Seeing that the shabbiness is only an illusion, Azarra feels less creeped out, at least until someone shoots at them.
She steps forward to try to unlock the door:
Kardas lifts up his blade and invokes an ancient Nar word of power: "Skydas!" With that, a soft glow envelops the swordmage. "Friends, there are many hushed footsteps beyond this door![/b]"
Also hearing the footsteps behind the door, Zane's eyes narrowed, his resolve to see these thieves cast down stronger than ever.
Azarra surprises everyone, most of all herself by springing the door's lock open easily! The doors swing open inwards to reveal a trio of rather surprised looking women. Two of them are blond with matching chainmail armor and rapiers, and look so alike they could be twins. The other woman is dressed in black leathers with a dagger at her side. They trio share a glance before they all uncork potions down them and vanish in unison!
Initiative rolls:
Kardas Rasalas <----- WE ARE HERE
Ser Armithia-Seendren
Azarra
Thieves
Zane Levallis
Ishta Khosiv
Kardas Rasalas, Ser Armithia-Seendren and Azarra are up.
Ser Armithia walks into the room 20'. The paladin continues to scan for evil as he speaks,
Ladies, I am Ser Armithia-Seendren; knight of Helm, member of Watchers of Dawn company, in service to New Phlan: We are here under legal orders to clear out any hostiles to New Phlan. We would like to interview those here in residence to disabuse any such notion.
Azarra steps into the room far enough that her detect magic cone will reach the back of the room, and then casts Detect Magic to see if she can spot them by their auras, or that of their equipment.
Ser Armithia nobly tries to avoid unpleasantries but his entreaty falls on deaf ears.
Azarra moves in and casts a spell!
A disembodied feminine voice mocks Ser Armithia's speech, "Hahah Did you hear that?! So righteous, so full it! Cut him down to size girls!"
Suddenly the twins appear either side of Ser Armithia and in a coordinated strike they attack! The southern one's blade was turned by his armor but the other northern sisters' blade found it mark, sinking home into the flesh of his arm!
<--- Miss
<--- Hit
Kardas Rasalas
Ser Armithia-Seendren
Azarra
Thieves
Zane Levallis <----- WE ARE HERE
Ishta Khosiv
Spoiler:Kardas Rasalas
Ser Armithia-Seendren Shield (40 rounds)
Azarra
Thieves Shield Other (2400 rounds)
Zane Levallis Shield Other (2400 rounds)
Ishta Khosiv
Kardas Rasalas
Ser Armithia-Seendren Shield (39 rounds)
Azarra
Thieves Shield Other (2399 rounds)
Zane Levallis Shield Other (2399 rounds)
Ishta Khosiv
Zane Levallis, Ishta Khosiv, Kardas Rasalas, Ser Armithia-Seendren and Azarra are up.
Zane gasped in pain as the twin women appear on either side of Ser Armithia and the one stabs in deeply in a seam in his armor covering his arms. Gritting his teeth, the priest moved into the room to support the gold elf, thinking that pressing the women would make them less effective with their illusion magics. The young man moved to Ser Armithia's right, to engage the twin there as he swung his mace at her in a controlled arc.
Ishta advances and shouts at Ser Armithis. "Back off left, now!" She waits for the paladin to move out of the area and then she casts some colored lights that could easily make a good show at any tavern worth its name.
Barely noticing the scratch thank you friend Zane, the gold elf takes a 5' step to flank the southern twin with Zane. The knight then swings his bastard sword at her.
Helm may not want you bloodied!
You are the harbinger of some future event. Whether this event bodes good or ill, you exude an ominous presence. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Intimidate checks, and Intimidate is always a class skill for you. Once per day, you may attempt to demoralize an opponent as a swift action.
Since some of the women are visible now, and have attacked, Azarra stops concentrating on detecting magic, and just shoots.
(unlikely, but just in case)
Zane's mace connects solidly with the southern twin, causing her to yelp in pain.
Ishta steps forwards and a fan of vivid clashing colors crashes over the twins like a wave and unfortunately over poor Ser Armithia as well. Both the northern twin and Ser Armithia are locked rigid as their senses are overloaded by the display!
