|
"That is certainly on the list of options Dru, but dying hopefully isn't." Dale frowns as his spoon isn't up to the task. Seeing the downed one start to heal and stir, he moves closer and gives himself a clear projectile path, drawing a crystal vial with the very rigid and very large text printed across it HOLY WATER.
He tosses it on the yellow bones hoping to end the thing or at least slow it down.
,
,
,
,
,
Monty continues to swing futilely at the skeletal creature, but with or without the flail, he seems to be having difficulty finding a weak spot to strike. As Purpurrup again tries to heal the deep claw marks across Faliana's side, the medium thrust her spear over Monty's head, forgoing extra power for accuracy... she is able to jab the tip right through its rib cage, then twist right at the end, to break off even more of its bones. Brady too forgoes extra power for accuracy, as he is having a difficult time reaching it around the dividing wall. His tactic proves partially effective, one of his blows nearly breaking one of the skeletal ape's leg bones.
Dru continues to fight on as well, blood flowing from multiple wounds and barely able to stay on her feet. But that is not enough to get her to back off from her protective position... her teeth gritted in stubborn defiance, she continues to swing her morning star at the undead abomination. Again, bones crack under her blows, and bits of the skeleton shatter and break off, though not enough to slow it down. Even as bits break off, you see them start to pull back into the central mass, and reattach themselves. Not as quickly as they fall off, but far too quickly for your liking!
Dale tries to do his best to stem the flow of blood from the spear-maiden... but his spoon can only do so much. Tad is much better equipped, the young grippli calling on the healing power of Sarenrae once again, to send a large surge of positive energy through his long tongue, to try to keep her on her feet.
But all of it is not nearly enough...
Even as her arms start to flag, weakened from the loss of blood and pain wracking her body, the bloody skeleton grabs her with both of its massive clawed hands as it tries to rend her in two! She struggles against its grip, but to no avail, and when it finally sinks its fangs into her, even those struggles cease. Her weapon falls with a clang to the stone floor, and her body follows it not long thereafter, as it tosses her aside like garbage, and turns its hollow blood-soaked eye socket towards Faliana one more.
- Round 3 -------
Party is up!
|
Faliana gives a cry of anger and surprise as her friend drops to the floot like a sack of potatos. "Dru! You will NOT be dying on me today!" Seeing that everyone else is moving in to help the fallen woman, Faliana braves the glare of the sekelton with one of her own menatally calulatingthe pbest places to hit with her spear.
She then steps forward a few feet and then targets spot number one, "Let's take this thing down quick, heal up Dru, and seal up the room. Unless someone wants to try that payer again... this time WITHOUT the NOTES!" She gives Dale a significan glance.
,
As Dru drops to the floor, blood flowing freely from her many wounds, Tad decides to send a burst of healing energy through the room, not only stemming the flow of blood on the downed warrior, but patching some of the many other wounds suffered by the others. The wave of positive energy is enough to make Dru aware of her surroundings again, though she can barely move, her entire body wracked by pain... only the cool hardness of the floor under her back providing providing any comfort. The giant one-eyed ape skeleton, claws still flashing, looming over her certainly does not.
Dale tries to hurl a vial of blessed water at the thing, but he is used to the weight of his own concoctions. Throwing a vial of liquid is quite different, and he doesn't even manage to clear Monty, the vial crashing and breaking on the floor behind him. Most of it splashes on himself, and on Faliana and Monty... none at all reaches the original target.
Faliana steps over the wet spot, warily taking advantage of Dru's prone position to jab her spear at the skeleton with as clear a path as she can get. Again, she manages to fit the tip between a number of the bones there, and even snaps a few off, though not nearly as many as she'd like. She still does better than Monty or Brady though, the two of them both finding their fists and feet deflecting of thick bones, or striking spaces in between. Even as they swing, parts of the skeleton continue to knit themselves together.
