While Tural heals himself to full health, Baer begins to beat on the foe. Her first attacks hits, but deals minor damage. She knows this to be because of the asura's resistance versus weapons that aren't good aligned. The beatific one blocks Baer's second strike with her temple sword.
Imoya sends two more scorching rays at the asura, but both rays pass the asura without her even having to attempt to dodge.
Round 1:
~
Quorthos 52/52HP -1 Con
Round 2:
Imoya 37/37 -1 Con
Baer 54/57HP
Asura -47HP (-2 AC)
Quorthos 52/52HP -1 Con
Tural 52/52HP
Denario 56/58HP
Quorthos slides to the far end of the room and concentrates on the void, calling a lantern archon into being to attack the evil creature.
Round 2
Quorthos unleashes a scorching ray of his own, and the lantern archon continues its assault.
Quorthos slides to the far end of the room and summons a lantern archon that attacks, and misses, the Beatific One twice.
Some of the wounds you inflicted on the asura heal back up.
The Beatific One turns toward the lantern archon and attacks it with her temple sword. Her first attack misses horribly, but the asura shifts her stance and cuts the lantern archon in half with her next cut.
As she turns around the Beatific One swings her temple sword at Baer, who deflects the sword with her staff. The three-headed asura sees an opening and stabs Baer in the leg with a quick jab from her spear. Her opponent now off-balance, the Beatific One cuts into Baer's shoulder with a slash from her kukri.
Quorthos sends a scorching ray at the Beatific One, but it dissipates in the air in front of her.
Some of Baer's wounds heal, while Tural takes damage for her.
Round 2:
~
Tural 47/52HP
Denario 56/58HP
Round 3:
Imoya 37/37 -1 Con
Baer 12/57HP
Beatific One -42HP
Quorthos 52/52HP -1 Con
Tural 47/52HP
Denario 56/58HP
Denario moves past Tural, drawing his throwable axe.
Letting his palm glide over the metal, he imbues it with magic.
Round 3
Baer two hands her staff and begins to beat on the foe, 5' stepping to get to/offer flank.
to hit; (flank,-pa,+haste)
damage.
to hit; (flank,-pa,+haste)
damage.
[ dice]1d20+10[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d6+6[/dice] damage.
or
[ dice]1d20+8[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d6+4[/dice] damage.
[ dice]1d20+8[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d6+4[/dice] damage.
3: FB, Displ
2: AltS, BlDa, FoCl,Glit
1: InfHe, LongArm, Shield, ShockGr, Vanish
Frustrated, Imoya tosses a barrage of magic missiles at the azura.
"Can anyone get the human out of the blast zone?"
Tural takes a 5-foot step forward and puts his hand on Bear, muttering a spell.
"Don't you go down now..."
He says whilst looking everyone over, seeing if there are more serious wounds to tend.
Denario draws his throwing axe as he moves forward and casts brow gasher on it. Baer presses the attack and manages to hit the Beatific One once, giving the otherworldly creature a minor bruise. Imoya sends four magic missiles at the Beatific One. Each of the missiles hits its mark and deals damage. Tural steps up to Baer and uses a cure spell to heal most of her wounds.
The Beatific One's wounds also heal a bit.
Two consecutive swings from the Beatific One's temple sword disable Baer. Despite her disabled state, Baer manages to dodge a third cut from the sword and a stab from the spear. Then comes the kukri, which the Beatific One stabs into Baer's belly and slips up behind Baer's ribs and into her chest cavity. The asura pulls her kukri out and Baer collapses to the floor, no longer breathing.
Round 3:
~
Quorthos 52/52HP -1 Con
Tural 47/52HP
Denario 56/58HP
Round 4:
Imoya 37/37 -1 Con
Baer -22/57HP [DEAD]
Beatific One -53HP
Quorthos 52/52HP -1 Con
Tural 47/52HP
Denario 56/58HP
Damnit, this is bad, really bad.
Not a leader, Denario nonetheless tries to rally his allies, knowing full well the best fighters had fallen, and the chances were turning against them.
"Quorthos, get your red hide out of there, before you get skewered like a fish as well.
Tural, Imoya, i'm proposing a temporary withdraw."
Denario throws the axe.
If it hits, the thing starts bleeding 3 every round.
At the start of each of the target’s turns, when it takes bleed damage, it also takes a cumulative –1 penalty on all attack rolls. When that penalty reaches –3, the target also treats all targets as having concealment (20% miss chance). When the penalty reaches –5, the target is blinded.
After throwing, Denario backs away.
