Ederion's agility allows him to evade the unexpected 'explosive apple' somehow - "I'm gonna remember that" - he hisses at the apple carrying skeleton, though he knows the threat will probably fall on deaf ears.
Then he turns his attention back to the one facing him and Tarnagius - "Where were we?" - he adds, thrusting forward.
Ederion's rapier is sidestepped since the wall blocks a lot of the open spots around Baccus. Within the monster's eyes is fear, real fear of being killed, but he cannot flee with the web bolt sticking him to the floor. In a panic, he channels his fear into a profane circle of energy, and launches it through every living being in the area.
The fly swarm continues to gnaw at Rexandi, this time hitting some nasty pressure points. Though Rexandi does resist the vile sickness of the flies, she is completely overwhelmed by their presence.
The ghoul that was fighting Aster suddenly hops over to Bazzle for an ineffectual bite, but it seemed to anticipate Aster's opportune attack and dodges it. Though it hungers like any ghoul, Aster can see a spark that the other ones did not. A spark of intelligence.
Suddenly, Aster is beset by the aristocratic ghoul who fences with a rapier. Though his rapier skills fail to impress, Aster is almost caught off-guard as he steps in for a jagged claw attack. Fortunately, Aster's armour saves her from the surprise.
Both skeleton bards create a screeching noise that seems to affect Tarnagius and Aster, but thankfully, whatever it was, it didn't seem to work.
The ear-less apple skeleton lobs another one at Bazzle, and this one takes purchase. Bazzle's armour can't protect him from the acidic explosion, nor the poisonous fumes that come thereafter. Fortunately, the poison doesn't affect him, but his allies might not be so lucky.
The older female ghoul in the back looks Aster in the eye and presents a doll of leather and flesh that looks eerily like Aster.
Bazzle sizzles with acid biting at him. He leans on his back foot centering himself glancing over his shoulder at the bulbous maw of the monster Tarn and Ed are facing. He launches back toward the undead before him.
"I wouldn't bet on us. We need an out. Sooner than later unless someone has an ability to change our position. Or you know destroy undead."
In a rare show of endurance, Rexi fights off the worst of the evil channeling and even manages to dodge some of the spray of acid.
It's all she can do, though, to cast a spell that removes the nausea caused by the fly swarm.
"That's... That's ME?" the horrid little doll is in no way a proper likeness, but it definitely has its effect anyway. On top of making her fumble every attack, she is deeply insulted.
Despite being heavily wounded and shaken, Bazzle stabs the ghoul in front of him with his blessed dagger. Rexandi fortifies herself against more fly attacks, while Aster flails at the aristocratic ghoul without success.
Tarnagius has had bad experiences with negative energy in the past, but he still soldiers on through the flashbacks and does his best to finish off their disgusting host.
"I really need a crossbow . . . or a bomb."
"I... I have a wand of healing in this bag, on my hip there." Aster stammers out as she does her best to keep blocking with her shield, suggesting if anyone needs the wand of cure light wounds they are welcome to it.
Tarnagius clubs Baccus across the face, sending his shattered jawbone spinning through the air before the rest of him collapses to the ground, dead for real this time.
Bazzle catches Ed's eye contact and slips back a few paces allowing him to sweep into the space he was dying in.
He looks at the bulbous thing fighting Tarn and doesn't imagine better chances there.
He is shaken from his pesimism analysis and reaches for Aster's hip bag and retrives the wand.
"Is this thing on?" He looks it over aiming the wand at his face. "Is there a catch phrase."
As the monstrosity known as Baccus collapses to the floor, so too do all the skeletons that he was controlling. Their bones held by magic no more, they clamour to the floor, their instruments and apples rotting in an instant. The flies decay in mid air, and patter against the wooden floor like putrid raindrops.
Bazzle thumps the base of the wand against his palm trying to figure the thing out. He jumps with a start when all the undead drop. He then backs up to a wall and slumps down. "Maybe you should do it." He holds the wand.
Seeing Baccus go down in a heap, and nodding at Bazzle, Ederion moves to engage his companion's foe.
"Aster, Rex, take a step back out of harm's way" - he urges them both.
Ederion whips around the corner and stabs the ghoul right between the eyes and out the other side before the ghoul could even react. He holds his blade there as the undead (now dead) slowly slips off the tip and falls into the pit of spikes.
The ghoul with the rapier stabs and claws in vain at Aster's superior defense, but the ghoul in the back casts a spell over Ederion that makes him desperately want to vomit.
Protected from the nausea due to the bug swarm, Rexi reaches out and touches Bazzle with a burst of powerful restorative energy.
"Ederion I'll be with you in a second!" she calls.
Protected from the nausea due to the bug swarm, Rexi reaches out and touches Bazzle with a burst of powerful restorative energy.
"Ederion I'll be with you in a second!" she calls.
"I will probably need it" - he winks in response, then dashes ahead.
Ederion nimbly tries to maneuver through Aster's position, pivoting at the last moment to avoid the attacks he expects are incoming from the one with the Rapier.
Then he stabs forward - "Now us!"
Aster takes one more swing at the ghoul, hitting nothing but air. Then stumbles back to make room for the fighters.
The ghoul attempts to parry Ederion's thrust, but Ederion is far too fast to keep up. The thrust pierces his undead heart, but he does not go down, nor stop fighting.
