Crady rushes forward behind Sendi, quarterstaff in hand, and seeks to stop the advance of the man in yellow.
Motioning Vinz to follow, Pakuzzo nocks his shortbow with an arrow and takes a few steps forward, but remains hidden in the previous room, muscles tensed to spring forward once he hears combat begin.
Vinz follows behind Pakuzzo on foot, watching for a signal of what to do next.
As each prepare in their own way to fight off these foes, the Reactors begin their assault.
The assailant in green tries again to punch Titus in the gut, bringing his knee upwards. Titus easily parries the gut punch as the man's knee slams into his armor...harmlessly. Meanwhile the one standing behind him brings a hammer fist down square on the mans neck.
Spotting the sage creep out of the hallway, the man in blue leaves Titus to his companions and rushes to assist. Stumbling as he arrives, the mans punch sails high over Crady's head. Following his companions initial tactics, the one in yellow slides towards the older gentle man and tries to jab his temple. Connecting soundly, Stars begin to swell up in Crady's eyes!
Redactors
Philacris
Sendi
Pakuzzo
Titus
Crady
WHACK!!
Pain and stars wash over Crady's vision for a moment as man in yellow jabs the urban druid's temple.
In response, the city guide pivots his quarterstaff to hopefully hit the man in yellow someplace very tender.
Shaking off the blow, Titus turns and lashes out with his morning star.
Barely waiting for the first strike to hit or miss, Titus takes a quick step to one side in an attempt to keep his back from his assailants, and lashes out with another attack.
[ooc]Attack yellow until he is dead and then move onto blue
Coming out of thin air, Sendi lashed out at her foe in a flurry of claws. She was going for the kill. She slashed low, as if to disembowel them, and then attacked up, going for their necks. Knowing that she had the element of surprise on her side, she meant to make the most of it.
Watching as Sendi tears into the redactor down the hall, Philacris steps into an alcove in the hallway and raises her crossbow. If blue is still standing she fires her bolt at him.
If not, she continues on southwards to get a better view of the remaining redactors engaged with Titus.
Going before Sendi, Pakuzzo fires his shortbow at the redactor blocking the hallway.
He tells Vinz to stay for now, wanting to give Sendi a clear shot and the chance to move.
Vinz tenses, wanting to move, but stays where he is as commanded.
Crady and Titus shrug off the explosion of stars, though the pain remains. As his vision clears, Titus lashes out at the redactor running across the field.
Realing from the massive wound the holy man surprised him with, the blue redactors makes it in place just in time to see a new opponent materalize and drop his companion with a one, two, three punch! Before he can react the assailant rips his throat out as well!
Unable to see the blood pouring from the foe, Pakuzzo fires a shot that goes high...but the man falls anyway! Vinz stands fast as ordered while Philacris moves deeper into the room to see what else they have to deal with.
Pivotting, Titus slams his morningstar against the opponents thigh. A sickening *Crunch* echoes through the room.
The remaining two Redactors frown at their predicament but press their luck. The injured one swings at Titus with a one,two. The first swing catches the man square in the nose, though the second glances off his armor.
The remaining redactors twirls around Titus and punches him in the back of the neck...hard.
A small box hanging near the ceiling at the back of the room catches Philacris' eyes. Numerous chains branch out from it and anchor into the walls and ceiling.
Redactors
Philacris
Sendi
Pakuzzo
Titus
Crady
Philacris eyes the box on the southern end of the room with great suspicion.
"Careful, they somehow got their hands on a cubic gate. Don't go near that thing, at least not until I can examine it." She points to the black cube and its numerous chains to the southern end of the room.
Seeing Titus still being attacked to the west, she heads a little closer and fires a crossbow bolt at the visible assailant.
Sendi ran towards the remaining foes, her hands dripping with blood. She would have to clean them later, but there was no point doing so now. They were about to get dirty, again.
On seeing Titus be overun, Crady run the stairs to provide flank for the half-elf.
Pakuzzo was sure that that last shot missed its mark, but the man was down, so on to the next one!
He skids around the corner and, seeing the others ganging up on the remaining Redactors, orders Vinz to join the attack.