<--- PASS
<--- FAIL
<--- FAIL
Kardas Rasalas <----- WE ARE HERE
Ser Armithia-Seendren Stunned
Azarra Action posted
Red Theif
Yellow Theif Stunned
Green Theif
Zane Levallis
Ishta Khosiv
Spoiler:Kardas Rasalas Shield (39 rounds)
Ser Armithia-Seendren Shield Other (2399 rounds), Stunned (2 rounds)
Azarra
Red Theif Inspire Courage
Yellow Theif Inspire Courage, Stunned (2 rounds)
Green Theif Inspire Courage
Zane Levallis Shield Other (2399 rounds)
Ishta Khosiv Mage Armor (2099 rounds), Heightened Awareness (95 rounds)
Kardas Rasalas Shield (38 rounds)
Ser Armithia-Seendren Shield Other (2398 rounds), Stunned (1 round)
Azarra
Red Theif Inspire Courage
Yellow Theif Inspire Courage, Stunned (1 round)
Green Theif Inspire Courage
Zane Levallis Shield Other (2398 rounds)
Ishta Khosiv Mage Armor (2098 rounds), Heightened Awareness (94 rounds)
Kardas Rasalas is up. Sorry Ser Armithia you lost your action.
The paladin salutes the Arcanist...
Revised actions
Kardas hesitates, but Ser Armithia does not. While his sword misses the mark, his tongue does not! The woman pales at his outburst.
Ishta steps forwards and a fan of vivid clashing colors crashes over the twins like a wave and unfortunately over poor Ser Armithia as well. All three are locked rigid as their senses are overloaded by the display!
Azarra bellows at the northern twin and amazingly her voice results in contusions all over the twin's body!
The invisible bard does something you can't see.
Kardas Rasalas
Ser Armithia-Seendren Stunned
Ishta Khosiv
Azarra
Red Thief Stunned
Yellow Thief Stunned
Green Thief
Zane Levallis <----- WE ARE HERE
Spoiler:Kardas Rasalas Shield (39 rounds)
Ser Armithia-Seendren Shield Other (2399 rounds), Stunned (2 rounds)
Ishta Khosiv Mage Armor (2099 rounds), Heightened Awareness (95 rounds)
Azarra
Red Thief Inspire Courage, Demoralized (1 round)
Yellow Thief Inspire Courage, Stunned (2 rounds)
Green Thief Inspire Courage, Stunned (2 rounds)
Zane Levallis Shield Other (2399 rounds)
Kardas Rasalas Shield (38 rounds)
Ser Armithia-Seendren Shield Other (2398 rounds), Stunned (1 round)
Ishta Khosiv Mage Armor (2098 rounds), Heightened Awareness (94 rounds)
Azarra
Red Thief Inspire Courage
Yellow Thief Inspire Courage, Stunned (1 round)
Green Thief Inspire Courage, Stunned (1 round)
Zane Levallis Shield Other (2398 rounds)
Zane Levallis, Kardas Rasalas, Ishta Khosiv and Azarra are up. .
"Auril's breath have you!" whispers Kardas under his breath. The swordmage takes quick steps to cover the distance between himself and his foe, blade raised up high, only for it to come crashing down upon reaching the Maskite.
Immediately after, the swordmage unleashes a flurry of cutting blows at the Maskite.
Target creature touched
Duration 1 round/level
Saving Throw Fortitude negates; Spell Resistance yes
You channel negative energy through your touch, fatiguing the target. You must succeed on a touch attack to strike a target. The subject is immediately fatigued for the spell’s duration.
Zane sighed as the hapless Ser Armithia is caught in Ishta's cone of mesmerizing colors. At least the twin women had been caught and bedazzled in it, as well. Looking about quickly to see if the other woman had shown back up yet, the priest faced a rather poor decision. With the prospect of perhaps a dozen or more other combatants in the house, it was an easy decision, if not a preferred one. They had to cull down the number of hostiles quickly or risk being overwhelmed.
So the cleric took another swing at the twin he had previously connected with, hoping that the group could bring them down before more of their fellows arrived or they came back to their senses.
Azarra shoots again.
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A stunned creature drops everything held, can’t take actions, takes a –2 penalty to AC, and loses its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any).
Attackers receive a +4 bonus on attack rolls to perform combat maneuvers against a stunned opponent.
