to Tessandriel.
The poison has run its course.
Chezarion drops his bow and attempts to grab Tessandriel's bow saying, "You're going to have to put that down."
Roland thrusts his torch on the ground, keeping the burning top away from the dry leaves that might fill the floor. He draws the longbow and then shares what he knows. "That's an imp! Use silver or good-aligned weapons! I've got the rear! Come behind me Catcher!
Catcher looses a thrust of telekinetic force towards one of the shambling dead as soon as it comes into range. The blow thuds hard but the monster seems completely undeterred by the magic attack. Now that you have a good look at the monsters, you can see one is(was...) a man and the other is(was...) an old woman.
Round 2
It appears that Chezarion's will is not his own, and he makes a grab for his sister's bow! Luckily Tessandriel was able to out-maneuver his attempt.
Tessandriel feels some poison ebbing at her strength, yet she is still able to defend herself from her bewitched brother's attempt at disarmament.
Positions are the same as before. Chez, Tess and Gromff are all side by side, about 60 feet from the campsite, and are 30 feet from the flying devil.
Roland is right in between these three and the campsite.
Catcher is at the campsite, watching 2 approaching zombies with murder in their red-glowing eyes.
Chezarion says, "You must put down your weapons!"
Once again he attempts to take Tessandriel's bow.
Tessandriel will move away from Chezarion after his first attempt to take her weapon. She takes position on the other side of Gromff and fires at the devil again.
"Need to kill it before it does more harm! Kill it quickly!" she says as she quickly fires off an arrow. Perhaps too quickly.
Round 2
!
Gromff fearlessly charges the winged devil while it still hovered near ground level. With a crunch and a splat of black blood he landed an awesome blow with his spiked morningstar into the chest of the creature. It grimaces in pain, and yet before your very eyes one of the smaller lacerations on its body seems to seal up and heal in a matter of seconds. It is still wounded but it must have some supernatural ability to heal.
Tessandriel and Roland both seem to have distracted focus as each fires an arrow that flies wide from the target.
"Nasty! Nasty dwarfsss!!" it hisses at Gromff. The devil then makes a stab for a soft spot in the dwarf's armor with his long scorpion-like stinger tail.
It was a failed attempt that thudded against Gromff's shield and left a shiny splat of poison that sizzled for a a brief moment.
The creature then flies upward at a 45 degree angle over the heads of Gromff, and then over Chez and Tess, toward the campsite.
Over by the campsite the two undead humans climb and crawl closer to Catcher.
The party's positions look like this:
Gromff--(25')---Chez,Tess---(30')---Roland---(30')---Catcher/Campsite
-------------------IMP(20' in air)-----------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------Zombie----Zombie
From Gromff to Campsite = 85'
*Initiative*
Group 3
Catcher
Ha! Bet ye felt that one. Gromff yells as his morningstar connects with the little flying pest. When he looks back in the direction it is flying he notices the shambling things moving towards the camp.
Catcher. Bring em this way lass. They can't be standing the power o Moradin.
As the devil flies up Gromff brings his morning star down in a hefty blow. The weapon's spikes again break the skin and the dwarf's armor gets a smattering of devil's blood in a splash pattern from the strike. The devil still flies but you can see his flapping appears forced and clumsy from the wounds. The little bugger seems to have bit off more than he can chew.
Catcher then follows up the dwarf's efforts with a fist full of telekinetic magic force, guided by her hands at a distance. An audible thud accompanies the magic.
--------------
Top of the round!
*Initiative*
-GROUP 1
Tessandriel
Gromff
Roland
Chezarion
-GROUP 2
Flying Devil
Zombies!
-GROUP3
Catcher
Chezarion still bewitched by the devil's magic, makes a more steadied grab for his sister's bow and successfully knocks it from her grasp. The longbow falls the rocky ground.
ROUND 3
Roland shots another arrow at the devil, but again it goes far from the target, so he draws his Greatsword and waits, one weapon on each hand.
Leaving the bow on the ground, Tessandriel attempts to keep Chezarion occupied by becoming completely defensive.
Oi. Get back here and take yer beating. Gromff follows the Imp as best he can but with wings it is far faster. After spending several minutes refilling the water canteens of a large group refugees, the dwarf has a moment of inspiration. He runs a few paces then calls upon the power of his god...and casts Create Water...right over the Imp. Yep.
If I can't do that then I will use run to stand next to Roland. AC back to 19 I think and will indeed still be using Saving Shield to give Roland or Catcher +2 to AC. Just assume if I am next to someone I will always do that. It costs an immediate action.
Like a sunrise cuts into the morning dew, Chezarion feels the magical compulsion lift from his consciousness after the bow hits the ground.
Tessandriel stands before him in a defensive posture, unsure of his next move.
