Radiance punches through the last wikkawak's armor and Ary feels the sickening clunk as it digs into bone. The goblinoid reels and cries in pain, stumbling backwards and pulling her golden blade from the wound. Ary maneuvers inwards, pushing [i[Faith[/i] into the off-balance wikkawak and sends him sliding down the stairs.
Xanderghul is up!
A swarm of bats suddenly manifests around the front-end fighters! The tiny creatures surround the heroes, wearing them down with their tiny, but sharp bites.
Round 172!
Ehren is up!
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The grizzly bear pays no heed to the newly summoned swarm of bats, opting instead to chase after the fallen wikkawak as though it were a thrown toy. Once it has descended the stairs the bear snaps down at the wikkawak with its large, fanged maw.
I knew that they might outnumber us, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind... Ehren thinks to himself as the bats swarm around his friends. He quickly slips his wand back to his belt and retrieves a flask of alchemist's fire. Throwing it directly at his friends was less than ideal (it might tickle Valaria a bit), but it was the best measure he had to use against swarms.
The bear sinks her teeth deep into the fallen wikkawak's chest, silencing its cries for good. She raises her bloodied maw and sniffs the air, emitting a low growl.
"I smell the breath of another, here. Where is it? I cannot see it?"
Valaria is up!
Val whips around, slashing wildly at the bats around them and trying to get them off of the group before they're torn up by the biting swarm.
Val whips around with her starknives, the swarmbane clasp around her neck glowing slightly as her blades leave trails of energy that rend through the swarm like a knife through butter. After a few strikes, the swarm dissipates into the air - a few stray bats start flying away, squeaking.
Variska - who had brought her shield up to her face in an attempt to at least keep the horrible little creatures away from her eyes - lowers it. She looks around at the pile of bat corpses around them and sighs. "Okay. That was terrible. So where's the f&!$er who did that?"
Hinagiku is up!
"Somewhere up ahead where we can't see them I'd guess," Val says dryly. "If I recall correctly, summoning spells don't have that much range, so they can't be far."
Hinagiku tried to stay focused on the task while the bats attacked from every sides, but it's only once Valaria disposes of them that she truly can. And so, she peers into the gloom trying to find the druid that attacked them.
"Mr. Xanderghul, can you shed light into the tunnel." she politely ask, without turning her head.
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"My friend says that she can smell someone else nearby," Ehren translates, squinting into the darkness. He idly turns the flask over in his hand, having forgotten that Valaria had the magical clasp.
Isilme is up!
"Is that so?" she says when Ehren points out the bear seemed to smell someone else present. Given Hinagiku's need for light, Isilme first takes a moment to dig out her ioun stone, setting it orbiting about her head, lighting up the surrounding area. She then focuses on the surrounding area, looking for signs of someone invisible moving about them. Her golden eyes peer intently about the hall, confident in her abilities to perceive even the most subtle clues that someone might be nearby.
Isilme sets her ioun stone alight and looks around. But she doesn't see, nor hear, anything.
Ary sets out ahead of the group, moving slowly down the slippery stairs, looking around. "I don't see anything," she reports. "Wen'Fen, can you do that sparkly-spell-thing? Maybe they're invisible."
[dice=Ary DC 16 spellcraft check to know the word "Glitterdust" (wounded)]1d20+7-2[/dice]
Xanderghul is up!
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Xanderghul shakes his head. "I can't light anything but my wayfinder. Hang on, though."
He draws a scroll and closes his eyes, reading the words from memory. When he opens them, the writing on the scroll is gone and his eyes glow softly.
You close and open your eyes, and you now see a wikkawak near Ary and the bear, who is invisible. He is wearing a helmet made from a polar bear's head, and wields an oversized cudgel, covered in intricate markings.
Hinagiku is up!
As Xanderghul starts to cast, Hinagiku already makes her way down the corridor. Carefully, she walks by the bear, and then Ary. There, at the edge of the light, she expects light to appear. But, when Xanderghul finishes casting, the corridor in front of her stays dark. The monk questioningly looks back at the wizard.
Unseen by everyone but Xanderghul, the invisible caster slinks off down the stairs, passing just a few feet from Hinagiku - though she neither sees nor hears him.
Round 172!
Ehren is up!
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"Got it," Ehren whispers, peering into the area of dim light further down the stairway. Fortunately, he had Hinagiku to use as a point of reference. After slipping the alchemist's fire back into his belt pouch, he points a finger in the monk's general direction and mutters something in Druidic under his breath. With a small pop there is a burst of dull, green light that clings to Hinagiku's body, illuminating her outline with its fiery glow.
The bear, unfortunately, would not be able to reach the wikkawak in time to attack it, even if she could see it. Instead of trying, she simply plops down on the spot and waits for her summoning to expire.
