| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Shaggar's growled warning rings out from the other side of the wall, then the party hears a metallic clunk of something dropping to the stone floor.
Her clawed fingers scrape off your armor to no effect, and you smash into her in a tangle of limbs and teeth and gnollish anger. Congratulations. You are holding a mummy. A mummy who just had, what, three hundreds pounds of humanoid mass and gear crash into her as dead hurtling weight? She is no longer holding onto the ladder, is what this boils down to.
Through luck of various gods, Shaggar manages to arrest his descent with a footclaw jammed into a rung of the ladder. He is now closer to a pharaoh than he likely ever expected he'd be. Namely, holding-her-in-his-arms close. She does not look pleased.
Despite the steely arms locking her down, the pharaoh manages to snake one arm free, snatch components from a fold in her robes, and shout more words in Osiriani as she gestures.
The air above Shaggar ripples.... distorts... and there's now something above him. It looks like a humanoid cloud. It punches him in the back of the head.
Heldar.... you feel your life link surge into being as Shaggar has just taken some damage. You can't see what's going on, but you can hear shouting of the spellcasting variety from somewhere behind the wall. You're up!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Now aware of Shaggar's absence, Lyrian looks towards where everyone else is staring. "Really?" he says, half in annoyance and half in respect for the crazy bastard.
Bow out, he goes and sticks his head through the illusory wall.
Javi is quick to respond to Shaggar’s words, only a half-second behind Lyrian. Once he realizes what’s happened, he barely pauses to consider the ramifications before grabbing an alchemist’s fire from his bandolier.
”Shaggar!” he calls out in Taldan, ”Hold on! It’s about to get a bit warmer down there.”
"Shaggar is hurt" - Heldar warns the others.
"Shaggar is hurt" - Heldar warns the others.
Heldar.... you feel your life link surge into being as Shaggar has just taken some damage. -5 HP to Heldar, +5 to Shaggar You can't see what's going on, but you can hear shouting of the spellcasting variety from somewhere behind the wall. You're up!
Heldar dashes across the illusory wall also, taking a place next to Lyrian - "Where is he?"
Javi, at least, can see down the shaft and see... a thing that looks like a living cloud, down the shaft, that is hitting Shaggar in the head.... and he can juuust see Shaggar, who is wedged awkwardly into the shaft, maybe holding onto something...?
Heldar, the sparkly particles do not look like an air elemental. The sparkly particles look more like dust... or glitter... or glittery dust...
"What is going on?" Rosalia says, half-startled and half-irritated, as people disappear through the wall. She moves through the wall, bumps into Lyrian, growls uncomplimentary things, and moves until she's standing in a clear space next to him. "Shaggar's down the hole?" she says with a confused blink.
Rosalia closes her eyes a fraction of a second as if concentrating, then begins casting a spell.
"Javi, you're smaller-- you can probably maneuver in that hole better," Rosalia admits (a little sullenly). "I'll touch you and you'll be able to fly."
Shaggar growls in Common to his allies "I've got an unwilling Osiriani girlfriend here." He tries to tightens his vice-like grip on the cadaverous woman as he says in the ancient tongue, "Surrender and you may yet live."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
She doesn't actually look cadaverous at all. Or feel cadaverous, for that matter. But these are small details. Mostly she is struggling against Shaggar's powerful arms-- she is definitely stronger than she looks, but so far Shaggar has the upper edge...
"I will drive your ribs through the eyesockets of your friends," she responds in the old tongue, and tries to wrench free.
So far, she isn't having much luck.
The cloud above Shaggar's head loyally tries to strike at him again and free its mistress.
"Javi, you're smaller-- you can probably maneuver in that hole better," Rosalia admits (a little sullenly). "I'll touch you and you'll be able to fly."
"Now THAT I can do!" Javi replies as he hurls the alchemist fire down at the elemental. Pausing just a second to see if he hits, he darts back over to Rosalia, drawing his blade on the way.
Javi's alchemist's fire hurtles down the shaft, but the figure-made-of-clouds twists and dodges nimbly, and the bottle shatters on the wall of the shaft.
Lyrian recites a bit of old but beautiful celestial doggerel he once heard from his celestial grandmother, meant to quicken nerves and steady hearts.
Peering down, Heldar notices the cloud-like creature assailing Shaggar - with a series of complex gestures, he summons a longsword made of pure force to attack it, trying to offer his companion some respite.
Lyrian calls upon magical speed, and everyone finds themselves moving faster!
Heldar's mystical link continues to function, healing Shaggar some and draining away a bit of the oracle's energies in turn. The oracle also calls a weapon of pure force into being, but it swings and misses the cloud-creature it goes off Heldar's Charisma rather than his Wisdom, and that makes enough of a difference for it to hit the cloud creature.
Rosalia touches Javi, and he is now lighter than air! The wasp can fly.
"There's not much else I can do right now!" Rosalia shouts after discharging her spell onto Javi. "I can't get in there to attack, and most of my spells require me to get in there with my sword!"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Shaggar appreciates the pharaoh's imaginative desires then sinks his fangs into her face. He comes away with a snarl, "Ugh! She tastes like... dust bunnies!"