Rexandi meanwhile gives Bazzle a good ol' tap o good health to keep him going, while Aster flails aimlessly.
Bazzle passes the wand back to Aster. "I think its tapped out."
Tarnagius loops around to form a double wall so neither way to the wounded party members is accessible.
Tarnagius begins to loop around the side, but he gets stuck in the webbing! The ghoul with the rapier thrusts towards Ederion, but Ederion nimbly parries the rapier and returns with a counter thrust. The point travels through the ghouls forehead, leaving him to collapse onto the floor quite dead. The last ghoul shrieks "My love!". Distraught, she cranks the lever back into place and the gears shift once again, then she casts a spell onto the claws of her right hand. Her hand flickers with an icy blue aura.
The words my love twist a bit in Aster's stomach, making her almost feel bad for having to end their unnatural life. Almost. Reaching out to grasp her wand from Bazzle, she'll tap him with it.
to Bazzle.
Glancing at some of his wounds healing, she nods, "Good wand." she say to it, while giving Bazzle a reproachful look for insulting it.
Bazzle rolls his eyes, "I didn't know the wand had feelings. I will write it an epic poem if we survive." He turns his attention to Ed, "Move up see if we can get it into a Flank 'n Shank."
The last ghoul shrieks "My love!". Distraught, she cranks the lever back into place and the gears shift once again, then she casts a spell onto the claws of her right hand. Her hand flickers with an icy blue aura.
"I... Wait Bazzle. Please" - Ederion hesitates at the words, even though he does not drop his defensive posture - "We cannot let this go by milady" - he finds himself saying even before registering his own actions - "Please relent and tells us what we need to know. It can stop here and now"
The female ghoul glares at Ederion with absolute hatred. Her skin isn't rotten, but like other ghouls is stretched taught across her skeleton like a starving person. "You've killed my husband!" She shrieks. Her white hair begins to stand on end, which almost touches the ceiling. "All we wanted to do was eat and drink, but YOU had to ruin all that!"
The icy aura around her claws remain.
Ederion, she has cast a hex on you much like Rexandi. You would know that you're much more likely to screw up your next action, but after that the affect ends.
"Eat and drink young children?" - Ederion presses on - "Surely even in your undead state, you KNOW how wrong that is"
Aster will use the creatures pause to tap Bazzle again. "Did you eat the children?" her question is simple, but her tone is anything but.
"Folk eat plenty of meats, it's good for you." She says. "It's not like we were over fishing, or taking the nobles. These are peasants, barely known or remembered. They'll garner more respect and appreciation in our stews than any 'normal' way of life. It's really no different than cattle or pigs."
In answer of Aster's question, she replies "No. We hadn't even reached first course. I'm sure once I'm dead you won't bother to savour all the love and effort that went into cooking our meals. Food is part of savouring life. It fills the holes in our hearts, and makes us appreciate being alive."
Tarnagius decides his hand hurts too much to debate the ethics of cannibalism with an undead, even an intelligent one who may be an ancestor of his.
"Did you kill them? Was veal on the menu tonight?"
The ghoul looks at Tarnagius and was about to say something, when she gasps. "S-Sendi? Is that you, dear?"
The ghoul looks at Tarnagius and was about to say something, when she gasps. "S-Sendi? Is that you, dear?"
Ederion pauses for a moment, then looks back at Tarn.
"I got a blessed dagger here Ed. Looking to feel useful. What are we hoping to learn from the abomination?"
Bazzle looks around quizzically. "Sendi . . . who's that."
Tarnagius is not amused by this thing speaking the names of his relatives. In his experience, nonhumanoids don't need mortal's names for nice things. Sendi is a relative. Who are you? How do you know his name, creature?"
The ghoul does NOT look like she enjoys being called 'creature'.
"Excuse me, Sendi is my son. I am Baroness Amandine Vashnarstill and your friend just killed my husband. So who are you, and what claim do you have to my family's house?"
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Bazzle goes to speak, but words utterly fail, "ah . . ."
He starts to walk toward Tarn and raises a hand reaching to reassure him but pulls it back not sure what to do next.
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"No he's not your son. You might have been his mother once, but now you're just a disgusting corpse that doesn't know it's dead yet. My father would be as revolted by you and your participation in these hideous acts here as he was with me coming back from Egorian not in service to our Lord-Mayor anymore. You're an even bigger disappointment than I was. Speak your last words, thing that was my grandmother, and get yourself to the boneyard with your abomination husband."
The former Baroness loses all sense and races directly for Tarnagius. She steps onto the platform of the spiked trap, but instead of dodging backwards, she leaps desperately over the pit at Tarnagius, who is now falling since the floor beneath him collapses and the webbing prevents him from dodging. Fortunately, the web prevents him from falling more than 5 feet, but the ghoul latches onto him and rips him right out. Both Tarnagius and the ghoul tumble into the pit, fighting in mid air. After a 20 foot fall, Tarn grabs his former grandmother and pivots her such that she breaks his fall. She smashes right into the rusty spikes of the pit, but slows Tarn's fall just enough that he can roll to the side and land hard on the floor, but at least he wasn't pierced. She gurgles for a few seconds before going motionless. Her Vashnarstill signet ring glows in the sliver of torchlight.