Feeling faint and bloody, Helena shifts her spear to one hand and presses the other against her chest.
"I'm coming, Cerin," she mutters, half-staggering around the dog.
Smirking a little at Orik's comment, he shifts his aim to the demonclad woman. "What, were you expecting a white horse as well?" as he lets loose the arrow.
There's a pause as Gwyn draws her sword and pops back into existence as she stabs at the demonic dog.
After stabbing the fiendish pooch, she picks up where she left off as she takes a step back towards the bookcase.
"Oh, what's this? I thought Professor Verrochi was the only one screwed up enough to collect all the volumes in the Lusty Nocticulan Maiden series. And what the heck is Fifty Scales of Monsters," Gwyn asks as she reaches out to grab the book in question.
Glancing between enemies, Shalelu deems that Cerin is in the direst of straits, and fires at the demon dog.
...miss
...miss
...miss
Monster stats
Nualia: AC 20, hp 73/73
Tsuto: AC 19, hp (-3)/52, unconscious
Hound: AC 15, hp 2/30
Dretch: AC 14, hp 18/18
Round 3, continued
Gwyn blinks back into existence, stabbing the Yeth hound with the magic sword that had once been Ripnugget's. The blade's path is true, and it sinks deep into the beast's haunches, causing black ichor to bubble and froth from the wound.
Orik's blade comes down hard on Tsuto's left shoulder, cracking bone and cutting an artery. Tsuto grimaces in pain, clutching his shoulder as red blood pours from the wound. He grows deathly pale and collapses to the ground, still bleeding.
After his dramatic entrance, both of Kyrian's arrows are deflected by the swirling motes of color surrounding Nualia.
Helena casts a spell healing some of the damage she'd absorbed from her friends.
Still on the ground, Cerin slashes desperately at the beast, but its supernatural toughness seems to absorb much of the impact.
Shalelu lets fly an arrow at the hound, and it finds its mark. The beast seems mortally wounded, but its death throes, it continues to try to maul Cerin.
Round 4
The statue's glaive swishes dangerously close above Cerin's head again, as the demonic beast again clamps its jaws on Cerin's shield arm, tearing into flesh.
Continuing to ignore Gwyn's critique of her literary choices, Nualia chants a prayer to the Demon Queen. The symbol of a bestial face appears in midair at the foot of the steps to her left, which opens a tear in the fabric of reality. Out of it steps a disgusting evil-looking bloated beast with a mouth full of snaggled teeth and fingers tipped with blood-caked talons. It hisses evilly and attacks Shalelu, a mass of teeth and claws. But the agile elf manages to dodge the attacks.
Gwyn sees the demonic mutt savage Cerin and frowns.
"Hey! I know I called him Cerinibun once, but that doesn't mean you can eat him like he's a cini-bun," she says as she tries to stab the monster again.
Gwyn sees the demonic mutt savage Cerin and frowns.
"Hey! I know I called him Cerinibun once, but that doesn't mean you can eat him like he's a cini-bun," she says as she tries to stab the monster again.
Orik sneers at Tsuto's still form as he falls to the ground, raising his sword again to finish the man off. Finally..., he thinks, positioning his blade to stab his hated foe in the throat, ending his life. Cerin's scream, however, halts his thrust, and once again, Orik has a decision to make.
Vengeance? Or valor?
Followed by one more thought.
Dammit.
He turns from Tsuto, advancing upon the demon hound. "HEY, UGLY!", he shouts at it. "I'm putting you down!" He slashes at the creature with another powerful overhand strike, hoping to end it swiftly.
Gwyn sticks the sulphurous pooch in a sensitive spot.
"Just watch the glaive," she calls out to Cerin, "We want you to stay in one Cerini-bun sized piece, not a bunch of mini-Cerinis."
Praying that the hound and demon don't decide to gut her where she stands, Helena clumsily reaches around the corner to heal Cerin.
Knocking up another arrow, Kyrian aims himself back at the woman. "Okay, maybe a little too much wine still there..." as he let's go.
"Blasphemy! There's no such thing as too much wine. Too drunk on the other hand," Gwyn replies at Kyrian's comment.