Suddenly preoccupied by intense feelings of hasty-osity and flyeeness, Javi buzzes past the group once again and disappears down the shaft.
He plummets down behind the elemental, taking advantage of its preoccupation with Shaggar to stab it in its airy soft parts.
Shaggar maintains his iron grip, and takes a bite out of crime undeath! She does indeed taste awful, even though she looks okay. Her flesh is hard and dessicated, like chewing through the stiffest of dehydrated meat, and he doesn't think he hurt her as much as he was aiming to do.
She tries again to rip free.
The cloud-creature continues its simple, if effective, assault on the creature holding its mistress.
The cloud seems to be settling into its stride.... Javi takes that opportunity to dive-bomb it! His scimitar looks like it's on a perfect arc to connect, but the roiling winds whipping off the creature seem to make his balance unexpectedly wobbly in mid-air, and his blade misses.
Heldar and Lyrian, you're up! Heldar, you take 5 damage... Shaggar heals 5. You've now taken 15 damage via the life link, Heldar.
Lyrian leans over the open space and fires his bow rapidly down into the shaft.
Lyrian's arrow strikes true against the cloud figure, sending a burst of lightning rippling through its form. It makes a keening wind noise at the pain.
Shaggar, you're up! (And Heldar if he wishes)
"Well that ain't right," offers Lyrian. "Something's back there rasping and meowing."
Heldar's conjured blade continues its assault on the creature, as the Oracle turns around, moving again through the illusory wall - "I have heard something" - he warns the others - "Rosalia?" - he mutters, moving decisively.
Anyway, you see Rosalia.... wrestling with the lid of the sarcophagus, trying to drag it open. She freezes a half-second, staring wide-eyed at you. Root is mewing in concern at her feet, seeming to skittishly come close to her, then darting away.
"I... was just... I figured I couldn't do much there, so I-- thought I'd.... look...."
You're.... pretty sure Rosalia isn't acting entirely in her right mind. Her fingers are white-knuckled where she's gripping the sarcophagus lid, her breathing shallow and her eyes wide.
The oracle's eyes take on a somber look - "Rosalia, what are you doing?" - then he takes a look around the room, looking for something out of place.
Even so, he does not hesitate and moves toward her, casting a protective spell without a second thought - "What is going on here?"
Rosalia flinches at his touch, pulling back and continuing to try and pull off the lid of the sarcophagus. "Leave me alone!" she snaps at him.
(Nothing seems out of place in the room. Through the open doorway, the battered and knocked-over 'bowl' is still visible. The egg-device seems intact. The crystal cage with its stone woman inside is unbroken.)
From the other side of the illusory wall, everyone can hear the following exchange:
(Heldar) "Rosalia, what are you doing? What is going on here?"
(Rosalia) "Leave me alone!"
Shaggar, you're up....
Shaggar snarls as his quarry squirms in his arms. "What is going on up there?" he yells in frustration. "I'd come up to see, but I have my hands full!"
And his mouth, as he tears again into dessicated flesh.
Ankana has a few savage gouges missing from her shoulders now, but shows no signs of being seriously injured. She continues to try and wrench free, to no effect, while the elemental carries on carrying on.
Despite Shaggar's precarious position locked in the shaft, this time he manages to avoid being hit.
Lyrian looks back over his shoulder in worry. "Heldar, Rosalia? Talk to us. What's happening?"
Meanwhile, he keeps up his barrage of arrows fired at Ankana.
Javi keeps his attention focused on trying to slice-n-dice his way through an angry cloud.
The conjured sword continues its relentless attack on the elemental creature, as commanded to do earlier.
---
Heldar moves to stare directly at his companion - "Rosalia, what are you doing? Why are you opening this thing now when we need your help over there?"
"Stop this!"
ZZAAAP! Both of Lyrian's arrows hit in streaks of lightning, one of them burying itself in the undead creature's eyesocket as she tries to squirm loose. It would be a killing blow on anyone human, who needed their brain; Ankana seems less bothered by it, though her skin is charred and blackened and she is definitely the worse for wear. Between the arrows and Shaggar's jaws, she is getting fairly near to death. Well, technically she passed death a while ago, but you know what we mean.
Javi has gotten more of his bearings now in midair and slashes twice, with excellent aim, at the cloud-creature. His scimitar bites, though he feels it does just a hair-less damage than it should, due to the way the two foes are tumbling around in the air of the shaft. The elemental looks near dispersion, but is still just barely 'alive', by whatever rubric one measures such things.
Heldar... your glowing weapon actually floats out through the wall and rejoins you, taking up a position by your head. You do manage to get a very firm grip on the lid of the sarcophagus, at least. A little more of your life force bleeds out....
Everyone hears Heldar say: "Rosalia, what are you doing? Why are you opening this thing now when we need your help over there?"
