The indead beast rushed in, only to get itself entangled by a monofilament net part way to Zlota. The net hissed as it caught, again winding itself into a tight ball and trapping the strange creature.
It was a good thing too, for Zlota had begun to cast a long spell, drawing on her magic to stretch the bones and muscles of Bitha until the young woman stood the size of an ogre. The spell was .....unpleasent, but not painful. Like having the memory of aching joints without the actual pain itdself. However, Bitha felt much stronger, and her new perspective in height meant she could reach over people who would previously block line of sight.
Out in the darkness, some 60 feet freom where this battle was just starting, two more of the skeletons appeared suddenly. They seemed to have come from different parts of the desert, but were somehow managing to converge on this location.
Bigger Bitha flexes her new muscles and swings her sword at the closest undead.
Attack
Damage
Bob drops the net gun for the moment and readies his trusty pistol for a shot and pulls the trigger all the way.
The sound of the twin cannon is loud unlike the whir of the netgun.
One of the shots is close to the head while the other misses one of the approaching creatures.
Suna leaps down and runs past the skeleton both amazed and excited at the prospect of fighting new creatures. His crossbow was dropped as his stripes dimmed but his fangs grew. Raising his hammer high slamming it into the gunk holding Ksilla down with a roar.
Once that had happened Suna looked to the other two which fast approached and shouted to the group, " Form a line! Tighten up so the must run past Warrior Bitha and I! Strike them as they come, show them our might! We are the Hunters here! " his raspy voice said in excitement.
He moved next to the Emboldened Hunting partner and marveled a bit at her physique before readying for the assault of the beings placing his reach at about the same as hers.
Suna swung his hammer first at the head of the four armed creatures trying to stave the assault against the back row.
When they tried to come past him the strike instead aims for the knee-joint of the skeleton.
Alyna, upon hearing the news of more enemies, closes her eyes and begins to cast a spell beneficial to the group as a whole. As she casts her spell, a burst of holy energy spreads out and bathes her allies in the holy power, excluding both Zlota and Alyna.
It took Suna all his efforts to finally smash through the ground that had entrapped Ksila. The snake eidolon responded to the snake mans plan though, moving to form a defensive wall as the skeletons were moving in.
Bitha rushed the tangled skeleton but failed to land a blow. Even though it was tangled in the net it seemed to avoid her sword somehow. Perhaps her new height vantage threw off her aim.
The shots from Boba rang loudly through the dark desert air. The first shot struck the netted skeleton and blew its head clean off. The shattered bones of the thing sprayed though the air, narrowly missing Bitha.
Alyna summoned her goddesses magic, spreading the power of the goddess of making through her companions and allowing them to better face the undead before her.
Bitha, seeing her foe destroyed moved to form a line with her other fighting friends. The three of them stood waiting to destry the four armed skeletons as they rushed in.
The two skeltons charged, one of them now taking on the blue eyed visage of the skeleton that Boba had previously shot. As they closed, Suna's hammer whistled through the air, smashing her opponent apart.
Out in the desert, a scream of anger rings through the air as the two skeletons are destroyed. Someone is not happy.
AoO
Damage
Big Bitha neatly slashes through the skeleton, finally getting the hang of her new larger size.
Bob calmly reloads his revolver. "Are we ready to move out? Maybe we can find the one sending these things?"
The last skeleton fell, it's body shattering under the impact of the huge blade. A sudden silence filled the air, not even broken by the sound of wind.
Ahead of the group, the trail made by the previous parties stretched on into the dark desert. It was only slightly disturbed by the scuffle with the skeletons, and Suna was on the trail in minutes.
Suna grips his hammer tight and glances back to Boba " How do you know there isnt more of them Halfling? That shout denotes a Mother.. or leader of these ... undead. "
"We need to finish the leader now, while I'm still strong. Quickly," Bitha advises, moving forward.
Suna keeps pace with the enlarged woman " Don't move too far we don't know where it is, moving without knowledge of your prey makes YOU the prey "
Bob jumps on the saddle while giving his dog some calm shushing sounds.
Zlota nods. "The spell will not hold much longer on Bitha. The sooner we deal with this threat the better!" Looking to Alyna, Zlota begins speaking in their shared language.
Alyna moves to inspect the shattered remains of the undead and checks to see if there is anything valuable on or about them, whether it is valuables or information.
Alyna paused briefly to study the fallen creatures, even as some of her companions moved into the desert to continue the fight. Her studes revealed nothing more of importance that she could tell. They were undead, their origin not of this planet as far as she could tell. Whether they were extraplanar or something else entirely was beyond her.
Seeing her friends moving into the desert ahead of her, she quickly gathered her things and ran to catch up.