At Pakuzzo's direction, Vinz zips out from behind the corner and flaps his wings forcefully, propelling himself into the fray.
Standing beside Philacris, Pakuzzo lines up a shot at the Redactor facing Sendi, Crady and Vinz, the point of his arrow weaving as he tries to draw a bead past the press of bodies.
"Don't mind us, Phil, just do your thing!"
Titus bites down on his tongue as he reflexively grits his teeth against the nerve-numbing pain in his neck. He spits blood as his vision blurs and he lists to one side like a ship in a storm.
Quietly, nearly under his breath, he utters a call to his patron to heal his wounds, and those affecting his allies.
While everyone rushes to aid Titus, Philacris and Pakuzzo work in tandum from afar. The bolt strikes true, with an arrow quickly following. The Redactors slumps over...out of the fight.
Titus holds off a moment as Crady limps towards him before crying out to his goddess for aid. She quickly blesses the devout man, mending the wounds of the righteous!
The remaining foe cries out. "THEY ARE COMING!" towards the closed doors on the far side before setting his eyes on Titus once more. "I shall see you in hell!" Though both attacks fail to connect, he quickly bows his head and begins whispering the funeral rites of Asmodeus.
Round 3:
Redactors
Philacris
Sendi
Pakuzzo
Titus (-4)
Crady
The redactors only posessions are the robes they wore and an unholy symbol of Asmodeus each.
Sendi paid the man no mercy as she tore into him. When it was done she used prestidigitation to clean herself off. Still shaken from having her knowledge ripped out of her mind she said ”Titus, are you alright? You held them admirably.”
With the remaining redactors dealt with, Philacris lowers her crossbow and returns her attention to the box. She steps forward, but not too close. "It's... broken? Not functioning quite properly in any case." The relief is clear in her voice.
"You did well as well Sendi, Pakuzzo. But that shout from the last one likely alerted the rest. If we can believe the guardian creature from earlier, that's four redactors down, six to go. Six that might be coming."
Take a moment to inspect the strange box, Philacris is able to realize it is indeed malfunctioning. She knows once activated, these devices should summon beings from another plane to feed on those in this one...thankfully there is no conjuration magic emanating from this device. It does however seem quite dangerous.
You have a few options. Dispel Magic could work if you rolled high on the dispel check. Though it's not actively summoning anything, spells that block dimensional travel would deactivate it. (AkA Dimensional Lock or Dimensional Anchor.
Or you can try Disable Device, Spellcraft, or UMD.
Rather taken by the cube gate problem, Philacris fails to notice the other books lying about the room. Numerous tomes dealing with the extraplanar sit about the tables...seems the redactors were busy attempting to solve their box dilemma. A vial of glittering dust sits on a shelf in the northwest corner.
It's a vial of (Link) Dust of Emulation
You notice a small panel hidden in the southeast wall. It appears to be an alcove but is locked.
While all but Philacris hear movement beyond the closed door...nothing comes into the room.
Titus heaves a great sigh and offers Sendi a pained nod. Thank you Sendi; yes, I'm fine. The goddess rewards the faithful, particularly when dealing out justice to such vile scum.
He points to the southeast wall. [b]Do you see that small panel, as well? Shall I attempt to break into it? I fear my talent is more with brute force than dexterous fingers, so my accessing it could be...loud.
"I don't see any other option. Heal your wounds first, though. I will keep watch while you get to work.?
Phila is indeed distracted by the device, one finger rubbing at the side of her nose as she thinks about the right way to deal with it. Out loud she murmurs "Well, it isn't doing anything right now... but maybe they could go around and manage to activate it... and we can't leave it around as a risk to the town... but this is a little..." She wrinkles her nose as she regards the box.
Philacris glances quickly at the pages currently open and seems to come to some conclusion internally. She steps away from the box and takes a deep breath.
"It may be a risk, but it'll take longer than just a few minutes to safely deal with this cubic gate. I'd like to read the books the redactors found, see what I can learn before I touch anything. And while the gate might be a danger to the city above, we're in more danger right now with whoever else may be coming to deal with us."
She steps over to join Sendi in keeping an eye out.
