Lily continues to press the attack by intoning another spell and then sending her ghostly hand off to attack Liam once more.
(this is a touch attack)
Finnrick begins summoning.
Sarah (red): 16 dmg
Liam sways unsteadily on his feet, barely conscious after all the combined assaults. Deciding that he isn't going to get much more out of his charms, Sato decides to drop his act, moving to prevent them from running up the stairs and points at Liam's weapon. "الحرارة"
The sword in the cultist's hand begins to glow red-hot. With a scream, Liam drops the sword too late and a moment later the thud of his body joins the clattering of the rapier.
Mickey shifts himself to take advantage of Sarah's position, lashing out once again at the large cat, first with his rapier and then with the small shield he's carrying.
Growling and spinning to keep track of both foes, Millsy easily dodges Mickey's blows. She turns, expecting Sarah to do likewise, but the female cultists instead takes a step back, pulling a vial from her robes and quaffing it instead.
As the man falls down, Etam rushes to the next cultist. He yells "Repent, heretic!" and follows it with a heavy jab at the closest foe.
_______________________
Since her spectral hand depleted the last of her hit points, using it causes Lily to fall over from strain and start dying.
As Lily collapses, unconscious, Etam swings thrusts his spear but misses his target.
Millsy takes a 5 foot step just as a majestic golden eagle appears in flanking position with her and they both begin to harass the cultist.
"Millsy, Bruce, Finish that man." Finnrick says as the eagle appears
DEFENSE
AC 14, touch 13, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +1 natural, +1 size)
hp 5 (1d8+1)
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +2
OFFENSE
Speed 10 ft., fly 80 ft. (average)
Melee 2 talons +3 (1d4), bite +3 (1d4)
STATISTICS
Str 10, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 7
Base Atk +0; CMB –1; CMD 11
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Fly +8, Perception +10; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception
Augmented summoning gives +4 to STR and CON Lasts 3 Rounds
Bruce Attack
Millsy Attack
While his beasts do the fighting for him Finnrick kneels down and tends to Lilly's wounds.
Continuing the assault:
Sarah (red): 8 dmg
Sato: Burning disarm x2
Mickey jumps as an eagle appears out of nowhere. "What the...?" However, the creature quickly reveals itself to be more of a nuissance than a real threat, despite getting a lucky talon in. Millsy doesn't fair much better, only managing a single claw attack as she staggers from her wounds. Artair then steps around to try to join in on the fun, but the animals' bad luck seems to be contagious as he only makes a small chip in the pillar.
As the northeast corner of the courtyard turns into a mini-zoo, Finnrick rushes to Lily's side. While the wizard remains unconscious, the druid does at least manage to staunch the bleeding.
Assuming that the gang of three (hopefully) has Mickey cornered and under control, Sato points to Sarah and repeats his previous tactic.
Sarah, however, notices him repeating the same trick and drops her sword before it has a chance to burn her. She growls as she now finds herself unarmed and facing Etam. Cursing under her breath, instead of retrieving her weapon she steps back, drawing another vial and a sap as she does so. She then proceeds to once again chug the contents, throwing the vial and causing it to smash harmlessly at Etam's feet.
Mickey, surrounding by animals and a dwarf, decides to continue focusing on the cat, not wanting to get tripped in such a potentially dangerous situation.
Seeing the large cat go down with his sword strike, he uses his shield to swing at the eagle, who merely flies back out of reach to avoid the blow and caws angrily at the man. Not wanting to get flanked, Mickey then steps towards Sarah, over Millsy's unconscious body.
As the lights go out for Millsy she attempts to stabalize herself.
"You two stay alive" Finnrick whispers in Elvish as he begins casting another summoning spell.
Bruce the eagle swoops and avoids the shield and continues his full attack.
Sarah (red): 20 dmg
Sato: Burning disarm x2, laughing touch, 4 nonlethal
Mickey attempts to wave off the bird as it continues to screech and claw at him, one talon managing to get through his defenses and find skin.
Artair then swings out at Mickey as Etam follows up with Sarah to attack, kicking her dropped weapon backwards and well out of her reach as he does so.
Moving in off of Etam's hit on Sarah, Sato then moves forward and tries to touch her as well, but she nimbly moves to one side
Seeing their enemies loom towards them, Sarah and Mickey take a few more swings before moving to at least join ranks. ,
"Traitor!" Sarah yells as she swings her heavy sap at Sato, most likely glaring daggers at him from behind her mask. The blow connects but is overall weak. As she steps next to Mickey to back him up, the male cultists manages to send the spiritual eagle back into the void. However, overly confident after the one hit kill, his shield strike goes wide and misses his dwarven target.
As the 2 cultists move into a defensive position near one another a vicious Pomeranian appears where the eagle had fallen and disappeared.
Dog CR 1/3
XP 135
N Small animal
Init +1; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +8
DEFENSE
AC 13, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+1 Dex, +1 natural, +1 size)
hp 6 (1d8+2)
Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +1
OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.