As the party moved into the desert, the great cliffs disappeared into the darkness behind them. This was a large cavern indeed, for none could see the top nor the edges from the trail for quite some time. Eventually, a smaller set of rocks and mesa's arose on their left, the path of the other groups clearly going around this. At some point, more skeletal tracks had crossed this path, and as far as Suna could tell with his tracking skills, it had been recently. Those tracks seemed to head into the mesa's, but he could not see any sign of the enemy.
Ahead, in the very far distance, a light seemed to glow in the dark. How far away was impossible to tell in such absolute darkness and such flat land. Like all deserts, distance at night was a deceitful thing indeed.[/ooc]
[ooc]Choices. Can head towards the light, where the main trail seems to follow. Or you can follow the skeleton tracks which cut towards the rocky area on your left. Those rocks are only 50 feet or so away. They're tall and craggy, but not like the cliffs you've just left behind.
Suna is more suited to the broken ground with his skills. Boba suggests they follow him off trail.
"We don't need to find more of those strange skeletons, if we can help it. I say we head toward that light...that will probably be the direction the townsfolk headed."
Bob nods. "But the leader is probably not in the light. He is probably where the skellies came from. At least I don't picture necromancers needing light. Well, it is easier to follow a trail to a light source. I would like to finish him off and not have him at my back if I can help it raising more deadites."
"Deadites? If you mean those of the walking dead we just faced, then I agree, the being controlling them is probably in that direction."
Deadites? Is this some new term for undead? I must remember this...
" They are strange but weak, the Leader should be stronger. However remember our mission, to find the rest, they clearly went along the trail. But if you would like to hunt.. we will HUNT! "
Alyna catches up with the group and their discussion.
"As I thought, I cannot discern any information about these 'deadites' as you call them. As always, I will follow the lead of our martial companions."
Bitha will side with the majority of the group, rather than waste time with arguing.
Bob looks to Suna.
"I guess it is up to you and your keen senses and instincts. If you think you can follow up on the deadites, I think you go for it. Otherwise, we find the lost Torchites."
Torchites? Is this halfling just adding '-ite' to the end of words? Maybe he has an odd accent like that one Tian woman I met once.
Turning to Suna, Zlota speaks up. "Make it so, Mr Suna."
Suna thinks on the matter, depending on which direction he heard the roar from.
Heya all, we've kinda had Christmas come early at my house. Unexpected group of visitors have come from overseas and are staying with us. This combined with my wide and I hosting family Christmas this year means I'm pretty strapped for time at the moment.
I'd ask for your patience as I doubt I'll be able to post properly for the next four days. If everyone's happy to take a short Hiatus till after Christmas, I'd be appreciative.
When we get back, we're going after the baddy who bosses the deadites
The party decided in short order to attempt and remove the threat closest to them. In the distance, the flickering light continued unabated, not affected by their decision in the least.
The skeleton trail quickly disappeared into the rocks, but Suna's eyes were too skilled to lose the trail, even here. The hunter needed to take the lead though, as tracking in the rocky scree was much harder if his companions were tramping all over the place.
There was a slight shooshing noise, and a whimper from Bitha as the spell making her larger finally ended. The feeling was definitely uncomfortable, but at least now the barbarian girl could see the world as it had always been. The added height from the spell had been a little disconcerting.
Boba's dog, already edgy, stopped on the trail suddenly. Its hackles went up and a low growl emerged from its lips. The halfing man could feel the muscles tense in his mounts shoulders and back. Something was certainly nearby and the dog could tell.
DC 13 perception
DC 24 perception
The rocks nearby had a more porous look to them Suddenly the whole picture made sense. It was another of the tentacle creatures!! A flicker of purple in one of the holes let you know the creature was about to attack!
Perception
Bitha points out yet another four armed skeleton , or what was left of one. "Look, the thing has been smashed into tiny pieces..."
"Easy there."
Bob notes his dog stiffen and reassures him as he looks at the indicated smashed skeleton.
"Do we want to find what smashed this?"
Suna tracked the trail relentlessly until he noted the pattern the tracks led to. As the Dog suddenly stood alarmed, Suna only had to sense the direction. But by then it was too late the only indicator in Suna's behavior was the crouched form and tight grip on his hammer. We don't have to... "
Alyna is lost in her thought, unaware of anything apparently.
The dog is not surprised, but unable to warn anyone in time with a deep growl. He looks at Suna with approval, as they seem the only ones aware.
Zlota looks around cautiously, motioning for Ksila to do the same.
While most of the group saw the ruined skeleton, almost none of the noticed the tentacle beast bestide it. So good was its camouflage that it took the special scent ability of the dog and the cayman to even detect it.
They both readied, but the others were caught unprepared for the surprise attack.
Long tentacles lashed out at Suna, the only party member in reach of the thing. Even as it did so, they could all see a resinous fluid pouring from its carapace to cover the rocks around it.