...hit
...miss
...miss
...miss
...success
...miss
Monster Stats
Nualia: AC 20, hp 73/73
Tsuto: AC 19, hp (-3)/52, unconscious
Hound: AC 15, hp (-14)/30
Dretch: AC 14, hp 13/18
Round 4, continued
Gwyn picks up the penny-dreadful from the table as she moves behind the demonic dog. The beast seems to be concentrating on killing Cerin and doesn't react... until Gwyn stabs the thing with Ripnugget's mithril blade! The sword cuts deeply into the demon-dog's rear haunch, and it howls disturbingly in pain as it staggers around to snap at Gwyn.
Orik then moves in, and in a powerful overhand swing, separates the beast's head from its shoulder. The head continues to snap mindlessly as the body flails madly around like a headless chicken, pouring sticky black ichor on the floor. The ichor bubbles, exuding a foul-smelling vapor. After a few seconds, both the body and the head stop moving.
From the back of the chamber, Kyrian continues to pelt Nualia with arrows, which deflect harmlessly from the chaotically-swirling motes of light that surround her.
Helena calls to the spirits of life to restore much of her own vigor that she'd sacrificed to her friend. From the floor of the chamber, she draws warm energy like the grass of a spring day into herself, and she feels much stronger.
The Yeth hound dead, Cerin times standing up just right with the swinging of the statue's glaive. He slashes at Nualia's ankles, above him on the dias, but cannot quite get close enough. He then ducks again as the mechanical glaive sweeps past him on the way back down.
Shalelu backs away from the summoned demon, and shoots it in the shoulder with a blue-fletched arrow. The creature snarls but shambles toward her.
Round 5
The dretch follows Shalely, trying to claw her eyes out, but the attack is clumsy and the ranger easily evades.
Seeing both Tsuto and her Yeth hound both fall, Nualia's heartbreakingly beautiful face turns to a mask of fury. "You shall all pay for that with your souls! YEEEAAAHHHH!!"
Holding her sword in front of her, she steps back, then runs toward the edge of the dais, leaping over the fountain and over the heads of Helena and Orik. She twists in midair, then, catlike, lands on her feet behind Orik, slashing down on him with her sword. Yet, despite the dramatic stunt, Orik manages to deflect her blow with his shield.
Cerin alright for now, and the others managing to handle themselves well enough, Gyn takes a look at the book, trying to see if it offered her any material for her to resume her campaign to drive Nualia into a frothing fit and keel over from sheer rage.
"Nah, way too easy," she says after reading the first paragraph. She tosses the book at the trap to see if it would slash it to ribbon.
"I could make fun of your taste in reading material all week, but I'm afraid that might dull my wit. I think I got a little dumber just looking at that book," she says to Nualia, motioning back to where she'd thrown the rightfully dreadful pennydreadful.
"Oh, come now, Anger is not a good look for you. Keep that up and even Lamashtu is going to scream in horror whenever she sees you. Is it because we broke your half-wit boytoy over there? Honestly, if I was a guy, I'd be terrified that I'd lose my pecker to that monster of a hand you've got. What is up with it anyway. I understand that you've got a theme going, but bright red? Really? It makes it look like you overdid with Mr. Two-Finger." Gwyn grimaces as she looks at the claws. "Are you sure you're not a closet Kuthite? I hear they get off on pain. I'm sure one of them would love to know where you did your nails."
Damn, that girl has a mouth on her, Orik thinks to himself as he half-listens to Gwyn's patter. He really doesn't have much to say to Nualia anymore, having spent the better part of his ire against Tsuto. He bats her blade away with his shield, seizing the opportunity to follow through with a slice at her chest.
Taking a moment to gather his focus once more, Kyrian closes his eyes, and takes a breath. Opening his eyes, he lines his target up once again. "Not this time you demon loving hag..." as he lets loose another arrow.
|
Cerin ducks underneath the statue's swinging blade and charges toward Nualia, a snarl on his face. He starts to change as he moves, his tiny frame growing larger and more muscular. Black fur sprouts all over his body as his weapons and armor fade into his skin, his face elongates into a muzzle filled with sharp teeth, and huge razor claws burst from his fingertips. When he reaches the fallen aasimar, the huge black bear he has become roars in her face, ready to tear her apart!