A pale, green outline surrounds the body of an invisible wikkawak, right next to Hinagiku!
Around the same time, the bear simply vanishes into thin air.
"Oh! There you are!" exclaims Variska, and, aided by the swiftness of Isilme's magic, she sets off down the icy stairs towards the mysterious figure.
Valaria is up!
"Well at least he's not invisible any more..." Val hurries down the corridor to keep up with the rest of the group, though she can't really get in close enough to help immediately.
Isilme is up!
Slightly surprised she was unable to spot the wikkawak, Isilme looks slightly frustrated. That Xanderghul was prepared to solve the problem magically, however, came as no surprise. With the invisible wikkawak outlined by Xanderghul and Ehren's teamwork, the immediate task was obvious: Prevent the caster from fleeing. Taking advantage of her magically augmented speed, she begins to head down the stairs quickly.
Each step carefully placed to keep her balance and prevent her from slipping on the ice, Isilme manages to interpose herself roughly between the caster and the exit, ensuring she'd have a shot if it tried to run. Having positioned herself, she takes a quick swipe at the goblinoid with her still-illumined rapier,
The rapier scratches across the surface of the wikkawak's skin, making a grating noise as it hits something solid and impenetrable.
Ary is up!
Ary quickly moves past Isilme to aid in pinning the woman in. If she tries to make a break for it, Ary will be ready to put her into the wall... and if she doesn't, Ary's allies will likely cut her down where she stands for trying.
Xanderghul is up!
With the invisible wikkawak outlined by Ehren's faerie fire spell, his eyes were no longer needed. Luckily, see invisibility was one of the longer-lasting spells and would likely serve for the remainder of the incursion. Realizing that he was falling behind, however, Xanderghul rushed forward as fast as he could go despite the ice and snow on the ground.
Xanderghul rushes forwards on the ice, and ends up losing his balance and falling down. He slides down the stairs harmlessly, landing on his back.
As Xanderghul reveals his findings, Hinagiku turns around, just in time to see an eerie fire envelop and invisible figure in front of her. Keeping her surprise reigned in, she falls back into a fighting position, and quickly align a series of blows on the target, first a kick to its feet, towards regions which seem devoid of armor. Once her opponent is on the ground, for a single moment, her fists describe a graceful and unavoidable arc of destruction.
The druid grunts underneath his bear-mask and pushes himself to his feet, moving too fast for Variska or Isilme to react, but Hinagiku drives a fist into him, driving him backwards. He roars, his voice animalistic, and with his great cudgel he swings back against Hinagiku, but she smoothly ducks beneath the druid's weapon.
Round 174!
Ehren is up!
"Looks like we'd better get moving," Ehren remarks to Ayavah, seeing that the action has reached the other end of the passage. He carefully traverses the icy staircase, wincing when he sees Xanderghul take a tumble.
Ayavah nods mutely, keeping pace with the other casters, and moving slowly down the icy stairs.
Radiance's light glints off the cruel blade of Variska's blade as it arcs through the air, biting into the wikkawak's neck with a satisfying Tchunk! Her forearm is numb from the impact, and her face is soaked warm with crimson in the resulting arterial spray.
Valaria is up!
Val finally closes in on the formerly invisible enemy enough to help.
Valaria's blade whistles as it sweeps across her enemy.
Isilme is up!
Isilme slides over, positioning the creature between her and Variska. With the druid's attention divided by attacks coming from all sides, Isilme strikes. Swiftly thrusting with her rapier, she aims for the caster's head, hoping to strike a lucky blow.
Ary shields Isilme's movement as she maneuvers into a better position to attack the druid. Her rapier gouges a small chunk from the wikkawak's face.
Ary is up!
Without anyone to guard her own movements, Ary decides to hang back and trust in her allies to bring the foe down, digging into her bag once more to find the other honey-potion.. they were using a lot of resources on this incursion. They'd use more if she didn't stop her own bleeding, and still more if she tried to be the big hero.
While Ary stands alert and recovers, Xanderghul moves forward. Ehren and Ayavah disappear into the darkness as his light-source moves with him.
Hinagiku is up!
Hinagiku continues pressing their advantage, willing to get moving toward the center of the lair as quickly as possible. However, as she attacks, her blows lose their focus and become more and more wild.
As Isilme's bardic magic dissipates from the stairwell, Hinagiku's mind starts to wander away from the present and onto the next fight - a potentially lethal mistake. Her strikes miss again, and again, grabbing ahold of his cloak rather than his ankle, then landing a strike on his bear helm rather than on his face. Finally, she lands a blow - her fist barreling into her target with an audible crunch - but the wikkawak's hide armor is covered in sharp, bony spikes. The spikes dig into her hand, mangling it and drawing blood. She withdraws and tests her grip experimentally - good, her hand isn't broken - but the pain makes it difficult to think of much else.
