to grow back, and he isn't taking chances. Still, some time has passed since Simon walked away. Once the bodies are arranged Dalkk will approach the catfolk, possibly still with Cain about. "Heya Simmy-lad. We'll be burning the bodies soon now. If'n ye have a prayer or some such to say, now be the time."
Dalkk could care less about such things and believes them wasted on Trolls, but he does care for his friends and can pick up that it's been particularly hard for Simon. He figures it doesn't hurt any to allow Simon his novelty.
Cain blinks, surprised at Dalkk's words, but upon looking to Simon he does see that the catfolk does seem to be down about something why the hell iam I tasked with this. I am terrible at this. He walks over "you did well today. I am proud to be at your side, but you.... I mean... what are you doing?
As Cain walks off over to Simon in his tree and Dalkk is busy butchering Trolls, Vance seems to be looking over the two trolls he took down. He waves Dalkk away when he come to cut them up and continues staring at them. He even occasionally pokes at them as if trying to wake them up.
Simon doesn't look up at Cain's approach but nods to his left.
After finishing a couple of tunes, he sets down his flute but takes his time to answer.
"I am ... seeking peace-of-mind.
Too much death at once, you know ... it's ... so sad.
So many lives lost-meew.
I know they were evil and all, but it's not the same as fighting undeads.
I'm fine Marco-Cain-pur, I'll just need a bit of peaceful nature and some prayers to settle my mind again-meow.
And ... thank's for that compliment.
You were incredible yourself, you know.
If I would have been hit so hard as you were...
I would have endless peace now-miaur."
*** Later ***
As Dalkk calls out for him, Simon will wave back at him.
"Go forth, Dalkk-purrr.
I've played their souls a melody of peace and farewell already.
I don't think that I can add anything significant with words-meew."
As the bodies start to burn and the ash of the dead trolls is spread into the swamp by a gentle wind, Simon repeats the melody from before.
He continues to play, slightly altering and alternating the melody once in a while until the fire has consumed all bodies.
Only then, does he stows it again and rises from his cross-legged position atop the tree and climbs back down to his friends.
He will search Maglin shortly after returning.
"Magsi-Master-of-Webs, would you take a look at their shrine, please-mii?
I am interested, what kind of deity would accept a troll priestess-grch.
And you know about all such things, right-miii?"
After many minutes of waiting and poking and insisting that these two trolls be left alone, Vance's patience... pays off? No. He gets results, at least.
The troll carcasses quickly shrivel and the skin becomes hard. Then they FREAKING SIT UP.
You all go for your weapons, but Vance is too close to be saved from any attacks.
Vance springs to his feet, Stop! he orders. And, to everyone's tremendous surprise, they obey...
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Marco bolts, having already been walking over to him once the cat was taken care of, running in between the ghoul and the spawn, significantly concerned for the spawn and his own ability to handle what was created "Vuziiiiiiiiiiiii! What's happening ?!?!?!?!"
Vuzi sags as the priestess falls. "Her knees hit the dust next to Dalkk.
She allows Dallk to do his cutting and stacking. She keeps an eye on Vance. When he starts poking at the troll, she starts over toward him. As the troll raises she looks shocked but doesn't immediately go for a weapon.
"I think he raised it and is controlling it. I don't know how. What did you do Vance?"
Vance shrugs. I didn't do anything. There are lots of stories of things turning into undead when they get killed by said undead. I could smell it on these two, and here they are, monsters once again, like me.
The trolls start growling in Giant,
They seem confused more than angry or belligerent.
Dalkk is paying more attention to burning bodies then he is the ghoul. It isn't until the others react that he turns and nearly jumps out of his skin. He fumbles for half a moment in surprise but readies his crossbow. The only thing thats keeping his trigger finger steady is Vuzi's calm demeanor. He takes his eyes off the risen trolls only for a moment to look at the pile of burning bodies, and to make sure none of them are getting back up.
Dalkk slowly closes in, keeping the crossbow still lifted. Once within 30ft or so he calls out to Vance. ”Vance... Ye trust me don't ye? I need ye tah say outloud that ye trust me, and ye allow me tah speak on yer behalf.”
The dwarf doesn't understand everything that's happened, but he does understand Giant. Dalkk speaks in a clear, slow, and loud tone.
Vance turns back to the trolls and says,
The trolls plop onto their behinds.
"I don't speak troll.... what's going on"
Dalkk lowers the crossbow finally and scratches his bare chin. "Well for starters our friend here speaks Giant which be information I dinnae have before. Secondly these two trolls are apparently under 'is control.... Hey Vance... ”
Dalkk will shoot a look to Vuzi of slight concern.
"Vance I don't know how you are controlling them. I have to use magic to do that, and it's difficult. I'm happy they aren't trying to kill us, but it's scary." She moves closer to Vance.