Roland lets another arrow fly but misses his target for the second time. He pulls out his over-large sword in case it becomes prudent to slice into something.
Gromff conjures gallons of cold fresh water on top of the fleeing devil.
With lightning fast reflexes the creature dodges out of the path of the water.
The devil mutters yet another incantation and vanishes from sight. The only sign of its presence is the leathery flap of wings overhead. The sound is moving closer toward camp.
Meanwhile the two walking dead have reached level ground and charge with renewed speed toward Roland and Catcher. The waning torchlight shows outstretched hands with muddy fingers and open mouths filled with glossy maggots!
Roland realizes he's not been very watchful, since he thought the zombies wouldn't get to him this round, and second that his weapon is not a massive sword, but actually an mighty hammer called an Earthbreaker!
Anyway, by the time he realized that it was already too late, as there was no 'flat of the blade' to drive the slam away. The pain infused Roland with a battle lust and as he dropped the bow his Earthbreaker came swinging with full force at the zombies in front of him.
!
The grease spell coats the ground with conjured oil slick, and the already ungainly walking dead fall to the ground unceremoniously.
Roland stands tall in defense of the wizardress, drops his bow to the ground, and brings down a mighty chop of his earthbreaker hammer onto the male zombie. Crunch! Bones and skin break leaving a caved-in bloody mess of a wound. The undead man lies in a broken heap on the ground.
One zombie remains prone but very much "alive".
Chezarion shakes his head a couple of times and grimaces. He says "Sorry about that Tessandriel."
Chezarion reaches down and picks up his own bow and arrow. Surveying the situation he slings the bow over his back (placing the arrow back in the quiver).
Blast, the little thing vanished, Gromff says in disappointment. He stares at the spot it disappeared a moment longer then takes off after the next enemy.
He gets to the two of them quickly and stands next to Roland. He says over his shoulder at Catcher, Find the Imp afore he can heal or get away. It was headed for camp. We'll watch for more enemies.
*correction to 3 posts up, my last post. We are now in Round 4, not 3. Apologies.
Chezarion will then move over to where Roland dropped the torch.
"Influence is gone? Good, let's take out those zombies then." she says to Chezarion.
Tessandriel picks up her bow and scans for the undead to see if she can get a shot. If she can, she will target the left zombie.
Tessandriel,
The male zombie is out for the count, crushed by Roland in one shot.
The female zombie is on the ground, prone, from the grease spell. That gives her a +4 to AC vs ranged attacks, and another -4 on your rolls because she is in melee with Roland, Gromff, Chezarion, and Catcher.
Tessandriel flips around and lets loose with an arrow. It goes wild, though, and could hit someone else!
We have a MAP
Your icons can be moved by anyone, so be careful when clicking! I made some quick adjustments to place people about where I think you're at.
-----------
All of a sudden the sounds of flappling little wings gets nearer and nearer to Tessandriel, "Hissss...all alone again?" The winged devil makes a sting attack at Tessandriel, dispelling the invisibility it enjoyed moments ago.
The attack didn't penetrate flesh, but left a small scratch in Tess' leather armor, wet with fresh poison.
Over by the rest of the group the old woman zombie tries to stand.
She makes a clawing swing toward Roland.
--------
Group 3 - Catcher!
Roland certainly uses the opportunity to finish off the poor creature together with Gromff!
!
Catcher sends yet another magical telekinetic blast but her aim wasn't up to snuff-- the energy knocks into a pine bough behind the imp, knocking clumps of snow to the ground.
As the last zombie tries to stand, the dwarf and barbarian man take advantage of the situation and both rain mighty blows, snuffing the "unlife" out of her. Both undead now lay in a heap on the ground.
---------------
*Initiative*
-GROUP 1
Tessandriel
Gromff
Roland
Chezarion
-GROUP 2
Imp
-GROUP3
Catcher
Without even knowing, Roland had a huge advantage on his attack! He knew where the devil was, but his line of sight to the Barbarian was compromised, literally blocked by Tessandriel. Thus, when the devil saw the big guy coming after him it was already too late to avoid being hit, and he takes a devastating blow!!!
!
Roland, still in a frothing fury, charged the foolish imp with hammer raised high. With a crunch, the imp's sad little carcass falls to the ground, and with a clang, the dagger he held tumbles down the steep hillside about 15' away.
The imp's wounds no longer appear to be healing themselves.
Chezarion will pick up Roland's torch and then examine the zombies. Does he recognize either one of them?
Gromff walks over to the squashed remains of the little flying rat and pokes it with his boot. Doesn't seem ta be healn'. Guess that's what came over the wall and opened the gate. Just to be sure he conjures more water over it. He then turns and walks up to Tessandriel and pokes her near where the imp's dagger got her the first time, eliciting a flinch. Some blood comes out but so does another liquid. Gromff knows a poison when he sees it. Poisons' runin its course. To late to stop it. I'd rather not leave it to elven constitution but that's what ye're stuck with.
