"We should make use of the shard," Squint suggests in sotto voce. "Who has that one that does the you-know-what?"
"The you-know-what? You mean the original Dingus? That's me, I got it. What should I ... oh! I got an idea. Hang on."
Staring off into the distance beyond the gate, Jasper declares, "Steel is a thin reed on which to hang thy hopes, remember the strength of stone!"
Soundless laughing as the party's attacks miss his displaced form, the enemy continues trying to keep Paeral from opening the gate. Scoring a string of hits and dropping the elf.
He takes a step back as his movements slow to normal, reassessing the situation.
Squint
Ulyi
Kylee
Barkot
Deric
Jasper -1
Paeral -47
Enemy -54
Looks like you are right, which means none of those attacks hit and Paeral is fine.
The lock opens this round.
Deric drops his spear and picks up his greatsword. He makes intimidating gestures at the coward indicating his intent.
"Deric, you want him closer or farther away?"
Barkot shakes his little bone figurine to cast boneshaker on the gatekeeper again.
"Farther."
Jasper's eyes clear, and he looks around, seeing the situation. He falls in next to Kaylee, waiting for the logjam in front of him to clear up.
Laughing silently, the swordsman makes a few rude gestures in response to Deric's motions.
As Squint casts his spell and Barkot's wracks his skeleton once again, the man glares at the half-orc with hatred. Then, the silence drops.
"Ah! Finally! Now, we'll see how YOU like a little spellcasting"
Retreating behind the Grease, he casts and sends two bolts of fire blasting at Barkot, one of which deflects off of his magic circle.
Squint
Ulyi
Kylee
Barkot -16
Deric
Jasper -1
Paeral -8
Enemy -65
Deric moves into the room and takes a defensive posture.
"We have business here, sir. Sheath your weapon and I shall spare you to guard this gate another day. For whom do serve?"
"Sorshen herself set me to guard this gate, fool!" A mixture of longing and sadness cross his face momentarily
"If you had legitimate business here, Sorshen would have given you the passphrase. You may have gotten past the gate, but you will get no further!"
"It is Sorshen we seek. We have intent to parlay with her and give her knowledge of what transpires outside these walls. We seek her no ill will. She is not aware of us yet and could not have communicated with us." Deric maintains his defensive posture and produces the rune Barkot scribed for him.
Barkot grunts in pain from the intense heat of the flaming ray , then sighs in relief from Kylee's channeled energy.
Kylee watches the tense endgame with the swordsmen, clutching her holy symbol tightly.
"But... he can't mean Sorshen is still alive somehow? I thought she died millennia ago?" whispers Kylee to Barkot and Squint. "Perhaps he's under some sort of delusion? Or perhaps he's been tricked?"
"That, or he's been here a real long time, considering we just saw her in that fancy coffin back there."
Turning back to the gatekeeper, Barkot shouts, "Oh yeah, tough guy?" and stalks forward to fire the loaded crossbow he has been holding for the last 30 seconds or so.
Jasper moves forward to be close to the warriors, if needed.
"Dude, it's five against one...but if you have a death wish, fine by me,"
"I think you need to learn to count. Perhaps come back when you've had an education. I'll see if I can make your count accurate." He steps forward, his motions impossibly fast again, and stabs out at Squint while making spellcasting motions with his free hand, but the motions go awry.
There is a burst of electricity that explodes from the rapier as it strikes Squint.
Squint -50
Ulyi
Kylee
Barkot -7
Deric
Jasper
Paeral
Enemy -74
Ulyi disappears as Squint falls unconscious.
(19/20)
(19/20)
(19/20)
Barkot drops his crossbow when Squint falls. "Kylee, Jasper! Man down! Uh, and thing gone!" He draws his sword and runs around the pillar to attack the gatekeeper without getting in the way of Paëral's shooting.
With Barkot's strike, the enemy finally falls.
Jasper rushes in to heal Squint.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Kylee watches in horror as the enemy swordsman slips his rapier between Squint's ribs, stabs deeply, then sends a visible clap of electricity coursing through the halfling. Squint stiffens and falls, quivering and insensible at her feet, smoking and smelling of ozone.
Without hesitation she drops to her knees and gathers up Squint's torso in both hands, one hand over the oozing wound, the other on his back between his shoulder blades. "Mother of Light, redeem the blood of this warrior for truth and goodness, allow me to be your instrument in binding his wounds and restoring his spirit. Hear me Goddess!"
Light blazes from her hands, and spectral flames play over his body as his wounds knit and a sudden intake of breath signals his return to consciousness.
Barkot hurries over to Squint to make sure he's all right, then hangs back as Kylee and Jasper get the halfling back on his feet.
"Hey, Mystic Angel, what she said - a little help here?"
Barkot casts cure light wounds on himself.
"Whaddaya think, Kylee, does he need any more fixing up? I can lend a hand if you don't wanna burn to much of that overclocked healing magic you've got."
Once Squint is healed, Barkot says, "Thought we was gonna lose you there, pal. What in the Hells was up with that guy? I don't think I ever saw anybody move that fast."
"He was not where he appeared to be either." Deric begins searching the gatekeeper and wonders what race he is. "Good work everyone. Impressive you all were."
|
”Nice shot, Bark…and I appreciate the shield spell…might’ve been dead without it…”
Seeing Squint’s well cared for, he walks over to the pale dude’s body, looks down upon it, muttering, ”There was nothing wrong with my counting, dude,” as he checks the body for anything significant…
After checking the body, he approaches Kylee and averts his eyes. ”Much obliged, Kylee…I doubt I would’ve survived this encounter without your healing skills…”
A thorough search of the body turns up a magic sword and a composite longbow with a pull so strong only Deric can pull it back (+5 strength) and 20 arrows. He also carries a wand, a magic cloak, a spell component pouch and spellbook, and a week's worth of food and water.