Simon was just talking to Maglin as the commotion started.
Turning around, he freezes for long seconds.
How could this be?
They were dead for sure...
Paws shaking violently he goes for his still bloody kukri and dagger.
More fighting? Yet more dying?
It takes his shaken mind a couple of seconds to recognize the fact, that his friends are stalling and talking - in tongues unknown to him.
Following the experiment of Dalkk his weapons slips from his paws.
How ...?
Was the undead capable of controlling Trolls from the start?
If so, why didn't he do that from the start?!
It could have prevented so much killing.
Or ...
Could it be ...?
Could he create even more undead?
Why would he do that?
Is he ... lonely and wants to have friends that are more like him?
Vance looks confused at all the Orc speech. But he shrugs it off.
I made them. They are my... Not children. Offspring? They must obey my command.
The trolls both nod at this.
They instinctively know my intent in my orders and will carry out any command from me short of self harm.
Vance suddenly looks confused.
But don't ask me how I know that. I just... Do.
”Now ye be a death resistant laddy ta be sure Vance... But this does raise some concern. Ye remember that there still be days where yer mums spell doesn't work the same. We can make it work ta be sure, but I have ta ask... Will these trolls follow the same procedure, an allow themselves to be bound lest they be destroyed out of self defence?”
Why would they need to be as long as you have me?
Vuzi turns to look at the others with fear in her eyes. What if I can't do it one day. What if he breaks his leash. We're all dead for sure.
"That's true. If we have you they will be fine."
It takes Simon at least a minute to find some words for this development.
Holding a hand out and in front of Emily, as if readying to hold her back he addresses Vance directly.
His voice is surprisingly hard-edged and somehow ... dangerous?
"What do you intend to do with them, Vanze-meochiii?"
Vance looks like it should be obvious. I want to open a shop. In Rappan Athuk. I'm gonna need some guards, don't you think?
Marco laughs "fair enough"
Vuzi starts at his answer. "Good enough for me. We are trying to help him, and he's helping them."
The Catfolk is obviously pondering really hard on this one, before replying.
"Mhhh, yeah, you most certainly do-meew.
But these dead Trolls ... they are forced to follow your orders, right-mii?
They don't do this, because they want to do so - like yourself, right?
Vance tries to continue his life, making the best out of the situation, but what would the Trolls want-miii?
Guarding some trade post in a dungeon, I guess not.
They're practically enslaved-frchh by Vance to do his bidding..."
Simons talk now clearly drifts over to an out-loud monologue, as if he is discussing the matter with himself, rather than with Vance or any of the others.
"But they might do good this way, helping Vance in his endeavor, rather than eating travelers-meow!.
Maybe they will help other adventurers surviving that dungeon that way...
Or they will end up as just another vile, evil danger in its depth!
There are countless undead down there, maybe one of them is more powerful than Vance and takes over control over them-frch!"
After another break, Simon exhales deeply and focuses Vance again.
"Vance ... I like you and I want you to succeed-meow.
So, take them with you on your quest, but please, give me your word that you will lay them to rest once you have established your post and found some capable ... living guards-meew.
I hate slavery and I think no creature, not even evil ones, should suffer that fate for a long time."
Vance looks a little confused, but he doesn't push the issue. Of course, Simon. I will do as you say as soon as possible.
The party makes their way out of the marshes and swamps with significantly less harassment than before. Sure there are the odd feral animal attacks and the constant peril of quicksand, but the removal of the troll threat has done wonders for the area. Even if that wonder takes it from a 0 to a 1 on the travel index.
A few days later you approach the dwarven camp's perimiter. The trolls have caused no issues and have made traveling through the swamp a bit easier. They move effortlessly through the water and muck. It's enough to make one jealous.
You have learned that they are called Uurk and Furk. You still have no idea which one is which, but they both learn the ropes pretty quickly (for trolls). They are still kinda confused as to Why you don't eat... everything, but they require less and less of Vance's newfound commanding presence every passing day.
During rest times, Simon and Emily can be seen training together a couple of steps off the group.
The nimble, fluid and synchronized movements of the two cats might appear like a particular complex dance which is accompanied by a series of complex hiss, purr and click noises.
Sometimes Simon is whispering to Emily while drawing stick figures into the muddy ground.
At other times it seems like the two of them are simply brawling, but with a weird regularity to it.
It always starts with Simon or Emily hissing out short but pronounced, then Emily will tackle Simon with the full force of her body.
A split second before the impact, Simon would shift his body balance in the opposite direction of Emily thus getting propelled in that direction as the pantheress crashes into him.
Simon would then roll over a shoulder and jump back up - mostly back at Emily for another brawl.
***
At the next morning as Simon reattached Emilys black armor, he mumbles to himself.
"Hmmm, Emily, you've nearly grown out of this one-purrurr.
I think we need to look for a replacement soon...."