|
%(&#$*! Barnaby yells as he's struck by a blast from behind. Stepping away from the still flailing ogre, he lashes out at the new arrival with his dagger, drawing on his inner reserves to slice through. "You wouldn't happen to be Fel, would you? Now how about you tell us where Wuthers is and that's all mysteries solved!"
for
Jormond takes a mighty strike against the ogre, hopefully ending its undead torment. Yvette’s eagle finishes him off, scratching and biting the grotesque corpse.
Barnaby, in shock, recognizes the cleric’s death’s touch spell. Hmm… Barnaby must be familiar with that type of spell from his past. Curious. He attempts an attack on the cleric, but misses.
As the cleric steps back away from Barnaby’s blade, Yvette’s magic makes his skin sizzle with pain. ”Arggh! You’ll die just like that other foolish Pathfinder! Fel! You’ve heard of me?! Of course you have. After your insignificant lives are extinguished, you will join the undead ranks with that puppet, Wuthers.”
|
"Oh, this must be the local caltrop authority.", Nergi proclaims after witnessing some of his last words.
With the ogre down and Jormond safe, the halfling looks to Barnaby and his sideways-bent back. Clearly, he's in pain. Nergi manages to focus again and the flash connects her and the investigator.
|
Azura's eyes flash with steely fury as the fool cleric taunts them with Wuther's death. She had suspected, but had hoped against hope that she would be wrong. "You will rue the day you dared to harm a Pathfinder, fool! The only death here today will be no accident!"
She throws a handful of sparkling motes to swirl around and cover the treacherous cleric.
Fel gets hit by Castoris’s arrow. ”HA! That’s all you got, paladin? Pathetic.”
Nergi is mildly weakened, giving some of her life essence to Jormond. Nergi then makes a similar connection with Barnaby in effort to aid him soon. She looks over to Fel and sizes him up. Fel wears full-plate armor and carries a heavy steel shield and a heavy pick made from a skull and bone.
Azura throws glitter at the cleric, but it doesn’t seem to affect him much at all.
”You glitter bombed me!” retaliates Fel. He looks around at the approaching Pathfinders. ”You may strike me down here today, but I will take at least one of you with me.”
Fel reaches out to Barnaby.
Barnaby contorts in pain from Fel’s touch. The Pathfinder falls to the floor, limp.
Just as Fel seems to be entering another long speech about Zyhpus or some other blah blah blah… Jormand unleashes a welcoming silence spell across the southern area of the room. Fel takes notice and shifts his gaze onto Jormond.
|
|
Azura gasps as Barnaby falls and she tries to determine what the foul cleric has used to lay him low.
But she can't quite grasp it... she steps up beside Nergi and nudges her to get her attention. "I don't know what he hit him with, but I think Barnaby is badly hurt."
She then draws and releases two arrows in quick succession, hoping to harm the wicked cleric in return.
|
|
Barnaby contorts in pain from Fel’s touch. The Pathfinder falls to the floor, limp.
Upon the casting of this spell, complete silence prevails in the affected area. All sound is stopped: Conversation is impossible, spells with verbal components cannot be cast, and no noise whatsoever issues from, enters, or passes through the area. The spell can be cast on a point in space, but the effect is stationary unless cast on a mobile object. The spell can be centered on a creature, and the effect then radiates from the creature and moves as it moves. An unwilling creature can attempt a Will save to negate the spell and can use spell resistance, if any. Items in a creature's possession or magic items that emit sound receive the benefits of saves and spell resistance, but unattended objects and points in space do not. Creatures in an area of a silence spell are immune to sonic or language-based attacks, spells, and effects.
http://www.archivesofnethys.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Silence
EDIT: Err, wait, did I get confused about turn order?
|
|
"I don't know what he hit him with, but I think Barnaby is badly hurt."
The halfling turns her head towards Azura, colour from her cheeks visibly fading, even during their exchange. A small wound containing darkened flesh opens up, as if her cheek started to rot from within.
"I'm working on it.", she says, apparently in pain.
Azura nails Fel with a solid arrow hit while the others work to help Barnaby survive the event. Barnaby regains consciousness and heals himself, but only a bit.
Fel looks pretty bad, but he doesn’t look like he’s going to give up without some encouragement.
”Do your worst, Pathfinders. Zyphus reign will tower over the crumbling ruins of your meager society…”
Yvette’s eagle wakes up and moves into battle. It must have still been wiping sleep from it’s eyes, because it did nothing but feather a gentle breeze toward Fel.
”Out of my way you infernal bird. Step aside for your new master!” Fel belts out.
Yvette, unimpressed with her eagle, decides to compensate and casts some kind of ambiguous spell on the cleric.[ooc] But seriously, what spell was it?
Fel gets hit by some mysterious spell that derives from Yvette. ”NO! It cannot… be… Zyphus…” Fel falls to the floor. ”You have forsaken me…”
A low hum from the green stone stops as Fel exhales his last breath. You hear sounds of locks turning, letting you believe that the doors upstairs can now open to the outside. It is eerily silent.
Need to know what you all, as Pathfinders, want to do now. You have searched this room and found a large green glowing rock. There are no baddies around, and you don't really need to search the unexplored rooms upstairs.