FWIW, the spellbook contains:
3rd - Displactement, Vamipric Touch
2nd - Bear's Endurance, Bull's Strength, Invisibility, Scorching Ray, Spider Climb
1st - Burning Hands, Chill Touch, Magic Missile, Shield, Shocking Grasp
While examining him, it is obvious that his cloak and breeches show the signs of wear attributed with wearing a breastplate, yet his chest is bare.
Aura moderate necromancy; CL 8th
Slot none; Weight 2 lbs.; Price 9,320 gp
DESCRIPTION
Silverfang is a +1 undead bane mithral rapier originally forged by
a cabal of vampire hunters in Ustalav as a weapon against their
hated foes. Ironically, the rapier was claimed by a powerful
Nidalese vampire named Volsazni Dezarr as a trophy after
he single-handedly slew the entire cabal during their foolish
attempt to destroy him. Since then, Volsazni has bequeathed
the weapon as a token of his favor to no fewer than a dozen
vampiric thralls and five of his dhampir children—Gnaeus
being the latest of these recipients.
As long as Silverfang is carried, the user gains a +2 resistance
bonus on all saving throws against negative energy and level
drain, and whenever he makes a Fortitude save to recover from
a negative level, he may roll the save twice, taking the better of
the two results as the actual result. Once per day, Silverfang can
target an undead creature it just successfully critically hit with a
halt undead effect (Will DC 14 negates) as a swift action.
|
|
"Whaddaya think, Kylee, does he need any more fixing up? I can lend a hand if you don't wanna burn to much of that overclocked healing magic you've got."
Kylee draws out a healing wand made of polished cypress wood. "No need. I will see to it." says Kylee gently as she offers Squint a drink from her waterskin.
|
|
After checking the body, he approaches Kylee and averts his eyes. ”Much obliged, Kylee…I doubt I would’ve survived this encounter without your healing skills…”
"Give your thanks to Sarenrae, it was her compassionate grace that healed us." says Kylee, though it's clear she's pleased by the compliment. She pats him lightly on the shoulder. "You were the real hero, picking that lock under such pressure. I'm not sure how you managed it, I would have been far too nervous about getting stabbed to pay any attention to something so delicate."
Then she speaks more quietly to Paëral. "What's wrong with Jasper? All that wild shouting and swinging his weapon and beating his own head into the wall? Is he under some sort of curse?" She looks over at the cleric of Groetus with great concern in her eyes.
|
|
She pats him lightly on the shoulder. "You were the real hero, picking that lock under such pressure. I'm not sure how you managed it, I would have been far too nervous about getting stabbed to pay any attention to something so delicate."
Paëral blushes. ”Uhh…it was nothing…we had to get it open and I knew y’all had my back…”
Then she speaks more quietly to Paëral. "What's wrong with Jasper? All that wild shouting and swinging his weapon and beating his own head into the wall? Is he under some sort of curse?" She looks over at the cleric of Groetus with great concern in her eyes.
The rogue nods as he whispers back to Kylee, ”He’s bats…preaching end of the world doom…it comes and goes so you kinda get used to it…seems to be getting worse though…but we wouldn’t have found this place without him…”
Deric retrieves the tools he dropped on the dancefloor. He inspects the rapier. "Paëral, I believe I promised this to you while you were picking the lock. A work of beauty with bolts of lightning." Deric puts on the cloak. "I should be difficult to target wearing this."
|
|
”He’s bats…preaching end of the world doom…it comes and goes so you kinda get used to it…seems to be getting worse though…but we wouldn’t have found this place without him…”
Kylee nods and sighs. "Groetus. Despair is a poison to the soul. When you wander in darkness, it is all too easy to lose one's way. I'll do what I can for him. But it won't be easy. Truthfully, we probably should not have brought him here."
Inspecting the cloak first, Barkot nods in recognition. "Nice cloak, and it'll give you a little help against all kinds of magic. Not much, but better than nothing. Mine does the same thing. Anybody else need it?"
"Now for this sword. I ... Hrmm. Hrmmmm. This is a nice pokey-stick here. Real nice. Something weird, though." Using his foot, Barkot rolls the gatekeeper's corpse over and takes a long look at the body, then pries the mouth open and peers at the dead man's teeth.
“What is this, somebody's idea of a joke? Look here, this guy was some kind of vampire half-breed - happens sometimes up north in Ustalav, I think. So what’s funny is that this sword, it’s extra good for stabbing undead monstrosities like our boy’s blood-sucking papa. And maybe even better, anyone carrying it, it’s harder for undead bastards like vampires to suck out your life force with your blood.”
He hands the weapon back to Paëral. “Pretty fancy blade, Paë.”
|
|
“What is this, somebody's idea of a joke? Look here, this guy was some kind of vampire half-breed - happens sometimes up north in Ustalav, I think.
Kylee comes over and looks down curiously at the dhampir. "I've heard of such creatures, but I've never actually seen one." she says. She silently contemplates him for a long time, then kneels down beside the body and quietly begins an orison for the dead, rearranging his limbs into a peaceful position and closing his eyes and then laying three fingers to his forehead, all as she quietly chants sacred verse.