Melee bite +2 (1d4+1)
STATISTICS
Str 13, Dex 13, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 11 (15 vs. trip)
Feats Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Acrobatics +1 (+9 jumping), Perception +8, Survival +1 (+5 scent tracking); Racial Modifiers +4 Acrobatics when jumping, +4 Survival when tracking by scent
+4 STR and CON
The dog immediately begins attacking the man adjacent to it.
Meanwhile Finnrick kneels down and whispers to Lilly, "I am sorry that I made you wait." He lays his hands on her forehead and and closes his eyes. a warm light engulfs the two of them and some of her vitality is restored.
Alright, now I am angry...
Artair is going to rage.
Let me know if I turn green...
This gives me -2 to my A/C and +2 to my attack and hit.
He swings his mighty AXE and is going to try to CLEAVE (another -2 to AC)...
Etam moves towards Sarah, putting himself in between the cultist and Sato. "How dare you accuse him? Repent, infidel!" He accompanies his yell with a violent thrust.
Lily's eyes flutter open and she groans lightly. "Oooh, that smarts," she says as she sits up.
Focusing quickly she realizes that the battle is still going on and directs her spectral hand to deliver another chill touch at Sarah - something easily done from her prone position.
~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Sato does his best to avoid combat (5' step away if threatened) and points to Mickey. "Drop it!" he intones sharply.
Sarah (red): 23 dmg
Sato: Burning disarm x3, laughing touch x2, 4 nonlethal
Luck does not seem to be on the group's side as a flurry of strikes fly at the two cultists. Mickey dodges Artair's strike as the dog's teeth are met with the metal of his shield. As Etam thrusts his spear at Sarah and Lily's spectral hand moves towards her, the cultists dodges the spear point, expecting her armor to catch the hand. However, the apparition is only partially there and slips right past, delivering a cold shock to the woman.
Sato speaks once again as Mickey's rapier begins to heat up. The quick bodied cultist, however, drops the blade before it does any damage. Unfortunately, he is not as quick of mind and then immediately reaches down for it again. As he goes to do this, Sarah tries to warn him out of it, "No don't! Just go for your--" But it's too late as the action leaves an opening for Artair and the poofy dog to exploit.
His rapier retrieved , Mickey then turns to attack the angry dwarf and ignoring the yappy creature at his heels. With the froth beginning to form on Artair's lips, he was more likely to be rapid out of the two.
Unfortunately, the blade is still a little warm and his attempt to hold on to it without burning himself causes his swing to be more of an almost-dropping-it-on-the-dwarf action. He starts to lose his balance and in an attempt to steady himself, the arm with a shield flies past Artair and clangs loudly on the stone wall behind.
Sighing heavily to herself, Sarah tries to ignore the idiot now backing her up and swings at Etam.
Expecting this, the trained warrior just barely manages to move out of range of her swing.
Etam dodges Sarah's blow and gives a heavy sigh. "It is of no use. Brother Artair, let us end this now." The warrior takes a step to his right and starts rapidly spinning his spear in front of him in an attempt to distract both Sarah and Mickey; when the cultists least expect, he thrusts the spear with lethal precision:
Etam takes a moment to focus on the two cultists now standing back to back in a defensive position and grounds himself, planting his feet like he had been taught. He takes a deep breath and then, on the exhale, thrusts it forward. He shoves the point of his spear into Sarah, who gasps in shock, and then continues to drive it into the back of her companion. There's a wet gurgling noise as blood spurts out of Mickey's mouth as he looks down at the spike now protruding from his chest. There's a beat of stillness and then Etam staggers slightly as he finds himself now supporting two dead bodies at the end of his very bloody spear.
Etam removes from the bodies and stares at the bloody tip for a second. He rips a piece of cloth from one the robes and cleans his weapon meticulously whilst speaking in a calm tone: "It will be harder to keep our disguises after this. Should we find our equipment and storm the upper floor to find evidence of wrongdoing?"
Lily says, "We'd better, or we're going up for murder!" She painfully stands and adjusts her badly-stabbed robe. "We need to put these bodies somewhere that they won't be spotted immediately," she suggests.
Jaed runs into the courtyard, a sword in each hand, yelling: "What is taking you so looong...?" His last words drown in his throat as he spectates the butchering of the last two guards. "Ok, there's that," eyes still fixed on the two dead bodies while he puts away the swords.
"I have been exploring the top floor while you have been, er, having fun. There is a room with a desk where I find these." Jaed searches his robe with both hands and presents a vial of some clear liquid that seems to shimmer on one hand and a beautiful, silver raven figurine that almost seems alive, its eyes watching the group in the other. "I don't know what they are or what they do. You may have a better idea." He says as he passes them around. "Apart from that there was some coin, which I'll keep until I get back the money I had to pay in the inn for all of us, and some notebooks I didn't have time to read but may be interesting."