The druid grins, his face bloody. "Hah! You gonna kill Grith? Grith no care! Ugmitok gonna kill all of you! She is Chosen! She'll add your faces to the sky-walks!" He then swings his enormous wooden club right into the side of Hinagiku's face. The sound is loud and unsettling - and she wheels for a moment, struggling to maintain consciousness. When she finally looks back up, her face is swollen, with immense dark blue bruises visible under the white fur.
Round 175!
Ehren is up!
Ehren continues down the stairway as quickly and carefully as he can manage, unable to otherwise contribute to the other druid's impending demise.
"Shut up," Val says most eloquently. "If your boss thinks she can beat us, she's welcome to try."
Ayavah hurries after Ehren, keeping her eyes on the ground so that she can better traverse the slippery steps.
"Seconded," adds Variska. Before Valaria can step in, she swings her blade - her violent swing comes riving into her enemy, cutting a ruinous furrow .... continuing the momentum of her spin gives her weapon the force to rive the druid's head clean off his shoulders.
Combat ends!
Round 175!
1. Ehren (greater longstrider, EE, -3 STR, -1 CON, -2 CHA)
2. Ayavah (1 NL, -3 STR, -2 CON, -3 CHA) , Variska (grazed, fatigued, 1 bleed)
3. Valaria (Mythic Heroism, 1 bleed)
4. Isilme (EE, CL, -1 STR, -3 CHA, -4 CON, Arcane Pool [176])
5. Ary (EE, longstrider, grazed)
6. Xanderghul (EE, longstrider, -1 STR, -3 CHA, see invis)
7. Hinagiku (EE, 1 bleed, wounded, mangled hand (-4 att))
"Hinagiku, do you have any more of your god's power to channel? Those wounds look painful, on all of you.." says Xanderghul, striving to keep up.
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"Ye... yes." the monk answer, doing her best to keep the pain at bay.
She carefully pockets the wand she was still holding and reaches for the medallion hanging from her neck.
"Master of masters, renew our bodies so we might carry the fight. Our bodies are fragile, far from perfection, but without your intervention, they will fail. Help us step up so we may continue to learn and improve." she softly intones while white and blue ribbons of light envelop herself and the others surrounding her.
She then looks up at Ehren who's now closed in with them, and lifts her mangled hand.
"Not sure I can use my wand right now." she simply says.
It's difficult to focus on prayer with her hand in such poor condition. Regardless, her invocation does the trick - the minor wounds on Valaria, Variska, and Hinagiku heal over enough that they are no longer openly bleeding.
Val takes a few moments to recover her daggers from the creatures' bodies. "So... I'm guessing that Ugmitok is the one who's carrying the horn then. I guess having a name is useful."
"Your hand is in terrible shape, Hinagiku, we should heal that before we move on." she says as she draws her own wand. "Ehren, can you give me a hand? Time is of the essence, after all."
Isilme unleashes a charge from the spell, but more than a little frustrated when the healing has little-to-no effect on Hinagiku.
Ary fishes out the other potion of blue. Two by two, they were gone... but she hands it off to Variska... who'd taken several heavy blows. While the others were getting their team healed up, she also removes her cloak and hands it to her. "Wipe yourself down a bit and put that on... I know you're probably freezing. Sorry I didn't think of it sooner."
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Time. There never seems to be enough of it. Resting his staff against his shoulder, Ehren gingerly takes Hinagiku by the wrist of her injured hand and retrieves his healing wand again. He gently taps it once, finding the initial result disappointing as Isilme did, and then taps it twice more. He knew that they could not afford to stand around for too long, but they could hardly afford to have a hand-to-hand combatant with a mangled hand, either. Not against Ugmitok.
"We should keep moving," Ehren says, looking down at the beheaded Son of the Mountain. If he was correct about who the Bear-Speaker was, then Ugmitok was apparently running short on priests to throw at them.
Round 179!
Ehren slowly focuses the stored positive energy inside his wand into Hinagiku's hand - the wounds seal over, regaining her use of it, though the monk is still fairly injured elsewhere.
Variska nods gratefully, accepting the potion. Her fingers were visibly swollen and bluish from the cold - though not black and dead to the frostbite. One sip of the potion and they became a normal, healthy pink color. She wipes her bloodied face on her tattered shirt and drapes her furs around her shoulders. "Thanks. I owe you one. All of you, really. Assuming we get out of this alive, of course," she adds matter-of-factly.
Ayavah catches up with the group, glancing around warily. She purses her lips at Variska's comment - not exactly what she wanted to hear from the experienced mercenary. "Okay. Okay. Should we go? I think we should keep going."