Detressa is trapped in her own body, unable to even scream as the skeletal snake looms above her. She silently prays to her goddess – if she is to meet her fate, so be it, but her task is left undone. Perhaps in response, she feels the blood pumping from her body suddenly still ...
As the gravity of the moment finally manages to sink in Badang's addled mind, he jerks, noting the priestess in a fragile position. Without hesitation he advances and hefts to strike down the skeletal beast.
Attack
Damage
Seeing Badang begin moving again, Uwais breathes a silent prayer. Dropping his sling, he draws his sickle and advances against the snake. "Come, Badang, let us dismantle this monster vertebrae by vertebrae!" Uwais says, standing ready for the creature to attack.
Badang's flail smashes into the monster's vertebrae, shattering ribs in a shower of chips and bone dust. Uwais moves in, stepping around the frozen cleric.
Mara, Kua, Waya and Yang blink and shake their heads, clearing the fuzz and diziness that held them captive.
Initiative round 5
Sister Mara- 14
Monster- 13
Uwais- 13
Waya- 12
Kua- 12
Badang- 11 (1 hp)
Yang- 11
Detressa- 11 (stable at -6)
Round Five:
Shaking her head to remove the cobwebs from her mind, Mara studies the situation in a glance. The inquisitor quickly determines that her best option to aid in the battle is to move to a position that would allow her to tend to the fallen priestess, thereby allowing Kua to join battle with the skeletal creature alongside Badang. Suiting action to thought, she quickly dashes around the pit, dangerously skirting its edge.
The serpent lashes out once more at Badang, bloody fangs flying for his throat.
Bite:
Confirm:
It punctures the warrior's throat, dropping him straight to the ground.
Kua blinks his eyes twice, surveys the scene and leaps into action. Skirting along the edge of the pit, the orc stops protectively over Badangs fallen body.
"You've had your last taste of this warrior!" Kua growls as he swings his great axe.
Power Attack
Damage
Seeing Badang fall from what is likely a mortal wound, Yang cries out,
Infernal
Yang fires one of his force missiles at the creature.
As Badang falls, Uwais takes a step backwards in shock. His face sets grimly. "Vengeance will be here, warrior," he says, as he grabs his flask of holy water and throws it.
Waya shakes her head and blinks. Seeing Uwais threatened by the snake-monster, she moves forward, growling. With a leap, she attacks.
DM Screen:
Uwais' flask shatters harmlessly at Kua's feet, while Waya bounds forward to attack the great serpent. While her fangs find purchase on one of the creature's vertebrae, she really only manages to scrape the thing before it dislodges her. Kua's anger and distress over his fallen comrade sends his strike wide, the skeletal monster dancing nimbly around his axe. Yang's missile of force shatters a section of ribs on the creature, sending shards of bone flying into the central pit.
Round Six
Sister Mara- 14
Monster- 13
Uwais- 13
Waya- 12
Kua- 12
Yang- 11
Detressa- 11 (stable at -6)
Round Six:
Shocked at seeing the skeletal creature strike down Badang, Sister Mara invokes the judgment of Everlight to help her strike down the skeletal abomination. With a cry of righteous fury she takes a step forward as shhe throws up her hand and unleashes a scorching bolt of divine fire at the skeletal snake.
Sister Mara's flames blacken the monster's bones, searing and cracking a cluster of ribs.
DM Screen:
The skeletal serpent lunges at Waya, clacking its bloodied jaws.
Bite attack vs. Waya:
But the wolf dodges nimbly aside.
Yang sends another force missile flying at the creature. "My powers grow less ..." he complains.
damage
Kua's eyes narrow as he focuses on his next swing.
Uwais pulls his second flask of the holy water out and once again tosses it into the melee. He growls to Waya, conveying concern for her, but she yips playfully back, unfrightened as she continues to battle savagely.
Uwais' flask spins through the air, end over end, and shatters upon hitting the snake monster. While it is covered in the Pharasma-blessed water, the creature shows no outward signs of damage.
More apparent, however, are the results of Waya's assault: the wolf grabs the monster's tail-bone and starts gnawing and pulling at it. In its attempts to resist, the skeletal snake pulls hard enough to severe its own tail. Waya gnaws the bone, looking tempted to present it to Uwais, but she remains focused on the task at hand.
Kua finds the skeletal serpent as elusive as ever, his axe crashing into the stones around it as it writhes and weaves as Yang's force missiles home in on its center and blast away another section in a cloud of bone dust and fragments.
DM Screen:
Round Seven
Sister Mara- 14
Monster- 13
Uwais- 13
Waya- 12
Kua- 12
Yang- 11
Detressa- 11 (stable at -6)
Round Seven:
Still bolstered by the judgment of Everlight, Mara unleashes another scorching bolt of divine fire at the skeletal snake.