"Annexed to that room there is another one with a creepy large statue made of dozens of Razmiran masks placed on a pressure plate of some sort. There are also 6 doors in that room that I was unable to open without my tools. Maybe moving the statue may release the pressure plate and open one of them but I didn't want to risk it and end up under another icicle rain." Jead takes a deep breath. "So, yeah, I agree with Etam. We should get our gear before we venture upwards."
As the group is whole once more, you move back into the temple, taking the stairs through the empty armory and turning a basement corner until you find themselves in front of the locked door Jaed had found earlier that leads to where you were held less than a week ago.
Sorry I missed it but if I could take a quick step back and have an action or two for Finnrick that would be great.
As Etam savagely finishes of the last cultist Finnrick rushes to Millsy's side. Not Again he thinks to himself Why can't I seem to keep you out of harms way? You crazy girl.
"Does anyone have a potion? Millsy needs a potion? Any of you?"
He rifles through the cultist gowns and retrieves any items of interest.
"Ah, no, I don't," says Lily, wringing her hands. "Maybe one of the cultists does?"
Finnrick frantically rummages through the bloody robes of the nearest cultist, tossing aside a long metal rod with a golden tip and a small leather-bound parcel and quickly pulling out a few vials identical to the ones Sarah had consumed. With a quick look, Sato identifies them as potions of cure light wounds.
Jaed gets one of the thieves' tools and holds it in front of him as he was looking at a long missed brother. Oh, I missed you so much.
"Wow, these guys were carrying a lot of interesting things. Do we need to get down to get our gear or can we get going with all of this?"
Etam finally sees Millsy unconscious and runs to Finnrick's side. "Is there anything I can do to help, master Finnrick? Artair and I can carry her for now – I shudder to think of what these cultists would do to her."
When Sato points out the potions, the warrior fetches one and pours it down the cat's throat, gently asking for her master's permission shortly before doing so.
More relaxed after seeing Millsy's condition improve, he speaks to his other companions: "These armours might gets us through…but I am afraid we might not get the chance to find our equipment after we storm in the top floor and possibly rile up the whole temple against us."
"So do we go up or down?"
"Down is wiser," says Etam emphatically.
After a few rough starts, Jaed eventually manages to unlock the door to the basement. On the other side, a single everburning torch in a sconce on the eastern wall burns, its light revealing a dusty, cobweb-ridden corridor. The stench of sweat and worse hangs in the air. The corridor then splits into two passages. To the North is a heavy iron door that doesn't appear locked. To the South you see the beginnings of the cells you were held in less than a week ago, all currently empty. Next to the cells is a simple wooden door, also unlocked.
Finally, Jaed thinks, relieved when he sees the door open.
"Wait here, I'll go to take a look in case there are more guards inside," Jaed whispers back before carefully moving towards the door at the end of the cells.
Once in front of it he stops for a moment, and suspicious as always, he looks for signs of traps before finally opening the door.
Jaed moves quietly through the hallway past the now empty cells. Once at the wooden door, he pokes and prods it but finds no traps. Pressing his ear against the wood, no sounds can be heard on the other side. Gingerly he pushes the door open. On the other side is a small, plain room. There's a locked chest in one corner and a table with several haphazard piles of things on it Sifting through the piles reveal that this is much of the mundane gear the group had brought in with them.
After a few moments fiddling with the locked chest, Jaed is also able to unlock that, revealing the rest of the group's gear in addition to a small pouch containing 65 gold, a set of silver dice (worth 5 gold), and a bone tube containing a parchment that Sato identifies as a scroll of prayer.
Eureka! Jaed goes back to the others with a smile on his face.
"Found our things." Once everyone has geared up, and guided by his curiosity, he approaches the other door and carefully inspects and opens it.
Lily hugs her spellbook, and says, "Thank you, Jaed, thank you!"
After bringing back the group's gear, Jaed turns to give the iron door the same treatment as the wooden one. Once again, he finds no traps nor does he hear anything on the other side.
With a tug, he attempts to open the door with no luck. Checking once again to make sure, he confirms that it isn't locked. Squaring his shoulders and bracing himself, he pulls once again on the door.
This time the iron door opens with a hideous screech making all who hear it wince. On the other side of the door is a staircase that leads down, curving away to the east. There is a musky odor in the air, like that of a caged animal. The stairs are covered in a thin layer of dust. Evidently the cultists don't use them very much.
"I don't like that smell," Jaed says remembering their adventures in the crypt. "I think we should go upstairs and see what's up with that statue."
"Excellently done Jaed," Finnrick says as he slips his scimitar on. "I don't know why I even carry this clunky thing, I am dreadful with it" As the door creaks open Finnrick winces at the noise "Quite stealthy you are," He Jests and peers into the darkness. He casts light on his scimitar to give him a better look.
"How shall we proceed? I have slightly better vision in the dark than the normal human but I am by no means accustomed to the dark."
"Likewise, but surely there must be torches or lanterns around here somewhere."
"careful going down there it appears to be a bit trapped. Do you see that plate, just there." he points out the pressure plare to Jaed.
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