[dice=yeda reroll blink 51+ hits]1d100
Crusk tries to save vs. Loxley's commandeering rod!
Sazzat was almost mentally stunned by Bandits thoughts they were just that jarring, he was saying that she was either Maliphviston or he was saying that she was the witch that had to be killed but neither made any sense. Bandit had been quite kind to her up to just a moment ago. Or... was he saying that Maliphviston was controlling him.
Regardless he thought commandingly at Bandit not sure if his old buddy would even pay him any heed,
Still he did realize, if he must then he must even though he could not make any of this make any sense. Bandit was jeapordizing everyone's lives, if Bandit had a legitimate beef then they would deal with it later when no others would get hurt in what transpired. He mentally readied an action should Bandit not comply.
Let me know when to make the rolls for whichever action transpires.
Zeldana had gotten distracted by Bandit still going crazy and was unable to brace herself for the wave.
The Duchess rolls her eyes in annoyance, already knowing where the conversation of the supplicant was going.
Oh mighty Queen, I, Hakziin son of Akir, son of Achsin, beg your indulgence this one time. A simple solution it is, my Queen. Not worthy of your-
Who are you, worm, Queen Abrogail, Infernal Majesty of the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune, ruler of Cheliax an all claimed realms, snapped at the beggar who knelt in deep supplication upon the floor. The man, until this morning, was the owner of a rather large fleet of merchant ships. Was, being the key word.
Who are you, worm the lady repeats, changing the emphasis, to tell me what i should deem important?
I apologize, my lady. I only- the man begins
You only beg to belittle the importance of your transgression. The Duchess interrupts. The black skinned dwarf steps forward, her thick legs rippling as the leather straps cradle her toned flesh. Her bare feet pad softly upon the blood stained stone floor, sure and strong. Upon her body, a tight leather corset set with brass rings in a half ring mail fashion. The soft jingle of ring upon ring sings softly, only heard by the Duchess, and her queen. Blood red leather straps, clipped into rings, wrap around the dwarf womans thick arms, winding around and around, terminating at the middle finger of each hand. A thin ring, worn around said finger, holds the fine thread of leather that completes the leather strap look.
What you beg to dismiss was a ship filled with elves from the southlands. Slaves, destined to be sacrificed to our benefactor, Asmodeus. And you think this oversight can be begged off?
Queen Abrogail crosses her long legs as she lets her Duchess take over this discussion.
Onyx walks slowly up on the cowering man, looking at him as her words lash him over and over again. The man had no idea what the elves were for, what the need was. he had no need for such knowledge. Only the Duchess, Her queen, and the high lord of Rites needed to know. But, such a thing, such an affront, to the Devil of Devils, would not go unpunished.
I- I- I had no idea the begging man finishes as realization overcomes his ignorance.
He was doomed. And he knew it.
My Queen, I-
Some where, deep deep within the castle the Queen held her court, the seat of her power, the focal point of numerous spells and devilish contracts, a bell tolled. One single toll.
The sound shook the castle, a low, deep rumble, causing stone to groan, tankards, glasses, cups and more, anything not set upon a sturdy surface shifts. The sounds of glassware, of plates and platters, tinkle and crash into the floor, breaking. The worse is felt within everyone in the room. It is simply as if their life force was strung out upon a guitar, and an unknown entity stuck a simple cord. Everyone's body hums, causing human, dwarf, and other humanoids that haunt the massive fortress to stumble, to drop to a knee, to fall to the floor... or worse, fall over, dead.
The peel lingers long, longer than it can be heard, but it is felt, felt within the body, within the soul.
THe Duchess, who had fallen to a knee with the thrum, looks around the room. Burning braziers have been toppled, scattering hot coals upon the stone floor. Guardsmen, most of them, return to their feet. several remain on the floor. The dwarf woman snaps her gaze to to the lady on the throne, her breath held. The queen is still, unnaturally still, her eyes closed, her chest unmoving.