"This creature is strong. Whoever controls it is powerful, I am certain." Another force missile streaks toward the thing.
damage
The serpent undulates, clacking its jaws. It darts once more for Waya.
Bite:
Waya's Fortitude save:
The wolf cries out and spasms, her limbs going rigid.
Kua bellows furiously, swinging his greataxe in an attempt to sever the monster's spine.
Greataxe w/power attack:
But he finds the beast as elusive as ever, bellowing curses in Orcish.
Uwais gives a howl as Waya goes immobile. He loads his sling again, retreating backwards and firing as he moves.
Uwais' bullet hits it squarely, chipping away further at its spinal column.
Round Eight
Sister Mara- 14
Monster- 13
Uwais- 13
Waya- 12 (paralyzed 10 rounds)
Kua- 12
Yang- 11
Detressa- 11 (stable at -6)
After being blackened with fire, chipped, bludgeoned, blasted with arcane energy and pulled apart, the skeletal serpent is looking like it could fall to bits at any moment- but not just yet.
Round Eight:
With a fervent prayer to Sarenrae, Mara unleashes another scorching bolt of divine fire at the skeletal snake.
The skeletal serpent immolates, burning with the Bright Lady's flame. It falls to the stone floor in a tangled mess of ashes and blackened bones.
"Thank the Dawnflower that creature is finally defeated!" Sister Mara exclaims as the skeletal snake finally falls.
The inquisitor gives an anguished look toward the body of the fallen Badang as she rushes forward to cast a healing spell on Detressa.
Uwais runs swiftly to Badang's fallen body, face crestfallen. "Whatever devilry created that, we may thank the Gods for seeing it defeated. If only the price weren't so high..." He kneels beside the still-warm corpse, silent.
“My thanks to you Sister Mara,” says Detressa, sitting up weakly. “Has the creature been defeated?”
The priestess looks about, and spies Badang lying torn and bleeding on the walkway, Uwais kneeling above his body. With a cry, Detressa climbs unsteadily to her feet and stumbles towards him, straining her barely healed wounds. “No …” she whispers, a glance enough to tell her that Badang is beyond her skills or magic. “Pharasma, accept this noble man into your home, and judge him with the fairness he deserves,” she prays, tears moistening her eyes. “Badang, may your journey to Pharasma’s Boneyard be swift and safe, may whatever gods you revere watch over you in this final journey.”
"No place for a funeral. 'specially not for so brave a comrade. Let's get him outta here and take stock; he's avenged for the time being and there's more foes to slaughter before we see the surface again.", Kua grunts. The Duskwarden crouches and hauls Badang's fallen form across his shoulders, rising slowly.
"Where to?"
Uwais gives a hearty shove of the snake-thing, pushing it down the pit from whence it came. "A warning, for anything else that thinks to find it's way up here," Uwais says bitterly. He spits down the hole.
He shakes his head at Kua's question. "Anywhere but here," he says defeatedly. "A place to rest. Regroup."
Yang looks down at the fallen man, and shakes his head. "A pity. He seemed a good man."
Looking back to the rest, he says, "We could rest, or not. I've used many of my force missiles, but few of my spells. I could go on."
"Before that snake creature attacked I noticed a seam in the north wall over there," Mara says, pointing across the pit. "It may be a secret door leading to a hidden chamber - maybe that would be a safe place to rest," she suggests.
"As for Badang's body, perhaps we could lay him to rest in the crypt that we passed through before we entered the ancient cathedral - at least temporarily."
Detressa gathers everyone who is wounded close to her before calling on Pharasma’s power to channel positive healing energy into all gathered.
Kua gives a nod to Mara. "A fine idea. Let's drop Badang off in the crypt, then we can check Mara's hidden door."
You wind your way back through the Ossuary to the crypt before the grand cathedral and respectfully lay out your fallen comrade. In death, his features have relaxed into a stoic peace.
With a fervent prayer to the Healing Flame Sister Mara casts the last of her curative magics on Detressa.
"Thank you for the healing priestess. I volunteer for first watch."
So two from Detressa, 2 from the night's sleep. Waya is at 16.
"Waya and I will stand with you, Kua. Three sets of eyes are better than one."
I'll take the second watch," Sister Mara volunteers.
"It is necessary for me to get rest, of course. If needed, I can watch early as that is when I must study my book."
Yang plops his large self down wherever looks the most comfortable, and begins eating some of his rations. Likely to most of the group's surprise, the meal is completely vegetarian, and is relatively modest in size; something that might be more in line with someone half of his weight.
Unfortunately for the group, once Yang falls asleep, his snoring threatens to awaken the dead without the use of necromancy ...