Stubbornely, the dwarf carries on, even if his body is rocked on by mystical energies.
It seems as if he has forgot how to die.
But we can guess his foes would be happy to remind him how.
Giving up on trying to touch the raging dwarf with whatever spell he has in mind, the spellcaster takes a few steps away from the corner and shoots a ray of cold, black energy at Nargun.
The beam of baleful light hits Nargun in the arm and he immediately feels the strength drain out of him.
Artegall slashes one of his opponents as she shifts to try to make an opportunity for her partner.
The group's foes respond furiously, both Maidens and the doctor landing solid strikes on their opponents.
The pounding continues from the other side until finally the door gives way, with even Artegall being pushed aside as he tries to hold it closed. Four heavily armed and fully armored Grey Maidens push their way through the door while three other figures move along behind them in the dark hallway.
Mirela looses an arrow while Nargun smashes past one of the Maidens tall shield and through her heavy shoulder armor to leave a wicked but strangely bloodless gash in her shoulder. Her arms hangs at an odd angle but she still manages to heft her sword without complaint.
The four warrior women turn on the door guards, hacking with their finely made swords.
The pair of Maidens facing Nargun pierce his defenses but don't inflict much damage. One of the pair in front of Artegall manages to get past his blade as well, landing a painful slash. From within the hallway, a pair of magic missiles streak unerringly at Mirela.
Artegall slashes at Red as it moves past him.
The one sword that finds its mark hits hard, taking away most of the benefit of his Aid spell.
Mirela calls out Whisper Atta... UGGGG!
But she fumbles the command as the missiles hit her.
Then Mirela knocks another arrow and aims at the spellcasters in the hall ready to launch at the first sign of spellcasting.
The woman in the back starts chanting and Mirela looses an arrow at her, trying to disrupt her spell. Mirela's arrow glances off the priestess's breastplate and she glowers at the presumptuous archer. "STOP where you are and cease this pointless struggling!" They all feel the power behind her command and have to struggle to throw off her order.
Artegall shakes off the spell.
He turns his focus to the nearest zombie and continues his attack.
Mirela struggles but managed to throw off the command that echoes from the call.
Oh 'ells below... Watch out, that woman back there is not only 'eavily armored but she is also better at calling down divine blessings then I am!
Artegall chops hard into the Maiden's torso, nearly bisecting the unfortunate woman but not dramatically slowing the undead soldier's swings or movement.
As he does, a familiar doctor springs out of the hallway, dashing and dodging to position himself behind the canny investigator. Using the distraction of the Maiden and his own agility to confuse Artegall's expert defense, the doctor slips his rapier through the investigator's defenses and right into his flank.
Nargun doesn't waste time and slashes at the zombie facing him.
Wizard 0: Acid splash, Mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic. 1:Mage armour, Vanish, Magic weapon, (S)Colour spray.2:Spectral hand, Spectral hand, (S)Blur | Subtle misdirection 2/6.
Bonded item A:0/1, D: 0/1. Pearl Lv1 0/1, Lv2 0/1. Wand cure light (3). Wand daze monster (8). Wand prot.evil. (46). Wand magic missile (18)
Twilight felt dizzy for a moment as a flood of disjointed images showing scenes of danger and misfortune befalling the group flashed through her mind. She stumbled for a moment before collecting herself. As the vertigo passed she could swear she could hear Zellara's voice whispering "Beware" in her mind, but before she could warn the others of the premonition the doors burst open.
"No-one commands a chosen of Callistria" she scoffed, her voice full of bravado despite her deep concerns about whatever was to come.
Nargun she trusted to be able to take care of himself, but it looked as though Artegall might be in need of some assistance. Moving to get a better line of sight, she called upon Callistria's blessings to ward the man from harm.
The Maidens try valiantly to hew through Nargun and Artegall but neither can connect. Nargun contemptuously slaps aside the blade with his axe and chops his opponent in half, dropping the heavily armored zombie to the floor.
In the hallway, the male spellcaster points at Mirela and she can suddenly feel her muscles lock up as a spell starts to take hold.
