Bjorkus groans. The wound was a small one but it weighed heavily on him.
The bull retrieves the near-empty healing wand and tends the wounded.
With the last bit of opposition out of the way, the party continues down the hallway which leads to another fallen pillar and then a massive set of stairs. The party marches up the stairs, front-liners leading with the others a step behind.
At the top is quite a sight.
The room is 75x75 feet with rounded corners. At the two closer corners and the far back are statues depicting Lolth. Spiders scurry across the room, over the two other fallen pillars. At the far end where the largest statue is, on a raised platform with two sets of stairs leading to it, is a wide open pit. Webs are seen clinging to the edges of it.
In the center of the room is Acera, hair wild and clothes in disarray. She's leaning over the decapitated corpse of Targ, pouring some kind of black energy into it. The corpse has spiders crawling over and into it, and there are seven voidsticks stuck into Targ's chest.
Acera looks up, eyes full of fury but she's surprisingly calm. "Well I suppose it will be ending here."
Raul - 5 damage, 2 negative levels
"Here I thought taking his head would have made it more difficult for you to work your perverse magic on him, necromancer. No doubt he would be overjoyed to be the focus of such magic."
"You understand little of magic. It just limits certain options." She stays silent about Targ's position on the matter.
"I'm simply surprised one who sees this as the end is willing to invoke futile efforts. Why not surrender?"
"Oh, it's the end. Just not for me." She gives a cruel, knowing smile.
"Oh, it's the end. Just not for me." She gives a cruel, knowing smile.
"And what makes you so confident of this? You have lost this city, your champion, any path of hope you had with your device, and surely whatever shreds that remained of your dignity."
Rilka scans the room looking for any pit traps or objects that might deploy magic webs or firballs. Keep her talking Dalton, she thinks.
"The city is a paltry thing, nothing but a location chosen from many options. It will delay me though, which is an annoyance."
"Champion? You mean pawn with muscles. I elevated him above his current standing to gain power for myself. I can do that with any person in power." A tick of annoyance flicks across her face. "Do not provoke me half-breed. I can simply leave, but I have the power to level the city and everybody in it if I want to."
Rilka notices no traps, but she can hear scuttling from the pit behind Acera.
Dalton was used to the insult. "To concern oneself with naught but pawns, half-breeds, and paltry annoyances says one of two things about the person in question: Either she is but a mixture of those features herself, or she is so far removed from those of her kind, she is intensely lonely." The wizard considered the fork a moment. "Either way, I pity you."
Acera tilts her head. "Ah, you think you can make me angry, and thus make a poor decision. What a stupid half-breed."
"Lonely you say? I think you should look at your own extrapolation. How much do you really feel a part of your little group? Or are you longing for something more?..Like meeting your father?"
Gabriel speaks up, uncertain of what Dalton was doing but definitely certain he didn't want her finishing whatever magic was planned for that body. He raises his sword and glances to the others, then bellows out, "This is your one and only chance. If you surrender and remit yourself into our custody, you might survive. If you do not, we plan to implement the measures we had prepared for Calios against your immortality. For your sake, I do hope yours is as strong as his with how confident you are."
Though Dalton hesitated due her last statement - long enough for Gabe to speak - it was more because of a troubling pattern than his then passing curiosity. Why is it they all seem to know he was somebody?
He quickly recovered.
"If there is anyone leading the pawns here, it would be the small lady of our group. Your inability to select the leader accurately is only testament to how tightly-knit we have become. These are some of the most honest and dependable people I've ever met. It's a good thing their strength of character is reflected in their strength of arms." She really is unreasonable. "You should take him up on his offer - it expires shortly."
But she won't.
"Immortality?" She gives Gabriel a curious look, then laughs. "Oh that's rich, you truly are ignorant to what's going on."
Acera turns away, then walks up the stairs and looks down into the pit. She gives a smile, eyes flicking around.
Gabriel gave a cruel smile in return, as if he had known that's exactly what she would say. She had enjoyed rubbing in her 'secret' knowledge the last time they had spoken. "I know more then you think. You either don't know who I am or you were never told the real reason I was sent here. No matter, I have done my duty and offered you a chance..."
Gabriel looks to the others, to see if they were ready. He hadn't lied, hadn't bluffed really. He didn't know the real reason he was here either, why that tiefling had sent him here, but he wasn't aiming for answers. Just to try and unsettle her, make her doubt. It was a lofty goal but Gabriel was an optimistic sort of person.
