Having just scouted the building Kaul shoots the snake-man a quizzical scowl:
Mad as a bag of... snakes... that one. Hur.
At Dibbs' intimations the thug brandishes Lopper with a leer;
"Hur. Got us the best lock pick 'ere lads! Hur-hur..."
Mad as a bag of... snakes... that one. Hur.
As it turns out, Kaul doesn't have to employ any forceful measures because at Lopper's slightest preparatory touch, the heavy darkwood doors banded in verdigrised brass and likewise studded in the same shaped as large coins, swing eerily open with a long creak.
A peek inside reveals the narthex partitioned off from the rest of the structure by a wall of rusting bars. The gate is open though and beyond the bars a colonnade of stone pillars sparsely lit from the broken clerestory windows that are choked with vines that cover the ceiling making the columns now resemble jungle growth though that would likely be very much against Abadarian tastes. Likewise the floor is covered in a thin layer of algae and sludge that makes walking treacherous.
Kaul flashes another grin;
"Open Saysames..."
before erupting in a hacking chuckle
"Hur-hur-hur-hur..."
"Har har... now gettin there an make sure it's safe eh?"
Dibbets doesn't seem overly impressed with Kaul's wit and goads the thug onward.
Jim shakes his head, hiding a grin, and follows along.
With Jim close behind him, Kaul leads the way into the fallen mission stepping carefully across the slimy floor. The two toughs enter the colonnade listening for any suspicious sounds among the eerie dripping of water from the thick leafy canopy that covers the ceiling.
Dingus follows the others in. This seems too easy so far. Something terrible is going to happen, I just know it.
"Richard. Take a look around would you"?
Dingus lets the ever growing viper down, and he slithers off to explore on his own.
Jim claps Kaul on the shoulder and points. "Hey. You see that?"
Paul follows Jimmer's extended digit with beady eyes wary;
:
"Hur... I do... Quite the tail tae tell... Hur-hur-hur..."
The thug chuckles to himself as he shifts forward, Lopper in paw...
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Dingus and Dibbets lag a few steps behind in the narthex as the stouter members of the crew lead the way into the nave proper. At the faint sound of rustling greenery and the sight of a long furry tail yanked out of sight, Kaul pulls ahead heavy ax in remaining hand. Kaul's blood lust gets the better of him however, as the canopy of big green leaves suddenly stirs to life shaking water droplets down from the pointed tips of the pendulous leaves.
There is a deafening chittering that arises from above and little dark shapes dart about between the branches. Kaul feels a shiver up his back as he can see the long limbs and tiny grasping hands of the massing monkeys. Little wizened old man's faces with fevered shining black eyes like chips of mica and the horribly long furry tails.
Keelhaul Kaul-
Madman Jim-
Dingus-
foe
Interspersed in the rattling of leaves and keeking of the shadowy spider monkeys come drawn wailing sounds from the direction of the cell doors in the side walls. The monkeys hurl themselves en masse from the dim greenery upon Kaul and Jim.
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"AAAAHHHH! Get 'em the feck off of me!" Infected by Kaul's maimouphobia, Jim retreats, trying to tear the furry monsters off of himself.
:
With Jim's support the thug might have fought on against his nightmarish foes, but seeing the swashbuckler break causes Kaul to also wail and flail at the monkey horde!
The mob of murky monkeys is too much and the pair beat as hasty a retreat as they can over the slime slick surface. Just before they can reach their companions in the narthex however, the heavy doors at the entrance of the haunted monastery swing shut along with the gate that separates the front chamber and now separates the crew!
The moaning voice grows louder and words are heard through the chatter and shrieks of the murderous monkeys. the green, the green... the hellish jungle... they come... A gleam of gray and dull gold is seen as an umbral figure approaches Kaul. It reaches out gibbering and touches the thug as if to warn or ask succor. It is unclear which though as no lips cover the ghostly skull beneath its golden cowl.
Round 1
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The spectral gibberer's touch is a double edged sword - the creeping necrotic cold snapping him from the monkey pack's yowls.
Jim, however, is unable to recover his aplomb.
"Get yourself prepared Dibbs. I'm getting ready to open this door".
Dingus grabs the manky hand and passes off his rod to Dibbets. The gates swing back open with a knocking motion of the hand. Dibbets moves up to jam it.
Kaul tries to return the favour to the apparition and brings his wicked axe to bear;
"Ye've shivered me timbers ye spooky basterd! Time fer ye tae fear ol' Kauly!"
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The cold touch of fear and shared madness tears Kaul's focus from the frightful monkeys. He turns on the spooky bishop and brings Lopper down in a gleaming arc. The spook shirks back just in time and the ax whistles through air thick with humidity.
The way now open, Jim nimbly retreats back to the great doors past his companions at the gate. The maddening monkeys abandon Kaul and the gibbering ghost and leaping through the open gate and even through the bars assault the gate keepers. Dingus and Dibbets are swarmed by the phantasmal mob that grabs and probes with thieving little hands.