Baer falls to the ground, her staff falling from her hands. She still wants to grunt, but the life force fades from her eyes before she can.
Watching Baer hit the ground and hearing a call to retreat, the ifrit darts back 30ft before slamming his foot into the ground, sending a shock wave toward the Azura in an attempt to trip her.
Tural moves back to the group, stunned. He turns back and casts blindness (/deafness) on the asura, hoping to create a way to escape.
"Baer! NOOOO!" Quorthos cries as Baer falls under the onslaught. He slumps in despair, wondering what he can do to save his friends.
OK, whatever entity the voice inside my head is... my fiendish blood, spirits from beyond, entity from outside, or my repressed pysche, I don't care. You only talk to me in extreme situations, usually when I'm near death... so where are you now? If you have any ability to influence this situation, now is the time. I will pay whatever price you set, if you help me hold this creature off long enough to get Baer and the others to safety. I promise by all that I hold dear, that I will abide by the price you set. Just help me now.
Quorthos dimensional slides to the square west of Baer, picks up her corpse, and continues moving, turning only to unleash his last scorching ray at the creature.
Denario's throwing axe hits the Beatific One, but does absolutely nothing. Nothing happens either when Tural casts his spell. Imoya's thunderstomp causes the Beatific One to move an inch, but no more.
Round 3:
~
Quorthos 52/52HP -1 Con
Round 4:
Imoya 37/37 -1 Con
Baer -22/57HP [DEAD]
Beatific One -53HP
Quorthos 52/52HP -1 Con
Tural 47/52HP
Denario 56/58HP
Imoya suddenly recalls the invisibility wand in his jacket.
Despite Denario's throwing axe not harming the Beatific One at all, a gash suddenly appears where it connected to one of the asura's foreheads.
You'll need a tiny amount of blood. Sign both.
Both sheets of paper have the same text on them:
The undersigned does hereby declare
his/her soul to be the property of Guzran,
the Broken One. In return he/she will be
granted three wishes, which have to be
spent within 24 hours of signing.
Any alterations of the contract have to
be agreed on by both parties. Breaking
this contract will reverse the results of
the wishes.
Name:
Signature:
One copy will be yours to keep.
"I presume the first paragraph should say that my soul becomes your property only upon my natural death, correct? It's not yours until then. I'll just make the change here."
Mind made up, he slashes his hand, wincing as the blood begins to pool in his palm. Taking the quill, he dips it into his lifeblood and changes the wording as noted, and then signs both copies quickly, lest his good sense return.
Agreeable.
The moment you're done signing the contract, one of them fades away along with the quill. The other contract rolls itself up and places itself in your open hand. There's a strange sensation inside your chest, as if something just lightly touched your heart. You sense the presence of powerful magic coursing through your veins.
It was a pleasure doing business with you.
The slowing effect disappears, the world now back to its regular speed. You sense you still have time to do something before the Beatific One strikes again.
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Quorthos turns to the Beatific One with cold eyes, his voice dripping with venom. "I wish for that creature -" he indicates the Beatific One -"- the one who struck down Baer, and who is keeping that man -" he points to the Seneschel - "prisoner, to be completely and utterly destroyed, body and soul."
Quorthos then gives his head a little shake, surprised that his intent took on such a dark tone.
... and then he waits to see what happens.
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Somewhere in the line of souls awaiting Pharasma's judgement, a female half-orc waits patiently in line. For some reason, she shakes her ghostly head and says "Dayamn," but really doesn't know why...but she does. Then she focus back on the line, patiently awaiting her fate.
Quorthos blinks as nothing occurs. Hells, I expected to be backstabbed by that voice, but not so soon... I figured I'd at least get the first wish off. Maybe it knows I planned to let the time expire on the other two?
He tries to recover, casting shield and moving back, dragging Baer's corpse with him, if nothing continues to happen until his turn.
It takes a while for something to happen, but then there's a chuckle inside Quorthos's head.
Hehehe! Oh, I know just the way.
The Beatific One charges straight at Quorthos, her temple sword raised. During her charge all three of her faces begin to contort, and large egg-shaped bumps begin to appear all over her body. The bumps grow in size, making it hard for the asura to stay on her feet as they appear everywhere, gradually becoming larger and larger. The Beatific One falls over just as she reaches Quorthos, slides past him, and comes to a stop when she hits the wall next to Tural. The bumps grow exponentially faster, reaching the size of watermelons and looking very much like they're about to burst open.
Hehehe!
Round 4:
~
Quorthos 52/52HP -1 Con
Tural 47/52HP
Denario 56/58HP
Round 5:
Imoya 37/37 -1 Con
Beatific One -53HP
Quorthos 52/52HP -1 Con
Tural 47/52HP
Denario 56/58HP
"What the...?"
