Calder and Kurasaviel rush into battle, and with a brutal one-two slash, they absolutely brutalize one of the ninja warriors, Kurasaviel catching the warrior along the back, slicing along his spine, and Calder knocking him to the ground with a greataxe-blow to the hip. The man lets out a death rattle before collapsing to the ground. His compatriot on the other side of Clara doesn't let out a sound.
As a free action, Kurasaviel fist bumps Calder.
As a free action Calder returns the fist bump. :)
Clara stands still for a moment, surrounded by attackers, hoping desperately that her burlier companions will come to her aid.
"Yippee!!" She whoops as Calder and Kurie take down the one behind her. With relief evident on her face, she steps back and lobs a firebomb at the remaining visible warrior.
"But guys, watch behind you!! There's some crazy octopus attacking this ship and there's these quiet warriors and there's the fire now (and it looks like it's growing) oh and Snorri downstairs--I'm no expert but he looked kinda undead. Chained up, but couldn't tell how long that'd last."
Clara's bomb sends the unprepared ninja warrior reeling from the pain of the exploding soda pop. After the smoke clears, however, the man's head snaps back to attention and he advances forward, vanishing from sight for a moment before reappearing within striking distance of Calder, lashing out with his wakizashi against the Ulfen warrior.
Calder isn't able to anticipate the angle of the warrior's attack, and finds a vicious wound in a gap in his armor when the warrior re-appears. As he is dealing with the pain, the other warrior barrels out of the smoke cloud Clara's first bomb left, hopping down into the hold right next to Tallak.
Meanwhile, the funeral pyre, fueled by oil and by dry wood, spreads.
Below, Tallak begins casting a summoning spell, working to bring aid to himself to take down the undead Snorri One-Eye.
Seeing the ninja ignore his illusion, Matin ceases to concentrate on maintaining it, allowing the octopus to disappear as quickly as it appeared, and instead he uses his magic to imbue his arrows with a bit of arcane power, firing two of them at the ninja that attacked Calder.
Matin lets go of his illusion spell, nocks an arrow, and lets it fly directly into the ninja's collarbone, causing the already-twice-burned warrior to gasp, fall down, and promptly die.
Below, the undead creature that was once Snorri One-Eye continues to struggle against the bonds that chain him. With his first effort, he snaps them, taking a single step forward towards Tallak, and swinging brutally at him with his greataxe.
Unfortunately for him, Tallak is well-warded both by enchanted armor and by the spirits of his ancestors, and Snorri's undead corpse doesn't even come close to striking Tallak.
Calder swings at the last Ninja.
Kurasaviel steps up next to Calder, launching an attack at the ninja.
As Tallak completes his summoning, two harmonious screeches echoes forth from the holds of the ship as a pair of radiant eagles appear and begin tearing at the undead monstrosities flesh with beak and claw.
A moment later, Tallak drives his own spear at the creature, disregarding the sickly appearing man who dropped down beside him in favor of focusing on the larger threat.
__________
Clara opens a silvery-blue vial of soda pop, drinks it down, and gives a little, "Urp!" As she does so, she fades from view.
She whispers to Kuri and Calder, "I'm going to sneak over to Ulf and give him a Fizzy Drink of Light Healing." and then climbs down.
Kurasaviel and Calder tag-team another ninja, double-slicing him into total oblivion, while Clarabibulus fades from sight, courtesy of a magical soda pop, and disappears down into the hold.
The last remaining ninja warrior, still invisible, also fades from sight, making it near-impossible to see where he's gone, though he's still pretty well taken out of the fight by Clara.
Above on the deck, the funeral pyre continues to spread across the deck of the funeral ship, practically sealing the two halves of the ship off from each other.
Below, in the hold, Tallak brings to life a pair of screaming celestial falcons, and together all three tear into Snorri One-Eye, dealing a pretty significant chunk of damage.
Matin descends into the hold, firing a magically charged arrow at Snorri as soon as soon as he is able.
"Can anyone so something about the fire?!"
Matin maneuvers past Tallak's summoned eagles, the undead draugr captain taking the opportunity to attack the Ulfen thief as Matin passes by him on the way farther into the hold of the ship.
Snorri is proving to be relatively incompetent, as he is unable to come anywhere near to striking Matin. The Ulfen quickly nocks and fires an arrow, the magically-enhanced projectile finding a home in the draugr's crunchy back.
Snorri growls, looks between all of the creatures attacking him, and lets loose a powerful cleave attack, beginning with one of the eagles that Tallak summoned. The undead seems to be cursed by some kind of luck god, though, and his axe catches on the wooden ceiling of the ship's hold, preventing him from making his attack.
"Can anyone so something about the fire?!"
A disembodied voice squeeks out, "Well, uh, great-great-grandpapa Umbilicus always said to fight fire with fire--and fizzy drinks do make just about everything better--but I'm not sure this is quite what he had in mind."