Mirela Freezes in place.... Fighting to get free.
And finally shaking it off after a moment.
The pale woman in the back gestures at Mirela. "You dare to desecrate my goddess's temple? To attempt to stop her great works? See what happens to the faithless!" A ghostly grey scythe appears in the air right in front of Mirela and swipes at her.
Artegall slashes at the zombie in front of him, staying on the defensive.
If that drops the zombie, then he is thankfully no longer flanked.
He uses his move action to close the doors - this does not provoke an AOO.
AC is 27 with Combat Expertise and Blessing of the Faithful.
Artegall cuts down the last of the undead bodyguards, leaving only living opponents on the field.
The slender doctor stabs at the canny investigator but can't pierce Artegall's impressive defenses.
Wizard 0: Acid splash, Mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic. 1:Mage armour, Vanish, Magic weapon, (S)Colour spray.2:Spectral hand, Spectral hand, (S)Blur | Subtle misdirection 2/6.
Bonded item A:0/1, D: 0/1. Pearl Lv1 0/1, Lv2 0/1. Wand cure light (3). Wand daze monster (8). Wand prot.evil. (46). Wand magic missile (18)
Satisfied that with the undead gone, Nargun and Artegall were reasonably able to handle themselves Twilight moved back to Mirela. The red haired priestess had momentarily froze in place despite being harried by the spectral weapon, but she seemed to have recovered.
"Your arrows like the wasp's sting, Callistria's blessing on you". Twilight called on the Savoured Sting's favour and let the Goddess' divine will alter the course of fate as she saw fit.
The male spellcaster barks out another spell as Mirela breaks free of his holding spell. A pair of scorching hot beams of fire lance out of the hallway and burn right into the archer.
Artegall slashes at the zombie in front of him, staying on the defensive.
[dice=Attack, Studied Combat, CE]1d20+10+2-2
[dice=Damage]1d8+5+2If that drops the zombie, then he is thankfully no longer flanked.
He uses his move action to close the doors - this does not provoke an AOO.AC is 27 with Combat Expertise and Blessing of the Faithful.
I posted that I closed the doors as a move action after my attack.
If I needed to 5' step to do so, I could have (not sure if you can close doors from an adjacent square).It is possible that Lamm could have 5' stepped, opened the doors, and then cast his spell, but doing so would put him in melee reach of both Nargun and Artegall. (Mirela might still be down - that was a very high-damage Scorching Ray; but Lamm would then be in range for a full attack from Nargun.)
My intent was to isolate Davaulus out here with us and to block Andaisin's sight of Mirela (thereby forcing the Spiritual Weapon to return to Andaisin's side).
Whisper runs forward and tries to pull down the mage who just shot magic at her mistress.
Nargun grins as he sees the mage right to him, and strikes without mercy
Whisper rushes the mage but can't connect, just like Nargun's axe clangs off an invisible barrier as he tries to maneuver the huge blade around the corner of the door.
The woman in the hallway frowned slightly at the hovering scythe as Mirela fell and the magical weapon floated forward to strike at Twilight.
It slashes hard through Twilight's defenses.
The woman moves forward a few steps and gestures at Nargun. "If you won't see the truth of my mistress's teachings, you won't see anything at all!"
"Twilight, look to Mirela!"
Artegall drops his sword (free action) and makes a barehanded grab for Davaulus's sword. Because he has Improved Unarmed Strike and Improved Disarm, he does not take the -4 and does not provoke an AOO.
Artegall is not using Combat Expertise this round, so he is AC 23.
Nargun blinks once.. twice...
and spats toward the priestess
There is no truth to see in your goddess teachings. I kill that one, then I kill you.
If Davaulus instead tries to Withdraw or move away, then Artegall will use his AOO to Trip instead. AOO for damage if Davaulus picks up the longsword or casts a spell, or for Trip if he tries to move.
Because of the tank, Davaulus would provoke from leaving the second threatened square on a Withdraw (unless he uses Acrobatics, which I guess he did when moving into position). Artegall's CMD is 20 at the moment.
