Jonnie moves again and blasts both orbs with a blast of acid.
Torrosk shoves his way through the tail end of the crowd, and moves down the aisle towards one of the globes of darkness.
Go ahead and move 15' back in.
Torrosk moves to confront the black orbs while Jonhilda's magic unleashes a huge gout of acid, evelopeing the orbs... one the northern one seems more severely burned than the southern from the spell and light seems to be creeping into its shadowy depths as if its presence were weakening..
Waiting on Ravin and Finn...
Finn advances towards the orbs, pushing his way through the crowd and the along the far wall.
Satire (Su): A court bard can use performance to undermine the confidence of enemies who hear it, causing them to take a -1 penalty on attack and damage rolls (minimum 1) and a -1 penalty on saves against fear and charm effects as long as the bard continues performing. This penalty increases by -1 at 5th level and every six levels thereafter. Satire is a language-dependent, mind-affecting ability that uses audible components. This performance replaces inspire courage.
Ravin unleashes a blistering stream of insults at the two spheres as he draws his bow and prepares to fire his bow.
Radavek fights clear of the crowd and clambers unto one of the benches so that he can see over the people. He fits an arrow to his bow, draws, and releases at the fainter black orb.
... damage x3, 60’ 20 arrows
The townsfolk continue to flow out of the cathedral to support the mayor on protecting the building now that the ritual has apparently failed. As the threat of the shadowed orbs continues within, the other adventurers step forward attacking the orbs.
Both of the warriors miss the orb as it dodges around their blades. The gnomish wizard unleashes another bolt of mystical energy injuring the already fading orb further.
The orbs then shift position slightly and launch beams of darkness at the gnome. The bald warrior swings as one leaves itself open to attack but misses again. Two of the bolts slam into the gnome, dropping him to the ground. The leader of the adventurers cries out as his companion falls and he turns towards the orb with a fierce determination.
Jurieandor remains inert.
Ravin maintains his steady stream of taunts while he fires his shortbow.
... ... x3), 60' range increment {Piercing}
Torrosk advances on the southernmost orb, uttering a slight prayer on the way, "Pharasma lend me your wisdom to see what lies in the souls of these creatures" , "and the strength of arms to rip their evil hearts from them."
Ravin continues his diatribe, singing a mocking ditty about the fallen as pale imitations of the true glorious ones (pun intended).
He keeps back and raises his bow, snapping off a quick shot.. Hope this works...
for
You detect a moderate evil emanating from the orb.
Torrosk calls divine power into himself as he strikes at the creature, but it moves nimbly out of his way.
Both Radavek and Ravin are more accurate with their bows, each with arrows striking the orb! However the attacks seem to have little effect on the creature.
Similarly, the bald adventurer strikes at the orb with his sword and seems to hit squarely, but the orb is not damaged by it.
The orbs shift position and let lose with bolts of darkness again. One bolt hits Torrosk, a dark coldness leeching at him, and the other hits the bald adventurer.
The second orb leaves itself open to a strike from Torrosk as it it shot the bolt, however.
The mayor and townfolk can be heard shouting and skirmishing outside, and Juriendor remains slumped on the floor.
Jonnie shoots a bolt of frost that changes to acid in flight that hits the wall.
Now that the church is clear Radavek leaps from the bench and advances quickly up the middle aisle. Jonhilda, stand clear!
...
and AC is 13 for rest of the round.
...
Jonhilda moves to avoid Radavek's charge, but the distraction causes his spell to go wide. Radavek charges and connects solidly with the orb, but the odd creature seems to absorb the blow with no effect.
Torrosk takes advantage of the orb striking out at the other adventurer, and slashes down with his longsword.
Torrosk solidly connects with his strike, and unlike other blows that seemed to have little effect on the orbs, Torrosk's blade bites deep and shadowy either flows out of the wound! The creature's darkness flickers oddly, partially giving way to the light surrounding it.
Round 2
Continuing to double move, Finn regards the dark orbs with curiosity, unsure he can do much to effect or damage them. Instead, he rushes to the side of Juriendor, looking at the man's wounds to see if he still lives, and if anything can be done to revive him.
Encouraged by the solid connection, Torrosk slices into the orb once again.
Torrosk's second slice pierces the darkness and with a flash as the holy power of his blow shatters the orb's defenses. The absorbed light is freed from the black orb's grasp in a burst as the creature perishes!
Ravin curses, "These things seem to be immune to my arrows.", he interjects between verses, then fires again at the injured one, hoping to prove himself wrong.
for
The lone remaining black orb shoots a beam of darkness at Torrosk, but misses badly. The remaining other adventurers close in and the heavier armored one slashes at the orb with his sword. The resulting destruction is similar to Torrosk's strike, as if the adventurer were also invoking holy energy into his weapon. The orb bursts into light in a similar faction, and the odd dimness that infected the room dissipates.
As the two adventurers go to minister to the injured gnome, Finn watches Juriendor and observes that as soon as the second orb was destroyed, the high-priest eyes snap open as he awakes with a start. He looks around confused saying, "The ritual... the darkness. Light! What happened?"
Jonnie rushes over to the priest and looks at him in concern and whispers to him.
"You better tell us what happened. These people are going to look to you for answers not questions!!"