Surprised that Nualia has landed beside her, Shalelu draws her sword, steps behind the priestess, and stabs her.
...Doh!
...crit threat!
...no.
...hit
...miss
...miss
...miss!
...miss!
Monster Stats
Nualia: AC 20, hp 67/73
Tsuto: AC 19, hp (-4)/52, unconscious
Dretch: AC 14, hp 13/18
Round 5, continued
Gwyn continues to taunt Nualia, who still seems not to be fazed by the insults.
Orik presses the attack, slamming his sword hard onto Nualia's spaulder. While the blade doesn't pierce the armor itself, she winces in pain from the blow.
Kyrian fires an arrow that Nualia seems not to notice at all, and it seems to be flying straight for a gap in her armor... but one of the colored motes randomly swirling around her just happens to deflect it.
Helena backs away from the summoned demon, whips her longspear over Orik's head, and jabs at Nualia. The unexpected attack jabs her in her uncovered abdomen, adding a bleeding wound to the scars on her belly.
Cerin assumes the form of a black bear, and barges past Helena, attempting to maul the fallen aasimar.
Shalelu tries to stab Nualia in the back, but her blow does not get through her armor.
Round 6
The summoned demon moves behind Orik and tries to maul him. One of its claws rakes under an armor plate, scratching him, but the other attacks don't get through his armor.
Nualia presses her attack on Orik, but he easily anticipates her attacks, deflecting blow after blow with his heavy shield.
"I'd be surprised if you thought that through though. I mean," Gwyn flicks her hands up as if tossing something in the air and silly-looking puppet versions of Nualia and Tsuto pop into existence along with a mannequin with a silly-looking puppet version of Nualia's current armor on it. As she continues, she begins speaking in caricatures of their voices, with the puppet's voices flapping in time with her words.
"You did get the armor that left your belly exposed. There's a lot of squishy bits there that don't like getting cut or stabbed. What happened? Something like this?"
"Oh Tsuto! My mantoy, what armor shall I get?"
"I say we get the one that shows the most of you sexy skin!"
"But I hate my sexy skin."
"But think of the cool scars you'd get to add to your collection!"
"Oh Tsuto! Who cares about gut wounds when you can look like you lost a fight with a bunch of mad barbers!"
In her normal voice.
"It was something like that, wasn't it? How's that working out?"
+
Orik maneuvers himself into a better position to finish off Nualia, placing her between his blade and Shalelu's. He swings his blade in a wide, powerful arc, hoping to fell her before she can find a way past his defenses.
Shalelu lines up a shot and fires at Nualia.
Monster Stats
Nualia: AC 20, hp 59/73
Tsuto: AC 19, hp (-5)/52, unconscious
Dretch: AC 14, hp 0/18
Round 6, continued
Gwyn continues to taunt Nualia. Nualia glares back and shouts, "I'll keep you alive, elf, so you can know the joy of bearing the Mother's children!"
Flanking with Shalelu, Orik slashes Nualia across her bare midriff, adding another scar to her collection. Her lips curl into a smile. "Join me once again, Orik! You could be the sire of such beautiful monsters..."
Cursing under his breath that Nualia's spell deflected such a perfect shot, Kyrian storms in, standing over Tsuto's unconscious body. "Shut it, demon-lady, and just die already!" He lets fly another volley.
The shot grazes the side of her head, and blood streams down her face.
Green tendrils of life-energy arch between Helena and Gwym, and also between Helena and Orik. Realizing that there's still a demon loose that everyone else seems to be ignoring, Helena backs up and skewers it through the head with her pike. Black ichor gushes and bubbles from the wound. The demon thrashes mindlessly for a moment before collapsing to the floor. It disolves into a pool of ichor which bubbles and quickly evaporates into a foul-smelling mist.
With a growl, the black bear rears and mauls Nualia with its claws, raking through her mail.