With Dru down on the floor, apparently out of the way, it now focuses once again on its original target, Faliana! Its claws reach through the gap left as Dru fell, one of them raking across the medium's right shoulder, adding even more blood to wounds only just starting to get healed . It tries to pull her into reach of its jaws, but she is able to claw aside at the last moment, ducking out of the way before it can do any more damage.
Poor little Purpurrup gives a dismayed froak sound as she again tries to fix some of the damage, her head undulating non-stop with worry.
- Round 4 -------
Party is up!
|
|
Faliana gives a grunt of pain as the skeleton gets another hit on her, drawing her blood and causing a massive amount of pain. "This thing will go DOWN!" She then gives a scream as she tries to take out another important target her spear can handle.
She does give a sigh of relief as she sees that Dru is stable and breathing again. The middle-aged medium then backs off a step not wanting to be the target of another massive claw.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Dale tries again to hit the skeleton with holy water, this time, not even trying to hit it... instead aiming at the floor in front, hoping to at least splash it this time. The vial hits the stone floor, and skitters off of it, spinning across to the side unbroken... only to be kicked by an errant foot to bounce back the other way, before the skeleton itself manages to step on it, shattering the fragile container, and spilling the holy water across the floor. The bones of its left foot start to dissolve almost immediately, the entire creature listing slightly to that side as its metatarsals and phalanges fall apart.
Faliana uses the opening to thrust her spear yet again. Though it is not nearly as devastating a strike as it would be if it were not a skeleton, it is still enough to cause some serious structural damage. Its unnatural mending abilities seem to be having trouble keeping up with the damage!
Dru tries desperately to crawl out of the way, the pain and fear driving her to try to get away... the skeleton pounces on her as she tries, its clawed hands ready to rend her apart once and for all! But even as it moves to finish her off, Monty leaps in to defend her, trying desperately to drive it back. His first blow connects just above the elbow on its grasping claw, separating its arm in two!
Before those displaced bones have even hit the floor, his foot comes around in a followup sweep, striking the leg with the disabled foot, shattering the bones there as well. Unable to maintain its upright position, the entire skeleton tips over, with a silent howl, and shatters to the ground over top of Dru's prone form. Bones and joints fly in all directions as its animating force can no longer hold it together. Only its large one-eyed skull laying beside Dru on the floor, blood still dripping from the socket, hinting at the malevolence that fueled it only moments before.
It can only be permanently destroyed by positive energy, or inside a blessed or hallowed area, or if its remains are sprinkled with holy water.
|
|
Dale does a cheesy, yet thoroughly gratifying fist pump as the monstrous monkey bones finally crash to the floor. "YES! We did it! Now to put them down for good." He takes out his last holy water vial and begins to sprinkle the two with it, focusing on their bloody eyeballs.
"Hopefully this is enough, otherwise we'll have to put my healing spoon to work!"
|
|
Faliana gives Tad a smile as his tongue whaps on he side and heals most of the bleeding wounds there. "Thank-you! That was a life saver!"
After the last skeleton goes down, Fali angrily gives one of the bones a light kick. "Bloody things!" She then takes a look at the remaining wounds on her side and tsks over the rends in her outfit and armor she'd have to repair again. "Don' know why the spirits got so angry, but I can say for sure I'm not going to let Dale take notes during any religious activities from now on. He can do it afterwards!"
Fali picks up an ulna of the larger skeleton after the channeling and holy water. "Hmm do you think these are going to come back anytime soon? If not, while everyone is healing up and resting, I'd love to try doing a reading on this skull again." Assuming there's no immediate threat, Fali hefts the skull and then using it as an inplement performs a short, slow belly dance with it, testing it's weight and judging it's balance while trying to pry deeper into the history of the object.
|
|
Monty pants for a few moments, waiting for the skeletons to attack again, before softly falling on his butt with a "WHOOF!" he pants for a few moment as his tail flicks out and flicks Dru on the nose.
I told you... He pants.
We weren't going to lose, you pessimist! Hohoh... ow...