With a gasp, she leaps to her feet, her hands clawing at her throat, discarding the silver choker. She breaths deep. A look of horror fills her face as comprehension fills her mind.
The Bell of Aroden! she says in shock. How can this be? she blinks. The Rod of the Empire! The Heir!
Queen Abrogail snaps her gaze upon the Duchess. she snarls in fury, her eyes, a pale blue, are now replaced with blazing orange orbs of fury. her skin begins to smoke as hellfire eats at her from within. the smell of sulfur fills the room The Heir has been found! The heir has used the rod!
The beggar groans loudly and lifts himself to his knees, his hands upon his chest. He groans a second time.
The queen focuses upon the impudent man before her. She lifts her left hand, and a ball of yellow and white light grows to the size of a grapefruit. within a heartbeat, it is launched from her hand and strikes the man in the chest.
The heat and light is intense as the man's soul is burned from within him. The smell of brimstone floats in the air as the man smokes from within, mirroring the queen for the moment. The light fades from the mans eyes as unseen flames consume him. Left behind, a simple husk, a hollowed out core, a flesh creature without thought, without a soul. Its chest still moved, yet its features were slack.
The queen screams her rage!
Everyone in the room stares at the queen, waiting, shock upon their features.
The queen sees everyone standing still, paused.
NOW
Everyone leaps into action, fear speeding their step...
For all of you, you feel a strange presence within your mind. it cuts through your thoughts of survival, of killing the barghest. instead, it is a command that you can only follow, that you have no choice of ignoring....
stop!
It was almost overwhelming.
Magic rushed through her and out into the world, touching everyone. Connecting her to them. To them and more she could only be vaguely aware of.
Everyone around her froze as if time had stopped. Only the flickering of light and heavy breaths confirmed the continued flow of time around her.
Loxley stared in confusion around her. The arm still holding the rod dropped to hang limply at her side.
“W-what happened?”
She mumbled.
“Zel? Sazzat?”
Loxley looked from the witch to the rogue as she stepped forward to check the others.
“Yeda?”
She tentatively reached out and placed a hand on the warrior’s back. Her fingers tightened around the rod and she finally looked down. She blinked in confusion at the rod, not sure how it got there.
Wait… This was her doing…
Horror filled her at the thought of what she’d done. What she had done to her friends. Loxley felt her fingers numb and the rod nearly slipped from her grasp, only for fear of Dutchess’s warnings to tighten her grip again.
She knew she would owe them all deeply, but first she had to make sure they survived this encounter.
Loxley bit her lip. Anger, emotion had driven her a moment ago and she had been unfocused. But perhaps…
She had to try something.
Hand flat on Yeda’s back, Loxley closed her eyes and bowed her head. She focused on the warrior. Strong and true. Fierce and skilled. Friend and ally. She focused on Yeda as best she could. Leaning closer, she stood on her toes to bring her mouth near Yeda’s ear and lowered her voice to the barest of whispers.
“Be free.”
the barghest growls softly, yet continues to blink. It remains rooted in its place.
Crusk attempts to save against her magic once again.
Drat.
He Seethed withing every ounch of his willpower screaming for his body to move his face a rictus of anger fear and pain.
"Strike Corrin Strike! End this creature before it hurts you further hurts your friends. Its teh enemy you thrice blessed coward strike! "
Despite all his rage His arm stood stock still.... stature moved more. a thin single tear trickles from one eye the effort ot move almost causing pain. Something would pay for this, if he ever broke free of the curse that held him still like an angry statue. he was failing everyone again. His friends, his family, hell the whole of the world.
Sazzat continues to not be able to move so he does one of the only things he can do he reaches out mentally, 'Bandit what is going, did you do this?'
He does however notice that Loxley is still able to move and that when she got close to Yeda that Yeda can move now as well. Not having noticed that Loxley is holding that rod he thinks to himself, why was she not affected and what freed Yeda? Something was definitely going on that he was not noticing and that bothered him... A LOT.