Still invisible, the gnomish fizzician steps closer to Ulf. She taps Ulf with it, healing him (slightly).
____________
HP: 21/33 grazed
Bombs: 10/11
Extracts used: monkeyfish, invisibility
Extracts left: levitation, resist energy, Shield, Reduce Person, Heightened Awareness, Adhesive Spittle, +1 unprepared (L2)
CLW wand: 49/50 charges left
Buffs:
Mutagen +4 DEX, +2 NA, -2 WIS
Monkeyfish
Invisibility
Reasoning Kurasaviel is the better at dealing with the Invisible Ninja Calder drops down into the hold.
He will decide on attacking Snorri or freeing Ulf on his next action.
Snorri One-Eye is quicker than he seems, with good reflexes in combat, and swings mightily at Calder as the warrior passes him by. Though Calder is able to resist the life-sapping effects of the undead's attack, the damage the enemy's greataxe deals is crushing.
Clara's healing wand brings Ulf back to consciousness, and his eyes snap open to alertness quickly. When he hears what she's whispering to him, he nods grimly but remains prone.
When Kurasaviel attempts to move down into the hold, he nearly bumps into the re-appearing ninja, who waited for the very last combatant to try to go down into the hold before revealing himself.
Kurasaviel retaliates, slashing at the ninja through the hold's trapdoor with his curve blade. Kurasaviel's blow very nearly fells the ninja, who attempts to sneakily flip by Kurasaviel back onto the deck. Kurasaviel takes advantage of the wounded ninja, slicing him nearly in two as the man tries to pass Kura by.
Above the battlefield, Kurasaviel hears a screech. About eighty feet above him soars a large raven with a characteristic red feather. It seems innocuous enough until the raven looks down at Kura and spits a bolt of fire at him.
Also, the fire on the deck of the funeral ship continues to spread.
Kurasaviel groans in pain and shouts down to the hold.
"Crazy red raven! Breathed fire on me! I killed the other ninja, though...I'd fancy a spot of healing if possible!"
Matin searches his memory, trying to place what this creature could be, but he has no idea, so he looses two more arrows infused with magic power at it.
Tallak closes his eyes and lets loose a golden wave of healing energy, sealing shut the wounds of all of his allies all around him.
Meanwhile, his summoned eagles rip and tear at the corpse of Snorri One-Eye.
Matin fires two arrows at the undead Snorri, but both arrows bounce off of the undead monster's thick armor, harmlessly.
Snorri growls in frustration at the sealing wounds of his adversaries and swings his axe mightily at Tallak once more. He cleaves right through one of Tallak's eagles on the way to Tallak, though Tallak manages to stop the axe with Asvig's shield before it penetrates flesh. Snorri is crushingly strong, however, and the shock of the blow travels up Tallak's arm.
Ulf takes a deep breath, letting out a thick cloud of mist with the exhale, and casts a spell on himself to calm his shivering. "One of you's help me with my binds, would you? If the ship's as on fire as the little gnome said, I want to be running."
+2 if flanking
Clara draws her knife and cuts Ulf's hands free. "There ya go."
She holds the knife out in case he wants to use it to free his legs.
Kurasaviel steps down the stairs into the hold of the ship and lets loose a powerful swing at the undead Snorri One-Eye. He connects with the undead monster's collarbone, severing the head (and its glowing gem passenger) from the body. Both bits fall, completely lifeless, to the ground.
Ulf sits up, gratefully rubbing his wrists. He snatches the knife from Clara's hands.
If all enemies are dead? Calder looks around hoping to see the Katana.
Kurasaviel blinks, then looks down at his sword and grins.
"Well damn. Guess I'm pretty good, huh? Oh, uh, the ship is still on fire so getting done faster is better!"
There is a pile of brilliant and large rubies near the corpse of Snorri One-Eye. You can gather a handful of these as a move action up to three times, storing them in a pocket, belt pouch, or other easily-accessible small storage.
Snorri One-Eye's helm is beautiful, with wings that are thrown back, it's made of glittering gold, and it has little eye-holes that you look through. It must be worth a lot. It can be grabbed and stored away as a standard action.
Snorri One-Eye's greataxe is easily grabbed, and held in the hand or placed in an existing sling as a move action. It looks both valuable and quite sharp.
Snorri One-Eye had a glowing gray gem inset into his eye. It can be retrieved from his bodiless head as a move action, and stowed away for later observation.
Each ninja carried a wickedly sharp wakizashi, and each one looks quite valuable. It can be taken and sheathed as a move action, though the ninjas' bodies are all on the deck of the ship, so one would need to be up there to do so.
There is much more loot, but it is cumbersome, or it is armor, and will take too much time to grab.
Above the battlefield, the blood-feather raven sees all of the party disappear into the hold of the ship. Though he still glows with a fiery glow, he begins to cast another spell.
Meanwhile, the fire continues to spread.