He winces again and smiles weakly at Tad.
I think, either way, it's time for our healer to help us get back up to fighting shape.... aside from skeletons, we still have a demon to stop.
|
I do have a wand of healing myself...Please use it, Thad, on everyone who needs it. Including myself, if you dont mind. And you'll all get a few rounds of your favorite beverages as soon as possible, Monty, I won't forget that. I'm glad you proved me wrong again.
With a feeble, bloodied hand, Dru gives her healing wand to the holiest frog alive.
|
Brady steps in before Tad channels Sarenrae's energy to send the skeletons to their permanent home. "Don't waste your lady's energy, Tad. I have another vial of holy water; we may need your lady's help again later." He hands the vial to Dale so that the expert can make sure these creatures never rise again.
|
|
Dale gives Fal a dirty look "Me taking notes had nothing to do with what happened and you know it. Maybe our local fiend friend did.. or maybe his little face munching friends?" He finishes the line he was working on in his journal, records a few more things about the fight, then stows it away once more.
"Thanks for the healing Dru. I've got to admit, not much 'oomph' left in my spoon. Pretty soon I'll have to retire it and unveil its replacement!" He snickers a bit as they get ready to move on to the next area, which seems to be the stairs down.
As you sprinkle the holy water over the bones of the first skeleton, the blood dripping from the lone empty eye socket seems to darken, then dry up and turn to dust... a strange effect given you're pouring water on it. By the time you've covered most of it, the bones are once more silent and motionless, seemingly free of whatever unholy influence had taken hold of them.
As Dale moves to repeat the procedure on the second set of remains, Faliana again picks up one of the bones of the first. For the second time she tries to sense whatever lingering spiritual resonance might be there.
That has changed considerably now, as you are almost immediately inundated with feelings of rage and hatred, causing your dance to falter for a moment, as you try not to get overwhelmed by them.
The feelings are new, clearly only just impressed on the bones ... quite likely after you finished your ritual. The source of those emotions seems to be from somewhere else. You're pretty sure it is not something that was laying latent in the bones themselves.
But there is more... other things that that same hatred has drawn forth from the remains themselves... almost as if the bones themselves have been prodded to remember things long forgotten. It lingers in the background almost impossible to pick out of all the intense emotional background noise currently running rampant.
They are vague images of torture and bizarre experiments... though the subject of those atrocities seems to shift even as you try to pick it out... one moment a cyclops screaming in anguish... the next an ape, howling in pain... the two images superimposed.
You're not sure if you're looking at one event, or two, or something else entirely.
Though you do recall Akmon mentioning something about these creatures being monstrous hybrids of some sort.
|
|
Part way into her dance Faliana misses a step and stumbles slightly. She soon gets back into time with the non-existant music, but a look of worry and growing concern rises up on her face.
After she finishes and takes a second to wipe away her sweat, she gives the group a worried look. "These bones have changed. Before they weren't much more than bones, but now they have a distinct feeling of fury and rage. Something was strong enough to reach out and implant those emotions, willing them into bloody skeletons. We might want to be careful..."
She stops for a second as if unsure of whether to go on or not. After a second she does. "I did get a reading on... one other thing. These skeletons a very long time ago had similar impressions that the current ones are waking fanning back into life. Apparently who or whatever these things were in life, they might have been tortured or experimented on or both..."
Dale gives Fal a dirty look "Me taking notes had nothing to do with what happened and you know it. Maybe our local fiend friend did.. or maybe his little face munching friends?" He finishes the line he was working on in his journal, records a few more things about the fight, then stows it away once more.
Fali gives him a flat look. " We can't be sure. Anyways Ammon didn't want you to be recording those details, and many people would consider it disrespectful. You've got the best memory of anyone I know. You could stand to wait five minutes next time!"
She then gives Dru a nod. "Thanks, Dru, Let me get you next time! Ashava knows I owe you for it."