Yeda exhales in deep relief and looks back at Loxley, whispering back
Thank you...
Bandit growls deeply at Zeldana, yet remains still, eying the half elf with restrained rage.
With a howl of rage as intense as anything the nasty monster in front of them was capable of uttering he struck with spear and flame again.
Having been released by Loxley's touch Yeda tenses and turns her blade flat to confirm the gathering of arcane energies onto it. She launches herself forward at the hound.
The barghest remains absolutely still, not attempting to evade or dodge the weapons that Corrin and yeda wield, the spiritual weapon Gunnar has conjured. Each weapon connects with savage efficiency, unhindered by the latent blink upon the outsider.
Yeda's sword swing, however, cuts the creatures head off, causing it to bounce wetly upon the floor.
Crusk doesn't know if he should breathe a sigh of relief now that the creatures dead, or what.
A tremendous weight fell away from Loxley’s shoulders as Yeda regained her freedom, her heart feeling lighter as the warrior thanked her.
She quickly turned to face the others. She could try releasing them one at a time, Corrin seemed the most logical to free next, or she could try…
But what if she free the barghest as well?
And then the was Bandit. Loxley still didn’t understand why the little one had turned on them-
‘Wait a moment.’
She suddenly remembered one of the monster’s abilities was to be able to charm other creatures. That would explain the sudden turn.
Loxley couldn’t do anything about a possible charming right now. Once the barghest was dead the effect should end.
Corrin would be next then. Between him and Yeda they should be able to put the monster down quickly. Then it would be safe to release Bandit.
As if on cue, a cry of primal rage erupted from the druid. The magic holding him shattering on its own.
Loxley watched as the two front line combatants of their party launched into attacks again, along side the divine weapon wielded by Gunnar’s faith.
But it was Yeda’s mighty blow that took the creature’s head from its body.
Loxley sighed in relief then turned back to the others. Walking over she carefully took hold of Bandit and turned to Yeda.
”Hold him, just in case.”
Turning back to the party Loxley took a deep breath and focused on them. Looking at each person purposefully in turn. She was going to have a lot of forgiveness to beg for. Loxley licked her lips and spoke aloud.
”Be free.”
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Gunnar is extremely nervous as he can't move and can only watch as things unfold. Completely scared that this was the demon's work, he starts sweating. He is glad the weapon sent by his goddess continues to work and can see that some of his new allies get slowly free, first Yeda then Corrin. He tries to smile, but his mind can't muster the strength.
Finally, in a very swift movement, the creature's head lops off its shoulders and fall on the ground. Not long after, his summoned weapon vanishes into thin air, just as it appeared. Then Loxley starts to go freeing all the others, one by one. When he is finally free, Gunnar coughs, he doesn't know why. He also scratches his shoulder, as a spot was itching very badly. He says "By Desna, I didn't know you were so powerful Loxley. Remind me not to get on your bad side."
"Boy, Miss Loxley, I didn't know you had it in you," Crusk says.
Shame burns Loxley’s cheeks as her companions praise her strength.
Unable to look at them again, she lowers her head and shakes it.
”I, I can’t take credit for this but I wholly accept responsibility for it.”
Her knuckles turn white as she squeezes the rod.
”Even though it wasn’t my intention, what I did to everyone is unforgivable. I’ll understand if you want me to leave.”
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Gunnar extends his hand as if to touch Loxley's shoulder, but he figures they are not this close yet. Instead, he points to the demon's head on the floor and says "If we look at the result of what you did, only good things came of it. It was scary, yes, but right now I can only be thankful for your action."
Trying to be more helpful, he says "Maybe it'll do us all some good to make fun of this demon a little bit. I mean, I always heard that demons were supposed to be chaos in flesh, but this one is more like a headless chicken!" He looks around and says "Hey, maybe it had a big stash of coins, come let's check!"
After casting Detect Magic and concentrating for a bit, he starts searching the demon for any worthwhile items.
Zeldana felt herself be release and let out a long sigh as stumbled a bit. However that didn't last long as she looked down at Bandit still snarling at her.