"I know exactly who sent you and why. I was the one who requested you."
When the nameless necromancer stands up, Toramin will move forward and invoke the power of his weapon to draw her forward.
Seeing the festivities begin, Dalton once more invoked acceleration upon the party.
Tiasar will have to get more of those stones.
While the party banters with her, Bjorkus keeps a close eye on the witch but an even closer eye on the corpse she's working her dark magics on. Taking Targ down the first time had been tough. The notion of doing it again, in their haggard state, seemed impossible. Could she really reanimate a headless corpse? The bull wasn't too excited about finding out.
Gabriel is ready, having been looking at Toramin when the dwarf stepped forward. He readies the borrowed greatsword again.
Toramin widens his stance and slams his weapon into the ground, causing a quick shift of earth underneath Acera's feet. She gives a gasp of surprise then leaps off the ground before it can move her.
Toramin
Bjorkus
Dalton
Enemy
Rilka
Raul
Gabriel
Not holding anything back, Dalton placed a hand on Raul's shoulder and gave his muscles even greater efficiency with a few words. "There. You should be deadlier than before. Just keep your senses about you by her - there's no telling what trickery she has yet to play."
Revenge is a sweet gift to give, but let us hope he is not overly distracted by his candy. I cannot help but shake the feeling that missing egg is going to be a problem.
Bjorkus waits for half a beat to time his attack with Dalton's spell. Once the elf's enchantment takes hold and the world around him seems to slow to a crawl, the bull sprints through the air on unseen wings.
As he closes his sword begins to glow with an intense light which flashes like the sun for an instant.
Acera's pupils dilate but she resists the magic.
From his airborne position, Bjorkus snorts and holds his massive blade at the ready waiting for Acera to try a spell.
Acera steps to get out from under Bjorkus, rage on her face. "You will suffer for your interference!" She raises her arms and begins mouthing some words, causing Bjorkus to attack, but his attack is deflected by invisible forces. "Hemata sjach fethos!" Acera becomes wreathed in shadowy energy.
Four gunshots shatter the air (and eardrums) as bright flashes emit from the dark ceiling behind Acera. Bjorkus's body is ravaged by the speeding metal as all four shots land.
With a thud, the source of the gunshots drops to the ground. This nearly skeletal figure wields a pistol in each hand. Its garb is dusty and weathered, and smells of old decay. It looms silently, raising its pistols again.
Rilka
Raul
Gabriel
Toramin
Bjorkus
Dalton
Enemy
Raul - 5 damage, 2 negative levels
Acera - VSS (Round 1)
Dalton felt a pang of vicarious agony as he saw "Ares" shredded by the mechanical weapons. The ambush was deadly effective - and Dalton know the skeleton could do it again in a heartbeat.
She picked a deadly foe, but one that relies on its tools. Without one of the weapons, it should be but half as deadly. Dalton approached the limits of what his force vacuum would allow and attempted to vortex the monster's right pistol away from it.
Toramin will attempt to earth shift the necromancer again.
Frustrated and riddled with bullets, Bjorkus retreats and withdraws leaving this battle to his more heroic companions.
Gabriel had heard stories of things like this. It was one of the less popular one's because even helping it on it's quest didn't seem to put it to rest. And that quest was most often vengeance, something that the storyteller back at the temple he grew up around seemed very much against. The guns in it's hands and the holes it tore through his large, furry friend did not inspire confidence either. If the paladin had been full of energy he might have been willing to take up that fight, but right now he felt empty, and more so with every passing moment. Where before, battle had inspired eloquence in his prayers, now it inspired desperation and the brief flickers of hope that always stirred within him. "Gods above, grant us strength."
Then he hits on an idea. A gloriously stupid one. Anger drove the creature. Who else had he known that was driven by anger? He levels his blade at the skeleton with the pistols, ready to duck back into cover, but stays well out of melee range and doesn't seem ready to attack outright yet. It was ironic. Had that headless body not been there, Gabriel might not have had this idea. "What has the witch promised you? Revenge against those who betrayed you? Or perhaps she simply began plucking your strings like all of her other pawns so that she might have yet another one to sacrifice. You heard her as well as I, describing her own lover. Do you think your own lot will be any better when all is said and done? Do you think she'll be anything more then all the other living creatures you have to blame for what you are now?"
