Jili casts Create Water to try to clear some of the blood from the floor. It's just making a mess. I hope it doesn't drip down to the other floor.
Jil does her best to clean away the blood using water, and manages to dilute most of it, but it quickly seeps through the many holes in the floorboards.
Down on the second floor, Lia sees the door to the workroom open. Four masked and armed cultists carefully step out looking around. One of them stops at the stairwell and shouts "Intruders! Masks on!" down to the first floor before rejoining the others. The lead cultist cautiously start creeping up the stairs when they spot Karmid hiding in the shadows.
Drasven Hammers
Lia Tani
Karmid Groundbreaker
Rojava Brishen
Jiliana Dalca
Cultists
Seeing Karmid lurking in the shadows, the lead cultist calls out "I can see at least one!" to anyone within earshot. He then continues: "Hey there, big guy, we don't have any treasure here. Why don't you come down here and we'll show you out?" As all of their faces are hidden behind hideous masks that look like distorted faces, it's hard to get a good read on them, but from their body language (defensive positions with blades held ready to strike), it's clear that they take the threat of the Shoanti quite seriously.
Lia also hears the sound of commotion and movement from the first floor below her.
Sighing, Karmid realizes he led the group up...only to be trapped at the top.
When in doubt...charge!
Karmid prays to Gozreh and releases his Barkskin charm, then prepares to head down the stairs quickly...
He then whispers to the others...
"We can't get trapped up here! Be ready to attack them as soon as I engage them directly."
Jili moves up behind Kharmid and casts Bless on the party. Her bow is out and ready to shoot down the stairs when she can.
Ro doesn't realize the gig is up until she hears the voices, including Karmid's, at the stairs. Karmid seems to intend to hold them on the stairway, which seems very sensible to her. On the other hand, it places him in serious harm's way if everyone else can't figure out a way to help given the limited access they'll have.
She begins ramping up by casting Eagle's Splendor on herself. She also take another look around on their own floor to make sure there's no sign of cultists creeping up on them from behind the doors on their own floor.
Ro looks and listens around her, but doesn't think there's anyone else on the floor with them. On the other hand, there are three closed doors that lead off from this room, and she can't be completely sure until she checks all of them.
"Ro. check the Floor. I'll back Karmid up." Drasven whispers to the Bard as he moves up to be able to reach Karmid with his healing powers.
It'll be bad if there were others and they were caught in a pincer attack.
Ro shakes her head in the negative.
"Uh, no thanks. If I go poking my nose through those doors and there's someone inside, I'll be finding out when we're almost close enough to dance. I'll stay over here and keep my eye on them."
Behind their disfigured masks, it is hard to know exactly what they are thinking, but the two in front stop at the bottom of the steps and whisper a quick word to one another and those still behind them.
Those closest to Karmid call out to him. "Hey there big guy. Why don't you come down here so we can talk a bit?" and the other next to him chimes in with: "Yeah, we have a few things to discuss, come on down here."
On the landing below, Lia notices that after the quick words spoken betwen the cultists, the two in the rear back up and make a little hole between them. She can also hear multiple people on the first floor talking animatedly and casting spells.
Ro figures the delaying and transparent lies of the cultists means extra time when nothing happens works to their advantage. So she decides to make something happen. She begins with a stream of pure and unfiltered obscenities aimed at them before transitioning into accusations of them as utter sickos and murderous butchering pigs who should fed through the gears of their own sawmill machinery. There are some side trips into their enthusiasm for incest and carnal relations with livestock.
Hearing Ro cussing, and certain things going 'flash-whoosh', Karmid decides he's been waiting long enough and charges down the stairs at the first cultist...he decides no time is like the present too and activates his new Bramble Armor ability as well!
Drasven creeps up slowly to keep the big shoanti in his sights.
He might need to lend support soon....
He considers his next spell.
Lia stays hidden, waiting for her chance.
Lia stays hidden, waiting for her chance.
Ro unleashes a tirade of curses against the cultists that would make Norgorber himself blush.
Karmid wades in to the fray with his earthbreaker and swings at the first cultist. He pulls his head out of the way at the last second, causing the hammer to impact with his chest, battering him against the way.
All four cultists on the landing below her burst into flame and start to look around them in panic().
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With a puff of smoke that smells vaguely like fragrant flower petals, a dog-headed humanoid creature appears in the middle of the cultists on the second story. It is clad in armor and is wielding a large, silver-bladed axe. It crouches down into a defensive position and growls menacingly at the cultists.
The cultists around it react immediately (well, those not paying much closer attention to the Shoanti in front of them), cursing and drawing back themselves.
"What the Nine Hells!"
"What's that supposed to be?!?"
"They're summoning demons against us now! There's a necromancer in that group!"
"What? Necromancers raise the dead, you idiot! That's a dog-human-monster!"
"Oh no, there's a dogomancer up there!"
The three cultists in the back take swings at the dog-headed thing, but he deflects them easily with his axe.
”HAVOC!!”
Thunder and Fang!
+
+
Drasven tries really really hard to repress his guffaws on hearing the cultists reaction.
It was truly so hard....
He was glad no one could see him as he leans slightly against the railing to support his sides from spitting............
Without any good way to get at the cultists, Ro can only follow Karmid down the stairs to support him in other ways. As she does so, she tells Drasven and Jiliana to keep an eye on the upstairs, especially the doors.
"The Judge should be here somewhere, and we're running short of places to look for him."