The gilded ghost leans forward toward Kaul hissing his maddening warning, "It comes.. the jungle comes. They will not take me alive!" Frayed gold green mist swirls around the pair as it grabs Kaul again. Though its bony claws pass through the thug he feels his sanity torn.
Somewhere, all hear the booming calls of the apemen that hide in the jungle below. "Don't you hear them? The horror! The HORROR!"
Will save
"Ahhh! Get them off me.
Somewhere, all hear the booming calls of the apemen that hide in the jungle below. "Don't you hear them? The horror! The HORROR!"
Somewhere, all hear the booming calls of the apemen that hide in the jungle below. "Don't you hear them? The horror! The HORROR!"
Will Save:
Beset by the incorporeal monkeys Dibbs can hardly manage making hide nor hair of anything borne of the living. He stumbles back the way he came seeking to be free of the fray.
:
As his comrades battle to keep it together, Kaul succumbs to more necrotic madness as his sanity slowly ebbs...
The brute rallies and launches another desperate assault at the crazed apparition;
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All is chaos as the spectral simians surge through the gates mobbing Dibbets and Dingus. The halfling flees back to the entrance doors with Jim. Free of the distracting grabbing and groping, they are able to act normally. Dingus unfortunately, is at the eye of the hairy hurricane and continues flailing and shrieking.
Kaul fights for his increasingly tenuous sanity. Lopper falls again and this time, though no resistance is felt, tendrils of ectoplasm float off from the tattered apparition. The thing flinches from the unexpected injury. It howls and grabs again, but the claws miss the beefy unhinged Half-orc.
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Grim set of jaw Dibbs takes umbrage and the monkeys and exhales a great gust of fetid breath. As the rush of halitosis tainted wind floods through a thread can be heard rising slightly over the morass "Feck off ye simian bastards"
Will Save
Dingus is able to finally shake off the nausea and concentrate on his surroundings.
He quickly howls in anger, and fills the air with fans of burning, withering snakes.
Burning hands (Reflex DC15 for half)
Dingus pulls himself together long enough to send hissing flames from his fingertips. The arcane flames burn hot enough to even reach the phantom primates. The mob quickly parts before the angry red fire however, and only a handful of the shadowy creatures evaporate away.
Jim closes with the ghostly marauder on Kaul, trying to set up a flank with the scarred half-orc before stabbing at it.
Kaul grins through chattering teeth at Jimmer joining the fray and swings once again with his trusty War Axe;
"Hur... Lopper's got a taste o' spook now..."
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Seeing his mate in danger, Jim bravely charges through the hole burned into the shadowy horde of simians. He reaches the maddening cloud threatening Kaul just as the muddled thug misses again. Jim stabs it deeply from behind. His magical sword appears to have an effect as the phantom twists, but keeps its focus on the hapless half-orc.
Dibbets summons up a flagrant breeze that is smelt and felt across the veil. The haunting monkey mob swarming the gates is blow backward past the melee. The shadowy phantoms retreat back up into the trees fading from sight and taking the noise with them. The mad monk takes no notice. It grabs Kaul again gibbering on about ghost apes and green horror.
:
Kaul sways babbling and grunting incoherently... the odd mournful monkey hoot emits from his drooling jaws...
Seeing now that they are dealing with the undead... Dingus sends a blast of "Spectral Cobra" at the enemy attacking poor Kaul.
Disrupt Undead
Spectral fangs
"Aw, feck! Snap out of it, mate!" Jim redoubles his efforts against the dree spirit, but only manages to tag it once.
Dingus sends a spectral serpent at the skeletal phantom. It is knocked aside by the thing at the last minute however. At least it serves to momentarily distract the mad monk so Jim can pierce it again momentarily illuminating the gold and green shroud with a spark of lightning.
Kaul looks lost, grunting and muttering incoherently.
Noticing the slackened jaw and incoherent babbling of his matey, Dibbs holds his action. As he does he talks to the nugget "Keep fightin it matey, dinnae go all apesh1te onnus eh? Once Jimmer an Dingus put tha bastard doon I ken help fix ye up like." hands held wardingly before him.
Dibbets watches, ready to belay any untoward actions by his addled mate. The phantom grabs at Kaul again seeking to drag another into its eternal madness. The wild-eyed sailor hops back not needing any more of that.
With the moaning ghost continuing to focus on Kaul, Jim stabs at it again. "Dingus! Got some magic to do for this thing?"
Dingus sends the last two VV'so from his ring.
VV
"Take that Stinky"
A pair of hissing missiles strike the ghostly priest and the floating phantasm spins to face its new attacker only to be pierced through by Jim's crackling blade. The wild gold and green miasma that surrounds the apparition begins to throb as the crazed thing gibbers on spitting bits of ectoplasm from lipless jaws.
Dibbets keeps back from the fray, with a weather eye towards the return of ghostly simians.
"You like that? Paint a portrait it will last longer". Dingus taunts the specter as it turns to look at him.
Vapor Viper from the soul.