She then slides up to Monty and slides into an embrace, "Well, should we get going? There's not much else to see here and we've a demon to prevent the resurrection of!"
As they start moving she hugs Monty in close whispering "Jsut hold me for a moment. I have been seeing too many gruesome things here and I need to be around someone not bleeding or screaming or canabalizing their brethren."
|
|
Dale frowns a bit at Fal's reprimand. "Ok fine. I'll try to do all my note taking when Ammon isn't around. Those that ignore history are doomed to repeat it you know. Maybe showing the world what happened here will save some civilization down the line from.. that." He points back towards the room with the giant table and all the slurping, sucking, smacking sounds you can imagine.
|
|
Dale frowns a bit at Fal's reprimand. "Ok fine. I'll try to do all my note taking when Ammon isn't around. Those that ignore history are doomed to repeat it you know. Maybe showing the world what happened here will save some civilization down the line from.. that." He points back towards the room with the giant table and all the slurping, sucking, smacking sounds you can imagine.
Faliana gives a shudder as Dale mentions... That. "Dangit, Dale! I'd just been able to finally forget that was going on. Thank you for reminding me..."
We Caydenite Don't use water, holy or not.
|
|
She then slides up to Monty and slides into an embrace, "Well, should we get going? There's not much else to see here and we've a demon to prevent the resurrection of!"As they start moving she hugs Monty in close whispering "Jsut hold me for a moment. I have been seeing too many gruesome things here and I need to be around someone not bleeding or screaming or...
The strange bloody skeletons apparently dealt with, and after what seems an interminable delay, you finally continue on, in search of the source of much of these troubles. Quickly doubling back to the previous room to the north which, judging by Faliana trying hard not to look at it, still has not finished their ancient feasting, you turn to the east, and start back down again, deeper into the bowels of the ancient temple. The wide steps go down quite steeply, each one sized for giant-sized feet, making it a little tricky to navigate with your far smaller frames, both the gripplis almost having to climb down from each step as they go.
Eventually, those steps open into a long, dark, wide hallway that reaches past the reaches of your lights. It is completely filled with thousands upon thousands of smashed and broken statuary of all kinds. Huge mounds of destroyed relics and idols and unidentifiable icons litter the entire place. A narrow path appears to have been cleared through the mass, winding its way through to an enormous double door, slightly ajar, visible in the dim light at the far end.
Akmon appears behind you once more, his voice barely concealing the tears he's trying to hold back.
"The greatest blasphemy of them all." He says, almost choking on the words. "They started calling this the Hall of Broken Gods. Every shred of evidence of the old faith... ruined beyond repair. This is where we found ourselves near the end."
"I can only hope that cleansing away this wreckage respectfully, can the sun and the moon be appeased."
He looks around again, the pain obvious on his face. "But even that might not be enough any more."
The ancient cyclops slowly fades from the vision once again, though the images of other cyclopes smashing icons does not.
Dale seems totally lost in whatever visions are running past his eye, but Faliana, perhaps from her prior experience filtering the world through a single lens, is a little more aware of her surroundings. Dru too is on the alert... between the both of them, they realize the room does not just contain the shattered bits of faith, but actual more physical threats.
They both yell a warning!
,
Unfortunately, it is not quick enough to stop the barrage of arrows that suddenly rains down on the front line as you reach the base of the steps. Monty is completely oblivious to the arrow fired his way, but his senses kick in at the last moment, and he slides sideways as it whizzes past his head, almost parting the fur on his cheek. Dru, aware of some of the attackers, does not quite pinpoint them all, and though she manages to knock one arrow aside, a second follows it closely, striking her right shoulder, only stopping as it hits bone!
In the room beyond, you see a number of the hazh'a warriors firing at you from the rubble, one of them atop a large pile to the right, two more further back on the left, also partially concealed in the debris.
One of them starts yelling in their native tongue, back towards the slightly open door in the back.
- Round 1 ---------
Monty reacts first to the ambush!