Rilka winces as Bjorkus is shot multiple times. ”A pale stranger!” she calls. ”Don’t give it the range to fire! Engage in close quarters and disarm it. The pistols give it some power.” As she’s yelling this to her companions, the halfling fires her pistol at Acera.
Rilka runs up and fires a shot, but it gets deflected an inch from Acera's body. Raul growls and grows into his bestial form and roars in vein-splitting anger. "You, f@!$ing, c@%!!" He sprints up, balancing with one paw as he vaults over the pillars and gets beside Acera. Toramin smashes the ground again, but Acera hops up and avoids the ability again. Bjorkus flies at blinding speed, going all the way out and down the hallway away from the fight.
The undead gunslinger laughs hoarsely as Bjorkus retreats, and only gives Gabriel a brief glance. Then it speaks in a hoarse, decrepit voice. "She lets me people to kill, I don't care why and to what end. I will kill and kill until I am killed myself, and then she will revive me and I will kill again. That is my existence." To emphasize its point, the undead fires a hail of bullets around the battlefield. One shot splinters the stone by Raul's feet, another bounces off of Toramin's shield, but one slams into Raul and the other wings off Rilka's shoulder.
Acera turns and gives a hate filled glare to Dalton. "You are blind to the world half-breed, and so that shall be your fate." She takes a step away from Raul, then points at Dalton. "Nautkynra!" Dalton feels a terrible pain behind his eyes, a crushing headache and his world goes dark. But a moment later his sight returns.
Rilka
Raul
Gabriel
Toramin
Bjorkus
Dalton
Enemy
Raul - 15 damage, 2 negative levels
Acera - VSS (Round 1)
Gabriel grunts, then rushes forward in a blur of blonde and metal. With one of his free hands he grabs one of the braziers and rushes it to the edge of the pit. He ignores the heat, his skin resisting the pain from it, and then briefly looks to Acera before dropping the lit Brazier into the web filled hole.
As much as Dalton hated the injuries his allies were sustaining, if the situation were a chessboard, he preferred their positions.
"Your power wanes, witch!"
Even I am more than capable of that necromancy. Yes, she is drawing herself thin...
Bjorkus bleeds while his heroic companions battle the witch.
Rilka holsters her pistol and says to Toarmin, ”If this goes really poorly, I’ll try to dump the black powder in the hole.” She dashes towards the stairs leading to the pale stranger. Along the way, she draws her rapier.
"You may want to consider that option sooner rather than later, Rilka.'
Toramin knew his duty. The necromancer was strong. They were weakened by this never-ending day. Many might day, Toramin among them. Bjorkus had fled. Someone needed to keep putting pressure on the witch.
Toramin moves to within 10 feet of the necromancer, the dead and defiled body of her lover between them.
Rilka runs up next to the undead and tries to slip one of his weapons away, but he twists his hand away. Raul launches a complete assault on Acera, but her magical defenses stay every blow. Gabriel begins sprinting and gets up next to the brazier at the top. Toramin runs over and swings his weapon over the table with Targ's corpse on it, but his blow fails. Bjorkus heals himself back in the hallway. Dalton tries to take a weapon from the stranger's hand, but it holds fast.
Acera looks up at Gabriel with his hands on the fire, and for the first time her face slips from the calm and cool anger. "You will scream in pain for eternity!" She steps away from Raul, then takes out a needle and an eyeball from her component pouch. She points at Gabriel. "Scivarn apato!" as she stabs the needle into the eye. Immediately Gabriel feels the intense pain as if he himself had been stabbed in the eye, a burning incredible pain.
The pale stranger spins his pistols for a moment, then with a brilliant performance of sleight of hand and acrobatics it jumps in the air, spinning and firing at Rilka, Raul, Toramin, then Gabriel. Rilka actually manages to dodge the close blow, while another bullet slips past Raul. But Toramin takes a blow to the shoulder and Gabriel gets hit as well.
Rilka
Raul
Gabriel
Toramin
Bjorkus
Dalton
Enemy
Raul - 15 damage, 2 negative levels
Acera - VSS (Round 1)
Toramin steps with the necromancer.
Gabriel grabs at the Brazier, ignoring the heat swimming through the metal, and moves it toward the pit. He ignores the wracking pain, screaming but spending no real time trying to banish the affects, and attempts to dump the large source of fire into the webs.
Rilka can’t help but be impressed by the pale stranger’s acrobatic attack. She whips her rapier from side to side then attempts to strike at the undead’s hand again, forcing it to drop the pistol.