Ishta puts her hands on her ears and whispers to Azarra. "Hush, you'll wake up everyone!"
Then she makes a light gesture with her hands and cassts an ice bolt.
Earlier, Kardas rushed into combat, his blade deeply slicing the northern twin's right arm!
After Ishtar's spell locked the twins rigid, Zane's mace came smashing down on the southern twin, badly injuring her.
Kardas's blades take the northern twin in a 1-2 strike disemboweling and beheading her!
Moment's later Ishta's ray hit the stunned twin in the face, causing her head to freeze solid! Azarra noting that her target was dead, shot the other frozen twin in the chest. She slowly totted over before smashing into icy pieces.
The door to the south east opens and slams shut!
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Ishta puts her hands on her ears and whispers to Azarra. "Hush, you'll wake up everyone!"
Azarra whispers back I can't hear you over Ser A's armor. Can you speak up?
My much longer post got eaten but basically the party combines to turn the poor twins into a fine puree. Between being shot, crushed with a mace and cut into ittybitty pieces they're both very dead. The invisible bard thinks f#%$ that and runs off through the south east door (M on the map).
Everyone except Ser Armithia is up.
Not wanting to give chase to an invisible foe, Zane turned back to the double doors they had just entered and shut them. Invisible or not, someone would at least have to open them and announce their presence to the party. He eyes Ser Armithia nervously, but the man seemed to be doing alright, and from Ishta's relaxed posture he assumed the effect was temporary.
He looked to the others after he secured the portal, "Where to now? Or do we give chase?"
Azarra searches the bodies.
As we go farther, let's decide on a door, and then let me open it with a spell in case there are traps. And I'll at least try to unlock them if they are locked. Sound good?
Well, isn't this a strange(and unnerving) predicament!
Zane nodded at the simple logic of Azarra's suggestion, noting that it would probably speed up their exploration. She was something else...lovely, capable, intelligent. Oh, he was supposed to be doing something, right? Maybe the middle of the magicked-up manor wasn't the best place to be mooning over the half-elf.
The priest shook his head, then pointed to the northern door (K). "Shall we start there, then?" If everyone agrees, he goes to line up behind Ser Armithia after the gold elf regains control of his senses.
"If you're set on opening this door" says Ishta while pointing to K, "We should be careful to watch our backs, knowing an invisible stalker is sneaking around."
Then she approaches See Armithia. "Ser Armithia! Hey, I'm sorry..." she starts, with shame showing on her cheeks. "I miscalculated your movement. That is unacceptable, and won't happen again. I hope you understand." She thinks the paladin is a bit too snob, but still that doesn't justify her error, and is expecting some kind of deserved reprimand.
As the affects of the spell wear off, the gold elf paladin of Helm walks up to Ishta.
You are commended. The whole of the group is more important than myself. You acted quickly and decisively. Well done.
Kardas clenches his fists and pulls in a few ragged breaths before letting it all go with a rather violent sigh of sorts. "I must admit: that felt good. For all the wrong reasons, perhaps, but that felt good. It is comforting to know my skills with the blade are sufficient to keep us safe even when things go awry. And yes, Azarra, that sounds great. I trust not a single thing in this accursed place!"
The man the continues to grumble under his breath. "Illusions and shadows, the tools of cowards ..."
As the group readies itself beside the door (K), Zane cocks his head as though listening. As they lined up to get ready for Azarra to cast her spell of opening, Zane caught everyone’s attention and held up three fingers, then pointed at the door.
Ishta thumbs up at Zane and braces herself, doing a gesture to the others as if she wanted to cast a spell when the door opened.
Azarra gathers up the good armor, daggers, and money from the corpses, and then when Ser A is ready, and when Zane indicates that she should open the door, she casts Open on the door where they are expecting resistance.
She has her bow out, and she casts from the side (where she is currently on the map), so that she hopefully isn't directly in the way of any blasting spell that might come through.
Azarra casts her spell and the door creaks open to reveal a gloomy but seemingly empty corridor, with a curious widening just before the door. The corridor seems choked with dust and cobwebs.
As the door opened, Zane nearly leapt forward in anticipation, but the corridor was deserted. This was nerve-wracking!