Player Status
Jormond (-18)
Yvette
Barnaby (4/24)
Castoris
Azura
Nergi (-10)
|
|
Azura's eyes well with sympathy again and she feels a sting of guilt, knowing she prompted the Oracle of Life to take more pain upon herself. She pulls her wand and heals Nergi, compelled to do something to help. She leans down and cups her chin gently and speaks clearly before her eyes. "Never have I seen a more valiant and noble creature than yourself, dear Nergi. I cannot take your pain upon myself, but I hope I have helped to ease it."
"Now... what in the planes is this monstrosity..."
That done, she turns to consider the great green boulder. Making sure not to touch it, she detects magic and studies the thing as long as necessary to get an idea of it's nature.
If she can't get a handle on it, she'll begin a performance, singing softly about the value of persistence to Inspire Competence in her fellows so that maybe they will be able to determine what it is.
|
|
Castoris attempts to detect evil within the glowing green boulder.
Sensing the radiant negative energy emanating from its core, Castoris takes his warhammer and begins trying to fracture the rock face.
"No good can come from this artifact, destroying it may take time, but the rest of us should search the remaining floors for survivors. Perhaps we can still give Wuther a proper burial if his body is to be found, or at least end his undeath if not."
|
|
With the Zyphan fallen, Barnaby cautiously stands up. Wekened, but alive, he cocks an eyebrow at Castoris. "Are you sure that hammer there even can smash...whatever that is?" he asks the halfling.
Turning with a grunt towards the party's hanger-on nobleman, the half-elf calls out to him.
"Hustavan! We're pretty sure we've gotten a way for you to go out into the city. But before you dash off: know any nooks or crannies in this place someone might be able to stash something, or someone? No judgement of course, but I'm sure a man as plugged in to the court as you must have at least heard rumors of a favored 'quiet corner' for those who want their meetings away form private eyes."
”You… you killed him…” huffs Hustavan. ”That villain could have been interrogated and made to pay for his crimes. You Pathfinders have much to learn if you claim to be heroes. I shall be talking with the authorities about your deeds.” Hustavan quickly turns away, heading toward the stairs with indignation in the air.
The group turns their attention to the stone. You all feel that the artifact must be terribly powerful and that its acquisition could be both a boon and a terrible burden for the Society. While many of you attempt to discern the nature of the green glowing rock, Castoris takes a more archaeological approach. However, it takes much more than a gentle rapping with his weapon to chip off even a sliver of the rock. Once the small piece breaks off the larger rock, the small chip loses its glow. He believes that it is possible to destroy the rock if he had a few hours and some helping hands.
Working together, Barnaby, Jormond, and Azura believe that the rock is incredibly powerful but far too strange to determine its source or purpose. It does have some aura of necromantic magic lingering within, but that is all you can determine. Looking above the rock, the ceiling and surrounding walls, it looks like this rock fell to its current location.
Some of your group heads upstairs to clear any other rooms or aid those in need. The doors to the exits are open and people are rushing around in the streets, telling tales of madness that unfolded in the theatre. You learn from some that are running that there were some zombies still attacking the theatregoers, but just moments ago – at the same time the locks released on the doors – all of the undead fell limp and collapsed to the floor. A noble rushes up to you, ”It was like their … life force … or something like that was pulled out of them. Whatever you Pathfinders did, it worked! How splendid it will be to retell the dangers and excitement of the tonight at all the dinner parties and balls we will hold. We will be celebrated as the survivors of this horrid event.” He runs off in jubilation.
Upon further investigation, your group finds Wuther’s corpse among the undead bodies. A quick once-over easily confirms that Wuther’s was turned into an undead monstrosity and is unrecoverable by any means known to your group. In Wuther’s belt pouch is a draft of the final letter he wrote to Venture-Captain Eliza Petulengro, wherein he details the final stages of the dig and the strange character of his companion—noted as “cleric of Irori” but clearly Fel. His pouch also contains a personal journal, a shorthand record of his many adventures as a Pathfinder.
Your groups stand alone in the middle the theatre's main hall. Bodes are strewn all around. Only small smatterings of people can be heard off in the distance. Just another night for a Pathfinder.
|
|
"We couldn't have done it without you, little healer." Jormond says to Nergi (not trying to be offensive).
Jormond sides with Castoris that the rock should be destroyed.
"Maybe there is something that could be learned, but this thing is bent too easily to evil purposes."
Jormond puts away his Falchion, and unstraps his heavy mace.
|
|
Azura is seized by an urge to grease the stairs beneath Hustavan's feet, but somehow manages to resist. She returns her attention to the boulder and agrees with her fellows. "This is clearly not whatever "living" artifact the VC seemed to think Wuther's was investigating. It would be difficult to remove from this place anyhow and I don't think the Society will have any interest in it beyond locking it away. Better we dispose of it now."
Not having much strength to contribute to crushing the thing piece by piece, she attended to Wuther's remains. She secures the letter and journal to return to Eliza Petulengro and then locates some spare muslin for painting scene backdrops and wraps his body to prepare him for transport to the Lodge. "Be at peace, brother. We will carry you home to your rest."
☙ ☮ ❧
♩ ♫ ♪