The dwarf scratches his beard and seems about to reply, but instead he shrugs and steps over to begin killing ghasts. Nodding once in the direction of Ada, he growls at the others, "Watch her... make sher she don't try nuthin'."
The moment Pirknok steps towards the goblin-ghasts with his weapon held high, Ada stands from her throne and shrieks. No longer a frightened young woman she's suddenly a monster - full of hatred and hunger.
"Let us consummate our… our… hunger!”
"Ada! I'm going to butcher you like the beast you are!" Ventus bellowed like a vengeful spirit. His knuckles were white around the hilt of his sword.
"Then I'm going to burn this miserable hole to the ground!"
Startled by the transformation from scary woman to horrifying woman, and hoping this isn't really Ventus' lover -- his words give her a moment of relief -- she pulls her two daggers from their sheaths again and sends them flying toward the woman.
"Ventus, she seems to not like you anymore!"
"'Like' is a very nebulous thing when referencing the free-willed undead." Ysme replies as she prepares to loose an arrow at Ada.
Upon seeing the horror in the room, Eli downs a vial of something, and he shudders, his eyes becoming more catlike. "And if you all get me killed, Marysin will kill you." he grumbles.
Eli draws and drinks another vial, letting it drop from his fingers afterwards.
"Who's Marysin," Jessamy wonders.
Jessamy's daggers are well aimed but miss their mark and clatter against Ada's throne.
The undead noblewoman hisses again before lurching forward with unnatural grace.
Pirknok glances between the threats, but ultimately decides that the goblins don't seem as interested in his friends as the woman does. And women are always trouble...
Striding forward, he tries to sink his blade into her ugly undead body.
Ventus follows the fleet footed dwarf but proves considerably more wary after experiencing the paralyzing embrace of the ghouls earlier.
"Don't..." Ysme utters as the others close with Ada. "I'm not that good a shot!" she cries, throwing the bow down in frustration before closing with the nearest of the Goblin Ghasts, Betheda close behind her.
Betheda circles the Ghastly Goblins before lunging at the one Ysme missed.
Pirknok and Ventus fail to hit the swiftly moving undead Ada. She grins with a mouthful of yellowed fangs at the ranger.
Ysme similarly fails to hit one of the hideous goblin-undead. The wolf has more luck, grabbing a rotted leg and pulling the goblin it's attached to to the ground.
"Menj el hozzá. Fogom tartani őket!" Ysme calls to Iago as Betheda drops the Ghastly Goblin most between him & his former wife.
Why are they all advancing? I thought the idea was to let them move toward us?!
Moving forward as she pulls her swords, she waits for an opportunity to attack the small creature.
The undead goblin chirps in surprise as Jess's blade opens a gash its its back. He spins to glare at her with tiny hateful eyes.
With the distraction afforded by Jessamy and Ysme, Iago tears into the goblins.
But his target proves too nimble.
The goblin wounded by Jessamy turns on her, while one climbs to his feet and the other two claw at Iago's back.
Ada grins again and stares down Ventus.
"Don't hate me my love. We're not so different. Had fate been a little kinder, it could have been you sitting on this throne."
The woman's pale features shimmer and after a moment, her face is replaced with Ventus's. The trick is distracting and the ranger finds himself at a disadvantage.
With another shriek she attacks!
"Ysme! Gurl! That box, git it! Sumthin's happenin!" yells Pirknok, before returning his attention to the monster before him.
Ysme's claws split the goblin's flesh and Betheda tears something important to the small undead free, re-killing it.
The tattooed dwarf growls low in his throat as the face before him changes. "How DARE you take on mah bruther's face!" he yells. "Yer gunna die so miserably..."
His knuckles are white around his katana as he swings again with deadly intent.
Eli draws another bomb and lobs it at one of the Goblins, directing the shot in such a way to avoid splattering his allies and Iago with the splash.
Eli's bomb connects hitting a goblin dead center. The little ghast's bits fly everywhere, scattering over Jessamy and Ysme. The shaped charge of the blast avoids hitting Ysme, Betheda, Jess, and Iago.
Jessamy groans as her limbs again freeze.
A tremor of fear runs through her as she realizes she could die down here, surrounded by a Pesh addict and crazed dwarf.
"Was luxury not good enough? Wealth and prestige? Your arrogance and obsession have turned you into a monster!" Ventus bellowed at her, cutting and bashing viciously.
The monster's face/expression changes back to a scared and tortured Ada.
"You think I wanted this for this for any of us? I had no choice! He brought home that whore! I didn't mean to kill them but once it was done it was too late!"
Box? What box?..
"Do you mean the shape at the bottom of that...
fungal mass?" Ysme calls out to Pirknok as she closes with the Ghastly Goblin threatening Jessamy.
Lunging for the new prey, Betheda strikes!
The air in this damp cavern reeks of a horrific stench, a foul combination of decay, brine, and mold. The cave contains a rickety table, its damp surface cluttered with all manner of what appears to be garbage: empty bottles, bits of clothing, crumpled bits of paper, and more, lying in neatly organized rows. A painting leans against the far side of the table, facing a large leather chair that sits nearby. This chair’s high back and cushion are horribly stained by smears of rotten meat and its arms are sticky with blood. A smaller table sits against the southern wall, its surface heaped with plates and platters of rotten, maggot-infested meat. The horrific stench of the room seems strongest to the west, where the cave’s wall has been overtaken by a horrific growth of dark green mold and dripping fungi. At the center, a patch of black tumescent fungus grows, its horny ridges and tumorlike bulbs forming what could almost be taken to be a humanoid outline. What appears to have once been an exquisite puzzle box the size of a man’s fist lies smashed on the ground at the fungoid shape’s feet.
Ysme's claws tear a chunk from the undead goblin's flesh but do little to slow it down.
Iago turns his wrath on the same target.
But again the goblin evades him.
Ada continues to slash at Ventus with reckless fury.
"I never wanted thiiiiisssss!"
Suddenly the pieces of the puzzlebox on the ground shudder and the mass of fungus in the center of the chamber pulses with dark energy.
Ventus, trying not to gag as the compulsion takes effect, chokes down a scrap of fungus. Still moving defensively despite bleeding heavily, he tries to deal with the psychotic undead first.
As the slimy foulness slides down his throat, Ventus's skin becomes suddenly pale and clamy. He feels weakened and dizzy.
The ranger's blade connects opening another gash in the undead woman's flesh.
"This is not going well..." Eli mutters, drawing and drinking another extract.
Ysme cries as she slashes once more at the Ghastly Goblin before her.
She continues as her second swipe misses horribly.
Betheda snaps at the tiny terror again.
Pirknok's mighty form becomes held fast by the vileness of Ada's claws.
Ysme and Betheda manage to destroy another goblin while Iago struggles to overcome the last one harrying him.
Ada raises her knife overhead again but is suddenly overcome with grief.
”I don’t know!” she pleads. ”I was overcome by rage. I’ve always been angry but this was something else…”
”The Brotherhood, they came to me. They promised to make things right. To make all of this go away.”
Iago suddenly turns and sneers at her.
”You’ll pay for what you did to me! To us!”
"At what point did this seem like a reasonable choice?" Ventus said.
"This needs to end."