Shalelu sheaths her sword and backs up, nocking and firing an arrow as she does. Her shot hits Nualia is the leg.
Round 7
...hit
...hit
...hit
...miss
Nualia kicks the table away and edges past Orik, apparently originally intending to flank him wtih the now-destroyed demon. She grins with a madness evident in her strikingly beautiful eyes, and she utters guttural words that drip with vileness. The scars of her wounds glow with a demonic red luminence, and begin to knit back toghether. She then attacks Orik with redoubled fury, smashing past his shield and cutting upward, slashing through the weaker armor guarding his armpit. She nicks his brachial artery, spraying herself in the face with his blood, which gushes in pulses from the wound.
Orik howls in pain as Nualia's wicked sword cuts deep, and he staggers back a step. "F**K me! Just f**king DIE!!" In desperation he continues to swing for the fences, hoping to end her life before she can end his.
"Mmm, you see, that just lends further support to my theory that you're either insanely stupid, or stupidly insane," Gwyn replies as she lets the illusion fall and she takes a seat in the chair.
"Although, I have to say this chair is pretty comfy," she admits before getting back on track.
"Oh, and I can't forget the bad literary taste! I mean, why didn't you say," her voice gets much rougher and darker, more of a caricature than a serious impression, "'I will show you the true meaning of pain as you birth monsters!' I'd think only psychos who'd truly gone chasing and howling after Groetus would think having a monster eat their way out would be 'joyful.' Oh, wait, I forgot you're Lamashtan," she slaps her forehead as she crosses her legs and leans back in the chair.
"I'm flattered," she says, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "but you see, you're psycho-crazy, while I'm fun-crazy. It'd never work out. I'd be more likely to sleep with halvesies over there, if it wasn't for the fact he's pretty much in half right now," she says gesturing to where Tsuto lay bleeding out. "He did sleep with you though, right? Well, if he's that stupid, nevermind. The pillowtalk wouldn't be any good."
Red mist creeps into the corners of Helena's vision as she looks over to Nualia and sees her cut Orik's side open. Biting on her tongue as she does so, she reaches to the mystical thread that connects them and severs it, feeling life force flow back into her as she does so. "Sorry, but I need to live," she gasps, doubling over and clutching at her forehead.
She lets out a shuddering sigh as her wounds start to slowly close, before gripping her spear again and closing in on the woman.
Shalelu says, "We will never submit to demons, wretch," and looses another volley.
Monster Stats
Nualia: AC 20, hp 36/73
Tsuto: AC 19, hp (-6)/52, unconscious, dying
Round 7, continued
Gwyn continues taunting Nualia. The demon-priest glares and bares her teeth at her... and Orik uses the distraction to smash his sword into her side, hard. The blade doesn't break through her breastplate, but she winces in pain... that had to leave a severe bruise!
Kyrian also taunts her: "You'd be a real looker if it weren't for that demon-arm. Hey Orik: Why don't you remove it for her! It'd be an improvement!" He then lets fly an arrow.
Alas, the arrow deflects off her breastplate.
Her own life-energy ebbing, Helena breaks the Life Link with Gwyn and Orik, and then beseeches the spirits of life to aid her. Green healing energy rises from the earth beneath her, and many of her wounds knit back together.
In the form of a bear, Cerin attacks with tooth and claw. Yet, perhaps due to Lamashtu's power over feral beasts, he is unable to penetrate Nualia's defenses.
Shalelu deadpans all of your feelings and fires another arrow. This one grazes her bare midriff, drawing a streak of blood.
Round 8
Still fighting, Nualia switches to a one-handed grip on her bastard sword as she sidesteps onto the stairs leading up to the dais.
Standing on the steps, she raises her red-skinned, taloned hand. Branded into the palm is a three-eyed canine face. She shouts, "Taste Lamashtu's fury! હું તમને પીડાદાયક મૃત્યુ સાથે તમામ શાપ!"
A wave of reddish energy pulses through the room from her outstretched demon-hand. As it passes over, you all feel an intangible force rip at your bodies and souls... the twisted demonic power of unfathomable evil.