Denario sees the surreal scene unfold. Regardless, the almost bursting bubles aren't something he'd look forward to.
"Come on, let's go. If that thing is contagious, i don't want to be near it."
Denario takes a single move westwards.
"Tural, take Baer and get out of here. I'll grab the Seneschal!" Quorthos shrieks, frightened at whatever he has unleashed. Dammit, I hope this works...
Quorthos runs into the room and grabs the Seneschal, dragging him bodily out of the room if necessary. "Come with me if you want to live!" he yells, and then heads back towards the entrance.
Imoya Waits for Quorthos, keeping his distance from the asura's pimply death.
Tural nods and grabs Baer, not taking his eyes off the now unconscious enemy.
"I don't know what you did... But I don't want to stick around to find out."
He says as he drags the limp body behind him.
Denario gets the hell out, as does Tural with Baer's body. they're closely followed and passed by a panicky pseudodragon.
"It's gonna blow!" yells the voice of Majenko inside your heads.
Quorthos runs over to the Seneschal, who is tied to the table he's on. It takes a moment to free the Seneschal, after which there's no more time left for Quorthos to move out of the room.
Imoya wants to wait for Quorthos to return, but quickly moves after Denario and the others when the asura's bumps look like they're about to burst.
The Seneschal, who's meanwhile just climbed off the table, sees what's about to happen. He quickly gets into the northwestern corner of the room, pulling Quorthos with him.
With the sudden, violent sound of a balloon bursting open, the Beatific One explodes. Acid and goo are propelled in every direction with a 30-foot spread, covering and burning everything it lands on. Quorthos feels the acid fly past his face, as he's barely standing around the corner of the room, but is unhurt. Just like everyone else, who got to a safe distance before the asura exploded.
Carefully looking into the corridor, you'll notice the spot where the Beatific One lied is completely devoid of any acid or goo. While acid and goo drip from the ceiling onto every other bit of available floor, you hear an faint, muted yell from the center of the explosion. She's been completely and utterly destroyed, body and soul. There isn't even a sign of her gear.
"Gross." Imoya says, looking over the mess.
Shaking his head in minor disbelief, The ifrit waits...
"Well... that was... uh, disgusting," Quorthos mumbles, shocked by whatever the Hells just happened. On a quick instinct he pulls out his wand of infernal healing and invokes its magic on himself, to see if the voice returns.
He turns to the Seneschal. "Are you hurt? We have to get out of here, and get you to a place of safety." He leads the Seneschal out of the room, avoiding the goo that seconds ago was a powerful outsider. Once back with the group, he explains what happened.
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As the infernal healing does its job there's no voice inside Quorthos's head. However, the feeling of being watched from behind creeps onto Quorthos. No matter which way he turns there's nothing to see, but the feeling remains.
Before we leave, let's search the chamber where the Seneschal was kept... just in case there's anything of interest. Then, Quorthos will try the following:
"I wish for {Mavor or Baer} to return to life, in their body or another of their choosing, and to appear beside us now." He'll do one each for Baer and Mavor, in that order.
Baer does not budge from her place in line, deciding to embrace Pharasma's judgement. She's had enough of the pain of life.
Mavor hears the sound of someone calling him, but also hears the mention of Baer's name in the whispers. Surprised and alerted he looks behind him in the queue.
After a few seconds, Mavor spots a familiar green shape in the crowd behind him. He stops to move and waves a careful hand at Baer. This draws looks from the other people waiting in line.
Tural waits patiently for Quorthos to work his magic, hopefully less dangerous than last time.
Imoya waits curiously.
"Just...wishing?" He looks to Quorthos with a raised brow.
"Are we that desperate that we're literally wishing into the air for things to happen?" His tone carrying a mild lump of concern... Like someone who just bore witness to associate loose their mind.
"Maybe he is...but what if he isn't?"
There's absolutely nothing of interest in the torture room. Safe for instruments of torture, if you're into that. Though there's a set of double door to the north, and a single unopened door to the west.
While Quorthos and the Seneschal head back toward the others, the double doors in front of the illusionary wall briefly swing open and Blackjack / Vencarlo steps into the room. He's panting heavily and has a bloody wound on the back of his head.
"My friends, you came! I was waiting for you to exit the mansion, outside at the elephant statue, when someone knocked me out and dragged me down here! I've barely managed to escape!"
Vencarlo then sees the corpses of Mavor and Baer, and freezes. "No... no way..."