Artegall rips the rapier out of the smaller man's hand. The doctor blinks at Artegall, mouth agape, then steps warily away from the investigator and disappears.
Twilight warded off the spectral scythe as best she could, but the ghostly weapon still managed to get uncomfortably close leaving a nasty tear in her outfit and a painful scratch across her arm.
She knew this spell well, it would continue to assail her as long as she remained within the priestess' sight. But she couldn't just leave Mirella in the state she was.
Drawing the wand that the huntress had given her, Twilight tapped Mirella with its healing power before stepping back through the door hoping that she would be able to obscure herself enough that the spectral weapon would return to its caster.
The male spellcaster growled at Twilight's healing of Mirela and whipped a pair of arcane missiles at the archer as she started to rise.
The unerring darts of energy slammed into Mirela even as she started to push to her feet.
Nargun passes the door, and strikes at the mage
You won't escape me, Lamm, even through Death...
Mirela gasps as the healing magic enters here then jerks as the magic missles slam into her again.
Whisper tries again to pull down the mage that continues to shoot magic at her mistress.
Nargun and Whisper's attacks both slids off some sort of magical field that is protecting the spellcaster from harm.
The tall, pale woman with the scythe grins as Nargun comes close enough for her to attack. "Mistress, accept this death as a sacrifice in your name!" She wields the huge blade expertly, slashing the raging warrior twice. Both times, similar but less deadly wounds open up on her pale flesh, making her laugh at the pain. The ghostly scythe hanging in the air over Mirela's unconscious form attacks him from behind, hitting Nargun hard with pure magical force.
Grinning madly, she steps back a few feet deeper into the hallway.
Artegall moves into the square with the Spiritual Weapon (everything I can find says it does not block a space or get AOOs). He studies and strikes at Lamm.
Unlike Nargun and Whisper, Artegall manages to hit the spellcaster, nearly spitting him through the neck. He gasps at the sudden deadly wound, glaring at the investigator.
Twilight was enraged that her healing had been undone in such a trivial manner. Tucking the wand between her teeth to free up both hands, she grabbed Mirella's unconscious form and heaved it out of the room, and hopefully out of sight of the combatant therein.
Stepping gingerly out of the way of the door, she retrieved the wand and prepared to use it once more.
Lamm mutters a few words under his breath and reaches out to touch the man who'd just so grievously wounded him. Artegall's skin literally begins to crawl as a result.
The poor dwarf, blinded by his thirst for blood and vengeance, can't land a blow on "Lamm"... which only infuriates him more!
The pale skinned woman casts a spell on herself, a sneer on her lips. "If you won't submit you can serve my mistress in death."
Artegall knows he can't let Lady Andaisin swing that scythe again.
He moves up between Lamm and her and strikes to disarm.
If the scythe clatters to the ground, he will shout, "Nargun, step next to me, smash her holy symbol, drop your axe, and grab the scythe!"
Come on, Whisper... Artegall hopes the wolf's luck changes for the better.
Whisper tries to pull down Lamm again.
Meanwhile Mirela continues to bleed out.
Out of sight of the combatants within, Twilight could only hope that Nargun and Artegall were able to hold their own while she tended to Mirella.
With a tap of the wand, the red haired archer's wounds closed satisfactorily as she regained consciousness.
Mirela opens her eyes and looks around in panic.
Watch out, e's got a wand... wait... did we be stopping them?
The spellcaster doesn't look particularly well defended, but Whisper finds- like Nargun had- that he is protected by some sort of invisible magic. The wolf's teeth and claws can't find any purchase on Lamm's vulnerable-looking skin.
Lamm swipes at Artegall as the investigator nimbly moves past him but misses. Artegall deftly stabs at the pale woman's hands, making her drop her scythe. He notices that the rapier almost seems hungry, trying to move itself to stab at the priestess's unprotected hands.
The spellcaster tries to touch Nargun again.
But he still can't get through Nargun's defenses.