Lia maintains concentration on her warrior, making him stay defensive and doing a powerful overhead downward strike that gives the targeted cultist ample time to get out of the way, followed by a swift jump back while commenting: "You evil-doers will perish in your site of false worship."
Round 3
The cultist right in front of Khamid slices at him with his war razor, but the attack is hesitant and unsure, missing by a wide margin.
The next closest cultist pauses in his attacks on the archon, then making a quick decision turns and attacks Khamid over the stair railing. His razor scores a hit , but it's effects are blunted by tough skin of his hide armor.
The cultist in the corner continues his fight against the illusory hound archon.
However , the one furthest from the action also seems to change his mind, calling out, "I don't think that thing is real...". He turns and cautiously...suspiciously, begins to move in Lia's direction; but he does not know Lia is there...yet!
success
fail
success
Round 3
Holding true to his position, Drasven stays quiet looking to act only when one of his companions need a spot of divine guidance.
Round 3
Lia focuses on maintaining her illusory Hound Archon:"Ha, you flee and leave your companion behind?" He then attempts to strike one of them with his blade just as he moves out of reach. "Guess it's you and me!", he turns back to the one remaining.
Meanwhile, Lia shuffles out of the way of the guard approaching her hiding spot.
Round 3
Lashing out with a smile at the closest enemies, Karmid winks...
Thunder and Fang!
+
+
...and winces a little as some enemy blood and teeth fly.
Since Karmid seems to be dealing with what's in front of him handily, Ro continues to back him up. She bolsters his defenses with a few arcane words and a touch. "Suojele tältä pahalta!"
1. you are correct, I forgot about the bonus from your CHA
2. Yeah, since the illusion was 'fighting' with the cultists, I considered that a form of interaction.
3. Yup, unlikely anyone's going where she is now. Without a good reason, that is :)
Lia sees a number of cultists beginning to ascend the stairs from the floor below....coming right towards her!
Round 4
Two strikes by Karmid's earthbraker destroys the cultist's chest, leaving his lifeless body slumped in the corner. As he surveys his handiwork, a subtle blue glow settles over his body, then disappears.
The next cultist, does even bother glancing at his fallen brother, advancing on Karmid, war razor flashing! With a deft maneuver , the cultist seems readly to score a hit on the big ranger, but at the last moment the space between razor and skin glowed blue and defected the blow!
The lone cultist fighting the 'hound' remains convinced of it's reality, despite his comrade's dismissal.
The other cultist leaps forward and slashes the air where Lia had been, "I don't see you....but I heard you little mouse!"
All can hear the sound of many feet on the stairs below...
ROUND 4
Karmid smirks as she steps casually past the shattered cultist to close on his next target.
"You fools have but one worry! ME!"
Thunder and Fang!
+
+
ROUND 4
Ro grabs her spare starknife and slings it it at the cultist at the foot of the stairs while thinking real hard about being lucky.
ROUND 4
The Hound Archon maintains his defensive positioning:"I wish not to slay you. Choose redemption. Surrender."
A bit overwhelmed by the current situation, and deciding not to be cornered split from the others, Lia decides to tear into a different reality, and, staying invisible, takes a small step through the void over next to the stairs.
As she steps back into reality, still invisible, part of Cynosure's splendor arrives with her, causing a momentary lapse of attention in those close to her.
Round 4
Drasven continues waiting though he does check to see if his companions requires flesh bolstering....
The cultist manages to avoid the swings of Karmid's earthbreaker, and takes a minor wound from his klar. He dances in war razor shining, chuckling to himself, until Rojava's starknife takes him in the middle of the forehead, snapping his head back before his body collapses as if boneless.
Round 5
Suddenly, both of the remaining cultists start looking around them , seeing something that perhaps isn't there, then both give their heads a shake, one continuing his dance with the conjured hound archon, the other glances over and sees that two of his brethren have fallen and decides to wait for the arrival of reinforcements, moving to the landing under the stairs that Karmid and Rojava stand upon.
A number of other cultist run up the stairs, shouting questions at the other cultist, "Where are the interlopers? What is that thing over there?"
At the top of the stairs, Drasven turns as something catches his attention, then a grey burst of energy surges out from his location, catching Rojava on the stairs, but passing over Karid's head by inches.
As you watch the action below, you hear the slight sound of a door being opened to your left...You turn your head and see a tall elf emerge, wearing a mask that appears to be a stitched piece of dried flesh, tied together with black stitches in the form of a spiral. "And what do we have here?" the figure asks, and then the spiral of the mask seems to begin to spin...
Something washes over Ro, tickling at her mind before she throws it off. Ro looks upward, toward where it came from.
"What in all the hells was that?"
ROUND 5
Nodding at the assist from Rojava, Karmid moves over the next corpse and around to the next...
"You are NOT paying attention to me! What an unintelligent group of cultists you guys are..."
Thunder and Fang!
+
+
Draven mind becomes a mountain as his mind resists the effects attempting to wrest control of his mind. He lets the spell break over the defenses set up in his mind.
Lia lets the Haze drop again, instead casts Haste covering all her comrades, and starts moving up the stairs - there seemed to be many cultists, and there was a good chance they could either overwhelm the group, or at least hold their position until reinforcements arrived - so finding some alternate exist on top of the building seemed desirable.
Meanwhile, her Hound Archon steps away from his enemy to make space for Karmid, then starts hacking on the wooden floor with heavy blows that send up splinters.