Fluff was gone. Helena and Gwyn felt it as the little bird breathed her last. Helena could feel the beat of the tiny heart stop in the breast of the bird that had hidden in her scarves. One moment she was there, doing her best not to get in the way, and the next she's gone.
Gwyn screams as the arcane backlash from the broken connection with her familiar crackles in her mind. Fluff had been with her for several years and the bond was strong. Summoning a familiar was one of the first things her master had taught her, and now, Fluff, her first and only familiar, is gone.
Just gone.
Her master had died, and now, the first and most amazing gift he'd given her is gone as well. The pain from the blast of unholy fire is dulled into an ache as Gwyn stares at where Fluff had been hiding. She has no memory of how she wound up on her hands and knees. She barely feels the blood from her nose and a nasty gash on her forehead or any of the numerous small wounds Nualia's death curse had left on her. For what feels like an eternity, she just looks in shock at where she knows Fluff has to be.
Fluff can't be gone! She can't! It's just some cruel joke! Any second, she'll move and Gwyn will see it.
Any second.
Please.
Please don't go.
Anger, burning and white-hot flares to life and Gwyn drank deeply of that fire. Nualia had already hurt those who had never wronged her, had sought to snuff out Sandpoint and all of the people living there, and now her list of crimes included the death of one of the two closest friends Gwyn had.
The normally graceful elf rises heavily to her feet, drawing enchanted mithral blade as she stands.
"I think we got off on the wrong foot, Nualia," the elven wizard says in a calm, cold, and deadly voice, "Why don't we start over. My name is Gwynethiel, and I'll be putting out your eyes, you b%~+~."
With that, Gwyn disappears from view.
Orik grits his teeth from the pain, remaining standing despite the agony. "Dammit! Archers! Light this b*tch up!" He staggers away from Nualia, dropping his blade to retrieve a potion and quaff it, sighing as his wounds begin to heal.
Cringing after feeling like he was just about killed, Kyrian is hardly able to line up a shot as he lets loose another arrow towards the woman.
Ignoring the wave of evil energy, Shalelu draws and aims carefully, then lets a black-fletched arrow fly.
"Prepare to meet your Queen."
Helena feels the tiny bird in her scarves shudder and go limp. In a blind panic, even as she shakes off the wracking pain that covers her, she fumbles around in the layers and presses two fingers over Fluff's breast. "Fluff?" she asks with too much hope, feeling a tiny, fluttering heartbeat - weak and barely noticeable, but there.
After looking at her spear, she looks back to Nualia. Without any way to reach her in the stairwell, she steps forward, pressing a hand to Orik's shoulder. "Good luck."
Monster status
Nualia: AC 20, hp 28/73
Tsuto: AC 19, hp (-7)/52, unconscious, dying
Round 8, continued
Gwyn buries her grief at the death of her familiar in pure, unbridled fury. She states he threat to Nualia, and then turns invisible. She then climbs the wall, standing next to the basin on the platform at the front of the room, her knees roughly even wtih Nualia's head. Nualia makes no sign of noticing the invisible menace above her.
Orik drops his sword, takes a step back, fumbles through his pack for a potion bottle, and swigs it. The elixir restores some of his sapped strength.
Kyrian fires at Nualia, but his arrow deflects harmlessly off her armor.
Helena casts a spell, healing Orik.
In his ursine form, Cerin continues to try to maul Nualia, but cannot get past her defenses.
Shalelu curses Nualia and lets an arrow fly. Her aim is true, and the arrow buries itself deep into the demon-priest's unarmored midriff.
Round 9
Nualia lets out a cry of pain, staggering backward up the stairs. For the first time, you see a look of fear in her eyes. She mutters a brief prayer to the Demon Queen, and her form is outlined in a faint reddish glow. She then takes a potion bottle out of her satchel, pulls the cork out with her teeth, and downs the liquid.
As some of her wounds begin to knit, she sneers, "I am protected by the might by Lamashtu, Mother of Monsters! You cannot touch me now!"
"Thanks," Orik says, reaching for a silver-headed warhammer on his belt. "Go help the squab, if you can." He advances upon Nualia, a warcry escaping his lips as he bounds up the stairs.