Ravin offers, "I've heard tales of risks being twisted, their energies stolen for dark magic. Maybe that was the reason for the purple-skinned elves' attack?"
The high priest seems to come to his senses a bit, "What drow? Drow... The Moonshard! Where is it?!?" The high-priest begins looking about frantically. "The last thing I remember was the arrival of the Lantern Archons, then all is black... what happened? It cannot be lost!"
Jonnie hisses through her teeth in frustration:
"You are ASKING questions and SCARING people here!! As for the moonshard, I assume it is now gone if drow were involved!!"
It is apparent all faith she had in the high priest is now shattered as he falls apart in front of her eyes. She scribbles in her journal, and it is obvious he is not getting a good report.
Radavek steps forward. "He's not going to scare anyone if they all die out in the dark. We should go help the mayor and his brave followers."
Then he addresses Juriendor directly, "The shard fell through the boards into the space below. It should be an easy matter to retrieve it. The mayor and many followers have gone to save the village. He charged us to hold this place and keep you safe. If you are secure, I would follow that man."
Nodding at Radavek, Juriendor turns and opens what appears to be a secret door under the bonfire altar, which slides forward, revealing a staircase downward. He looks to you and says, "I must recover it, this town depends on the moonshard for.. "His words are cut off by shouts of "Help! Smoke in the Belltower! Help! Help!"
Juriendor looks to you panicked and torn. "I must find the moonshard or the village is doomed. Please head up to the bell tower and help my student priests; most of them are untested in situations like this, and it seems someone—or thing—is determined to disrupt our ceremony and threaten Rybalka's well being. Now go, please, for me!" Juriendor
presses a vial of thick green liquid into Finn's hands then points to the stairs at the far end of the room saying "This will aid any who are injured. Please, the bell tower! If it ignites and falls onto the cathedral, the whole building may be lost and my priests along with it! Our lives are in your hands!” With that he rushes down the stairs into the darkness.
The two other adventurers appear to have revived their gnomish friend and they look to you and say, "We got the Mayor's back... we know what they face out there. You help the priest." The three head towards the door out into the darkness.
Ravin nods soberly, "We'll do what we can, but we're not exactly elemental specialists..". His somber look shifts to a wry grin as he adds, "Unless you count the elf's vitriol. "
Torrosk nods to the other adventurers, and heads for the bell tower.
"I don't like the idea of leaving the priest alone, but if the whole collapses on all of us, we're even worse off. Let's make this quick."
Taking the healing potion, Finn sets off with the others to see what can be done in the belltower.
"I am not a firefighter, but I can share luck, and help with Guidance." he offers to the others as they climb up to the tower.
Radavek stares at three other adventurers with a tinge of jealousy. A straightforward fight behind a brave leader beckons, but he bows to duty. He wheels to follow Torrosk into the bell tower.
"I used almost all my magic fighting the orbs, but let's go!!"
You move up the stairs, noticing that the area ahead is dark and the smell of smoke grows stronger as you climb. At the top of the stairs, a wide hallway opens to the south. The only light seems to be what you brought with you and the light emanating from the south. Coming out of the shadows is a young man in acolyte's robes. You recognize him as having been there for the ceremony, helping with the wounded after the hunters attack. His robes now appear to be badly burned smudged with soot and he practically runs into Torrosk as he comes out of the darkness.
"Horrible devils are up there! They're setting fire to the belltower! Please, stop them!" He then breaks off into a fit of coughing, until he recovers. "In the eastern side of this floor there is a secret cache of Juriender's supplies... I'm sure he would want you to use them if you have need."
As the area grows darker, Torrosk lets his natural darkvision take over. "If it's secret, how do we find it?"
Ravin sighs as the smoke starts to obscure his vision, then draws his rapier, speaking a few arcane words that cause it to glow a soft yellow, shedding light as bright as a torch.
The acolyte sputters a moment then says, "The walls shift like a door if you push to the left of where the doorknob would normally be... I must try and find help to douse the fires! Thank you!" With that the acolyte rushes down the stairs.
Jonnie has not light source, but looks thoroughly in the dim light of the rapier light.
Radavek takes a moment to light a torch, then continues down the hall to the doors.
Finn follows Radavek, putting his hands on the door first to feel if its warm from fire inside.
Thinking better of spending 120 seconds Jonnie spends 12 seconds.
Torrosk will inspect the area in front of him, to see if he can find the cache.
The party searches and finds no cache here... you wonder if you misunderstood the acolyte. None of the doors are warm to the touch. As those with light continue down the hallway, you notice it corners to the east on the southern end. The smell of smoke is stronger in the southern end.
With nothing else of interest, Radavek opens the northernmost door, peering in. The room appears to be empty except for two thick, well kept bell-ropes dropping from the ceiling to end in large knots. It would appear that this room exists so that bells can be rung from here.
"Nothing here. Let's move on." Radavek continues south down the hallway, rounding the corner to the east.
You see nothing but darkness and rope when trying to look up the rope holes.
Nodding to Radavek, Finn agrees this room looks like a dead end, and moves on with the Varisian to the next door.
Ravin follows carefully, pushing his rapier forward to make sure the bard corners are lit.