Pakuzzo plucks the small vial of glimmering dust from the shelf, then hands it to Philacris.
"Here, something to identify when when you get the chance.
"Now, assuming that we're might have some visitors in a few moments, maybe we should consider hiding for a bit. I'd like to have the drop on them when they come barging in. If it sounds like nobody's going to show up anytime soon, we can move on."
He strings another arrow into his bow and takes up position out of sight of the exits. He gives Vinz a hand signal to do the same.
Vinz hops into the air, flutters, and lands near Pakuzzo, keeping silent behind the closest piece of furniture.
Though eager to study the cube, Crady yields to the tengu's adice, and hides for an ambush.
Sendi likewise hid.
Philacris slips the unusual bottle into her pack and then joins the rest in hiding from whatever ambush may be approaching.
Titus heaves another sigh as he sees the group trying to make themselves disappear in plain sight. I really need to work on this...I'm the weak link in this armor He attempts to find somewhere to conceal himself and his bulky equipment.
Several minutes pass and the door remains shut. After what seems like an eternity, a muffled voice speaks from beyond the door and it slowly opens. A large, twisted and deformed beast stands in the doorway, drolling from a mouth of jagged teeth. It's tiny eyes seem vacant as it lumbers forward, tentatively.
"Raga aaaarg mmmmgaaaaaa" it calls back towards the now open door.
Pakuzzo:
Sendi:
Metronicus Crady:
Titus Enfeld:
Philacris:
===================================
Sendi
Philacris
Pakuzzo/Vinz
Titus
Crady
Sendi
Ogrekin
Philacris
Pakuzzo/Vinz
Titus
Redactors
Crady
in a surprise round you may take 1 standard OR 1 move action.
The large creature is an Ogrekin
It has a bite attack
Sendi sprung out of hiding, going straight for the ogre.
Phila holds in place and loads her crossbow. She whispers to Crady and Pakuzzo "Sounds like an ogrekin. Nasty bite, but not too bright."
Peering around the corner to see enemy approach, Pakuzzo tries to identify what sort of being it could be.
Calling Vinz to heel, he puts as much distance between as he can quickly manage between it and himself.
When Pakuzzo moves, Vinz stays close.
Titus starts at the inhuman voice, but steels himself as he utters the words to a spell under his breath. His lady's power comes as a soft whisper that imbues his body with a holy grace.
Feeling more emboldened, he hunkers down behind the wall, waiting for this fell beast to walk past so that he and Sendi may attack from its flank.
Crady takes in the information Philacris gave him, thinking of a good spell that would help this situation.
Quickly recognizing the beast, the group prepares for the fight. Sendi rushes forward and attacks!
Ripping into the beast with a beastial wrath of her own, Sendi slices deep gashes over the creatures body!
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR" It shrieks, lashing out in retaliation. Unfortunately for the Ogrekin, it fails to connect as the wirey woman dodges with ease.
Sendi
Ogrekin
Philacris
Pakuzzo/Vinz
Titus
Redactors
Crady
"Attack, Vinz!" Pakuzzo calls, starting to move.
Phila scurries out from behind cover and raises her crossbow. With one eye closed, she launches a bolt over Vinz's flapping form and towards the ogrekin!
"Even uglier than in the books..." She mutters out as she starts considering her magical options to deal with this thing.
Vinz rushes forward as instructed and bites at the foe as Philacris buries a bolt deep in his hide. The beast cries out and falls backward with a loud *THUD*
As the sound rings out, several redactors sprint into the room.
Crady
Sendi
Philacris
Pakuzzo/Vinz
Titus
Redactors
Impressed, but not surprised by his fellow adventurer's skill, Crady pockets the spell for later and runs to meet the redactors, greeting the yellow one with a club.
The ogrekin went down...and it took Sendi with it. Her claws were stuck inside it's chest! The redactors were rushing down the hallway. The monk strained and grunted as she pulled...but she couldn't get her hands out! Bracing her feet on the corpse, she pulled with all her might...and at the last second she came free! Sadly, it didn't give her enough time to make the most of the coming conflict. She barely had time to hold the line.