"Ship's on fire, time to go," says Matin, shoving a handful of rubies into his pocket. He then scurries back up the stairs onto the deck of the ship.
"Mind the fire-breathing bird!"
"Everyone just grab something and run!"
Kurasaviel, noticing the helm as likely being quite valuable, decides to grab that. He then moves to leave the ship.
Calder will grab the Greataxe.
He passes Ulf a handaxe if Ulf doesn't have a weapon.
Tallak scowls as the others begin taking the burial items of Snorri. Rather than join them, Tallak instead takes the gem that had been glowing in the creature's eye and tucks it away before heading to the deck of the ship.
__________
As everyone snatches up choice pieces of treasure and heads up to the deck, Ulf uses Clara's knife to cut the ropes that bind his feet, handing the knife back to Clara before he dashes up onto the deck of the ship. He gladly takes Calder's handaxe, gripping it tightly. He blanches as he sees the fire on the deck. "How are we going to escape? Swim? Are you all used to the cold? And what's this about a fire-breathing bird?"
On short legs, Clara manages to make it up top right behind Ulf.
"Oooo my, that fire's getting bigger!" she says, her already large gnomish eyes getting even larger.
She briefly considers throwing a firebomb into the air but thinks better of it, and instead walks over to the side of the boat, taking a look over the edge.
The raven high above finishes casting its spell with a baleful caw and the whisper of wind. A trio of whirlwind-shaped creatures appear near it, and at a word from the raven they fly down to the surface of the ship, two attacking Kurasaviel and one more attacking Tallak.
Meanwhile, the raven itself swoops down to attack the eagle that Tallak sent up to attack it.
None of the air elementals' airy slams make their mark, but the raven itself manages to peck fairly critically into the eagle. The eagle shrieks in distress, but remains corporeal.
Meanwhile, the fire continues to spread...
The eagle flaps its wings to get above its foe, and tries to claw out its eyes, but its wounds clearly are hampering it severely.
Tallak narrows his eyes at the spellcasting bird, and begins casting some magic of his own. When he is done, he points a finger at the bird and a wave of green energy washes out from his hand and envelopes it.
"We must deal with these creatures as fast as possible. I can enchant five of us to walk on water to escape the flames, and one of us can carry the little one," Tallak says.
__________
Above, the raven seizes up mid-flap and caw and falls right into the freezing water of the bay.
Matin fires two arrows at the air elemental that appeared next to Ulf and Tallak.
"Kind of wish I really did worship Besmara right about now. Feel like she'd be on board for this sort of thing."
"I'm no ornithologist but I feel like birds don't do these things!"
Matin's powerful first shot dissipates the air elemental near Ulf and Tallak, sending it back to whatever other realm the raven called it from. Ulf takes a step towards one of the other elementals, roars, and swings Calder's handaxe at it.
Ulf's blow goes right through one of the elementals, and Kurasaviel easily dispatches the other with a single swipe. Not having the time to stick around, Tallak enchants Calder, himself, Matin, Kurasaviel, and Ulf with water walk, and Calder picks Clara up off of the deck of the ship, and all six of the group leap off of the burning boat just as it begins to break up and sink.
The raven that Tallak disabled regains its wits just long enough to inhale a lungful of frigid water, and immediately falls unconscious from its fall and drowns to death. It's easy to retrieve its corpse, which is carrying only a little scroll case bound to its body with a knot, and contains two scrolls.
The group, Ulf included, is free to walk away. Ulf, standing uneasily on the surface of the water, looks around, somewhat confused. "So... who are you guys?" he asks.
Kurasaviel looks at Ulf intently.
"My parents were killed in front of me. I swore to avenge their deaths and so I became a vigilante, seeking justice for those that cannot achieve it themselves.....nah, I'm just messing with you. Name's Kurasaviel. We're searching for a guide to cross, uh, what was it guys? The Spine of the World? We need to get to Tian Xia. We met Ushakka and she told us about you. She told us tale you to your safe house, and gave us this little carving to prove we're on the level."
Kurasaviel takes out the carving of the songbird.
Calder is asking Clara for a little wand action.
As Kurasviel explains the situation to Ulf, the helmet he took from the funeral boat catches Matin's eye.
"Let me take a look at that," he says, snatching the helmet from Kura before he actually answers. He holds it up to the sky, squinting at it while he runs his hands across the metal.
"This isn't a helmet. It's an angel. A cassinian angel, to be exact. Not sure what it's doing on a funeral pyre. We could ask it but--it's asleep,and I don't know how to wake it up," he says, before offering it back to Kurasaviel.
"Well...that's new."
Kurasaviel turned the helmet in his hands. Knowing that it was a sentient being, putting it in his pack seemed disrespectful. Maybe he should wear it? Was that rude? Shrugging, Kurasaviel donned the helmet and tried to think at the angel.
Greetings, sleeping angel! We rescued you from being burned on a ship. Are you asleep?