He then goes to check on Roland who has a nasty bruise from the zombie. Ye needin some healin or ye going to stick it out?
After getting an answer he heads towards the camp. They probably know were here now. Better pack up and find Meldara ourselves.
Chezarion,
The torch is nearly extinguished by the time Chezarion picks it up from the wet snowy ground. It sheds plenty of light for your elven eyes to function well enough in the dark, however.
The two dead seem fairly unremarkable. Both human, one is a man who was probably in his late twenties; the other an woman closer to late sixties. You find 20 cp, and 2 gp on them.
They are not in an advanced state of decomposition, by which you can conclude they haven't been dead long. You can identify wounds that are not from Roland or Gromff-- they look like stab wounds. A spear maybe?
The man also has a large portion of his left thigh missing, and the flesh appears to have been torn away. There is evidence of bite marks here, more specifically gnaw marks on his femur.
Catcher,
You do indeed detect a magical field coming from the imp. You see that it is coming from a chain around his neck. It is a very well made fine chain made of remarkably tiny links. The metal is coal-black. Its only other feature is a large canine tooth about 4" long.
Tessandriel, the dagger that you were stabbed with was also made out of some black metal. The dagger tumbled down the hillside after the combat ended.
Chezarion pockets the money and puts the torch out in the snow. He makes sure the head of the torch is cold.Then he concentrates for a moment and touches the head of the torch, casting light on it. He walks over to Roland and hands him the torch. He says "I'm going to have to renew that spell about every third of an hour or so. But now you can have light without having to worry about starting a forest fire."
Addressing the entire group Chezarion says, "Gromff is right. We need to be moving. Let's gather our stuff, do a quick search of the area for anything that might have been overlooked, and then leave."
Chezarion walks back over to the campsite and puts his pack back on. Then he does a quick search of the general area. If somebody mentions the imp's dagger to him he will do a search for that as well.
The imp had on his person: the magic black-metal tooth chain, 2 tiny pouches. One pouch has 10 cp, 10 sp, and an imp-handful of semi-precious gems worth 100 gp.
The other pouch has a stoppered vial with a gray ooze inside.
"Yeah yeah I'm alright."
Roland pauses, still panting with the effort. He sits down to catch his breath for a full minute, while the others do their stuff. Then he look at his own wound when Gromff asks how he is, and its purple and bleeding a bit, as the slam was strong enough to tear the skin. "Well, I could been better. Usually it heals naturally in some days, but if you have magic available I'll take it. We could find more of those soon." He increases his voice a little, so everyone could hear it. "I don't think anyone knows about us. If they sent only one devil to do the trick means they can't catch us, and since the imp is dead they won't know where we are. Did anyone killed the crow?"
He accepts Chezarion's heatless torch. "Impressive, thanks."
Then he tries to help in the battle scenario, learning what he can.
"These two can't be dead for a long time. Maybe they were with Meldara's group, but I don't recall their faces. Do you?"
"I've seen that black metal before. Our enemies call it Dark Iron, and boast the metal was mined from hell itself."
He will try to aid Chezarion in seeking the dagger.
He then turns and walks up to Tessandriel and pokes her near where the imp's dagger got her the first time, eliciting a flinch. Some blood comes out but so does another liquid. Gromff knows a poison when he sees it. Poisons' runin its course. To late to stop it. I'd rather not leave it to elven constitution but that's what ye're stuck with.
"I'm a tad weak but I should be fine with some rest."
"The dagger dropped over here." she says while she retrieves it.
-Posted with Wayfinder
To Roland: If'n ye can stand ye should be good till we find a place to rest. I'll use me magic then, he says and pats him none too gently on the back. he then moves to the bodies, trying to figure out if they have the time or capability to bury them. He grumbles for a moment when he realizes they don't, but he does say a quick prayer. He then moves to the camp to pack up and get ready to move out.
Should anything else come up.
Tessandriel finds the dagger a short way downhill, still wet with her blood. Some snow was stained by the blood, so it was easy to find. It is a dagger sized for a medium creature. (The imp was wielding it with two hands like a mini-greatsword!) It looks coal-black, just like the little necklace Catcher found. By comparison you can assume it is the same metal.
It is quite a magnificent blade actually. One edge has tiny serrations, the other a smooth cutting edge. Whoever crafted it was quite skilled. There are artistically placed gold inlays on the blade, making it quite beautiful.
Roland, you do not recognize these zombie's faces, as belonging to the refugee group.
Several party members search the surrounding area. Nothing further of interest is found, but one thing you should have found is absent-- any footprints in the snow from Meldara leaving camp. It is snowing but not heavily enough to erase her tracks from a couple hours ago.