Shaggar barks back, "WHAT IS GOING ON UP THERE?" when he hears Heldar say that. At the same time, everyone hears Rosalia's voice casting a spell, and her shout, "I SAID, LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Teeth bared, Rosalia draws her sword.
After putting some distance between them, he chooses to heal himself, glowing in a soft, restoring light - "I need assistance" - the half elf finishes.
Shaggar hears Heldar's shouting and snarls in answer. "I'd go help him, but... hands still full," he points out.
"--damn. Belay that," Shaggar yips with a blink, as he loses his grasp on the undead queen, and she drops out of his hands, falling down below. "Pharoah's free!!"
Javi and Shaggar, at least, can see Ankana plummeting down the shaft to land forty feet below. She makes no move to try and catch herself on the ladder's rungs. She hits with a dry cracking and crunching noise, but seems to still be moving... barely.
Shaggar snarls his irritation with this turn of events, debating whether to follow down to try and dispatch the pharoah, or to do something about the air elemental that's been plaguing him for so long. He looks up through the semi-transparent clouded body at his small, flying friend, and grunts as he draws his axe.
"So you're a wasp in truth now. Go help Heldar... and get out of the range of princess's spells," the gnoll rasps to his halfling buddy.
Down below... one of the pharoah's arms seems badly disjointed, as that is the shoulder Shaggar's been gnawing on, and the impact seems to have shaken it loose. This does not appear to bother her, any more than the arrow jutting out of her eye socket that Lyrian gave her. She scrapes herself up into a standing position, bares her teeth in a grimace, and calls a spell into being. "Die," she shouts, her voice echoing up the shaft.
Shadowy tendrils erupt from the walls at the top of the shaft, lashing out in all directions... trying to wrap around Javi and Shaggar, but erupting far enough that even Lyrian and Heldar are caught in the sudden wash of ebon tentacles.
Ironically enough, those closest to the 'blast' are the ones least affected by it. Then again, to Heldar and Rosalia, the tentacles appear to burst out of a wall without any warning, so perhaps that's explanation enough for why the two of them are the only ones actually caught in the clammy grip of tentacles.
Rosalia screams angrily as the tentacles wrap around her-- and her cat!
Seemingly unbothered by the tentacles, the air elemental continues its mindless assault on Shaggar.
On the hp: Heldar had taken a total of 37 points of damage, correct? 20 from Life Link and 17 from Rosalia's attack? If he takes another 10 from the tentacles he should be at 4/51?
The situation is dire to say the least, but the Oracle's main concern is not his own safety but his companion's - his life has been punctuated by the good of others, and even though the choice between saving himself or others had never needed to be made in such relevant terms, this time he did not even hesitate.
Feeling the grasp of the conjured, monstrous tentacles, he understod their strength, and was almost sure his companions could stand in their grasp for a few more moments, but Rook probably would not - "Try to release yourself Rook, and run away from here" - he spoke, knowing the cat was much more intelligent than an average animal, but still not sure he would understand.
Focusing on himself, a burst of warm light surges from Heldar, healing all the companions around him, and himself.
”Fine!” Javi replies darkly to Shaggar as he rips off a few choice curses in halfling. ”But if you die, I’ll kill you.”
He levels one last slash at the elemental before zipping back up out of the shaft and towards whatever situation is occurring in the egg-and-sarcophagus room.
"I've got it covered," says Lyrian, keeping up his fire.
Javi's scimitar gets in a parting shot-- and it's a nice one. It slices through the cloud body, which dissipates into a misty formlessness with a sad trombone noise. Shaggar grins his thanks up at Javi as Javi tears off into the other room.
Javi plunges through one mass of tentacles, through the illusory wall, and into another mass of tentacles, and spots Heldar and Rosalia with the tentacles wrapped around them both. (Rook too.)
Meanwhile, Lyrian coolly lines up another shot-- ignoring the tentacles, aiming past Shaggar, and.... thwiiip! The arrow that he sent into the pharaoh's right eye socket earlier is joined by an arrow in the left eye socket. It couldn't have been more neatly placed if he had spent an hour arranging it just so. Ankana's mocking laughter dies abruptly, electricity ravaging her body as she drops to the floor, twitching.
Shaggar arches his brows up at Lyrian's beautiful shot and gives him a nod of thanks. "Saved me from falling on her again," he rasps.
On the other side of the room, Rosalia seems to be freaking out. Her focus on the sarcophagus has been forgotten in favor of her familiar. "Rook!" she screams, trying to reach her small, furry, tentacle-wrapped cat. "Hang on, I'm coming!"
Rook is a ball of yowling cat, try to escape as well.
Shaggar grimaces as he looks up at the tentacles writhing around. "I don't help anyone if I get caught in that," he growls, and climbs down a few feet to be below the reach of the writhing tentacles, though only Lyrian can see him at the moment. "What's the situation up there?"
The situation is... that the tentacles are trying to grab people again.
Fortunately, Heldar's powerful healing of a few seconds ago means that nobody is in immediate danger of death at the moment.
Heldar, Javi, and Lyrian, you're up!
Lyrian? Look just above your own post, Madame!