"I think not. Hey, you fat blubbery sack of aboleth crap, did you hear the one about the fat skum who ate so many of his kind he turned into a bulette looking chunk of walking lipid?"
The Skum laughs uproariously...but only at your pitiful attempt to assault his mind.
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"Well, it doesn't always work... for these times I learned a few backup evocation and necromantic spells."
Darius grins, " We move from the filth of Dagon to the blasphemy of Shub-Niggurath. How appropriate. I suppose it be time to end this cult like the others. "
he dashed forward whip reaching towards the nearest Skum, his whip striking from maximum range.
Two of the Skum bear the brunt of the blast, one screaming as his trident heats up so much it explodes in his hand!
Darius charges in and puts the horrified Skum out of its misery.
Two of the Skum move to flank Darius, provoking his ire, and attack.
And one actually lands a hit!
The fat Skum growls.
"You want fire, wench? I'll show you fire!" he cries, and a column of dark flame crashes down form the sky, right onto Zin, Sledge, and Jones.
Darius lashes out with a stinging rasp along the Skum's neck.
The Skum never gets a chance to strike!
Jones flanks the one attacking Darius and gives it the ol' acupuncture treatment.
Jones shankity shanks, but the Skum stubbornly clings to life.
The last Skum moves in and stabs at Jones...
But Jones is too good at not getting hit.
Z winces slightly from the attack, "I see."
"Not bad. Hurting me with fire is pretty impressive. But no, die." she says, firing off several lances of flame at the large Skum.
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V just magic missiles one of the minions, because f*** this nonsense.
Sledge kills the nearest normie.
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" it cries as Sledge crushes its skull with one blow.
Vanne's Magic Missiles crush the last normal Skum, and Zin slams the Cleric...who still lives!
Darius moves right upon the Skum and whips him at close proximity.
It falls, disappointed it only got to cast one spell.
Vänne grins. "So, you do like me! Calling people corpses is the kind approach compared to that. Let's search this place for clues, monetary items, and people to rescue!"
He blinks, and the tattoo on his arm glows, and a gray parrot flies out, his tattoo disappearing.
"This is Eclipse. Clips, help us find stuff."
"Us? Oh. People. You made friends!"
The bird flaps around excitedly looking for stuff.
Jones is momentarily startled when the parrot appears.
"Ah...hello."
But then goes back to searching the room in his usual, unperturbed manner.
The fishgold lining the walls is fairly valuable; If you were to pry it all up it would be worth 1200 gp all told.
The mace is grime-encrusted, but something about its unique design (metal tooled to look like the heads of four birds, beaks acting as the points of the mace) makes it seem important.
Additionally, the Skum all have masterwork tridents and chain shirts (save one whose trident exploded), and the Cleric has some gear as well.
-A +4 Chain Shirt
-A Masterwork Dagger
-A +1 Amulet of Mighty Fists
-An Unholy symbol of Shub-Niggurath
-An assortment of fishgold jewelry (750 gp)
-1 potion of Cat's Grace.
Jones recognizes this mace as the Raven's Head, a powerful magial mace from deep in Ustalav's history.
It was lost during the wars against the Whispering Tyrant, flung into Lake Encarthan. It was presumed lost forever, but it seems in actuality the Skum found it.
Jones deduces that this powerful magical mace has both macelike and magical properties of the powerful variety.
As Jones turns his third eye on the mace, he finds that he is STRICKEN BLIND by the power of this aura. He stumbles back, and mercifully his vision returns after a few moments, though lingering dark spots still remain.
That brief glimpse was enough, however, to reveal the properties to him.
This is Raven's Head, a minor Artifact, and a powerful Undead slaying weapon.
To most, this is a simple +3 Undead Bane Heavy Mace, but in the hands of one who can Channel Energy, it grants the effects of Channel Smite to the wielder.
In a truly ordained Pharsmin Cleric's hands, it is even more impressive, increasing the power of that ability and the frequency of its use.
" Like is a strong word. It would be more appropriate to say that your presence occupies the area that would be for our drooling friend there. You however are capable as well, once we get you to the surface you shall be on your way I presume. "
V's countenance almost instantly falls at Darius's comment. Something like this happens.
"Well...I guess. Wouldn't...want to disturb anything you have going. I just figured, I mean, a holy man of Sarenrae might, you know, have more good things to do I could help with."
" Vänne Mørkvinter was it? " Darius sighed as a small mist flew from his muzzle. He ordered his words carefully, " You are quite perceptive, I am indeed one of Sarenrae's chosen. Particularly, I am part of House Ral'algul, a family of monster Hunters. I realize my position is dangerous, so I will not willingly toss those into such conflict unknowing. Our group currently, has stumbled upon some very pressing matters. One which could affect quite a few people. It would be irresponsible to involve you more than necessary. I will ask, do you know of the Whispering Way? "
"It sounds...vaguely familiar. Something to do with undead. Not entirely sure what. I'm particularly gifted with fighting undead, though. Thanks to my....connection...I am able to warp their minds unlike almost any other magician. I'm able top into what they once were, with my magics reaching into the recesses of who they were. Charming, fear, domination - things the undead are normally immune to; not so for me."
He sighs and shakes his head.
"They're abominations. I know what I am. I don't like it - but if I can use it to put them down - to order one bloodsucker to rip the other apart until one is gone and the other ripe for the picking, or to send one mindless automaton screaming running away as if it were still alive and sentient ...I should do what I can. I've only been able to do so much alone; a village here attacked by zombies, or a child abducted by a wight, or whatnot. It's rough. When my magic succeeds, it's exceptionally powerful, but to the strong willed, as you saw, it has no effect, and then I'm in a pickle."
Z walks around the bodies on the fallen skum burning each away as the others carry on their conversation.
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" The very idea of mental control or control period is one path that has brought many to the side of which they fight. This is all I will say on the matter in my 50ish years of life. Now as far as using what your enemy possesses against themselves.. my appearance should inform you more than you need to know. Now.."
Darius's look sways to Zin inspecting her wounds and moving close to grasp her hand. " You seem to have gotten injured, let me assist you as you have I, at least. That talk of working as a unit, you were right about. We have to preserve your offensive and defensive capability. "
He pumped Holy energy into Zin, healing her wounds.
" There, you should be fine now "
V shrugs. "It is what it is. It's the weapon I have. I didn't set out to learn it - I was born with my heritage, and vampires have a natural acumen to bend the wills of others. I'm actually a pretty poor mage. I don't have much knowledge of how I do what I do, it's merely instinct. I would've preferred to heal people, but it doesn't work that way, and I'm terrible with a sword, and don't nearly have the muscles any of you have. I use what is available. I understand your concern though. It can lead to severe abuse. I wouldn't live if it didn't. My mother says she still can't remember what my father's face looked like, and that he strolled past the temple guards like they were old friends, even had two of the guards hold the other sisters down when..."
He shakes his head and makes a sour face. "Let's just move on."