"What has gotten into you Bandit?" Zeldana asked "Have I done something wrong? Did I step on your tail?" Her tone was worried as she looked the raccoon over to ensure it wasn't injured.
Bandit snarls at Loxley, preventing her from picking up the raccoon. The small creature ducks and dodges, keeping himself between Sazzat and Zeldana.
Crusk says to Gunnar, "Hold on, we don't know what traps lay in wait!"
Yeda looks at her blade in disgust. Now it's not only Nualia's blade, but is further tainted by the creatures blood. Something about that combination gives her a mild, superstitious chill and so she quickly wipes off the blade in its fur while the others decide about looting and traps.
Sazzat is a bit confused about what was and is not going on. Grateful that horrible creature was dead but perplexed by how Bandit has been and is acting. He tries to get this mentally sorted out as Bandit and Zeldana play a form of tag your it about him.
With the threat of the barghest eliminated, (and Loxley and Zeldana and sazzat dealing with the angry raccoon), Gunnar and Crusk begin to inspect the room.
The most obvious and dominating feature about the large room is the pit of ever burning fire. Set into the floor a couple inches, it produces most of the light for the room along with the majority of the heat. In the corners that share the same side of the doors stand two large corner tables. upon their dulled surfaces stand a few dozen wax candles that seem to burn without consuming the wax. Clumped together, the mass of candles fills these corners with a soft, warm light.
Opposite the doorway, a wall with rent with overlapping claw marks. Looking around the room, you see more claw marks. Deep, deep marks cut into the stone walls denote the massive strength and rage the barghest was capable of.
Gunnar moves about the chamber, his eyes taking in every detail, seeking out any traps. As he moves about the room, he pauses in front of one area of the opposite wall that is "decorated" with claw marks.
Hey, i found something
taking his time, he examines the area, before finally depressing a small spot where wall and ceiling join. a subtle grinding noise comes from behind the wall, and a panel slides to his right, revealing an alcove.
the smell of old, ancient, musty air tingles within your nose as you look within the alcove. You snort slightly, but otherwise it has no affect upon you.
Three shelves set into the walls stand bare, a thin layer of dust coating their bareness.
Crusk scans the area and the two tables. He knows Gunnar is looking for traps. But he calls upon his bardic knowledge to see if he knows the area.
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Gunnar recoils from the dust in the alcove. After a while, he peeks into the secret passage he found and says "Hmmm, it's dark in there." He takes a pebble on the floor and lights it up and throws it in. He says "There's another alcove further down, but... I don't want any surprises. Anyone care to join me?" He also searches the passage for traps.
Sazzat thinks to Bandit, 'First can you quit yelling, you are going to give me headache. Next you are saying that this Maliphviston creature is also a Witch? Lastly, magic is a tool it does not make Zeldana any more evil than it makes me as their are evil creatures that use the same powers that I use.'
As The beasts head rolled across the floor and folks began to get their motion back the druid mauled but healed his 2nd mask made bu his friends all but destroyed came out of his rage panting scowling swearing... and then dropped to the ground sobbing. If he wasnt prone on the ground taking in great heaves of breath he looked like he would rocking back and forth.
Y galon. Gorfod dod o hyd i'r berthnasau sy'n lladd y galon ac yn gyflym. Mae'r lle hwn yn ddrwg .... tywyll. Dylid ei ddinistrio. Gorfod dod o hyd i'r galon... angen gadael i ffoi....
He whispered loudly in his particular dialect of elven.Concern and fear etched on his face.
Gunnar recoils from the dust in the alcove. After a while, he peeks into the secret passage he found and says "Hmmm, it's dark in there." He takes a pebble on the floor and lights it up and throws it in. He says "There's another alcove further down, but... I don't want any surprises. Anyone care to join me?" He also searches the passage for traps.
"Yes, be careful of traps," Crusk starts as he walked further field into the alcove. He was looking for signs of traps himself.