As Ialda claws one of the monkeys on her, she rips through its sores and pus leaks out but the monkey refuses to die. Her other claw misses the agile simian. As she looks at her minor wound on her arm, she realizes it has turned black and is infected.
Louis spits as the monkey pulls the arrow from its body, and the wound heals over. "Wonderful," he says, tossing aside his bow for the moment. "Unkillable demon monkeys. Well, nobody said revenge would be easy." He starts to pull his blade, but the monkey he shot is already upon him. "Get off a'me, ye blighted deckrat!" He throws the creature to the ground and stabs at the creature with his rapier.
Attack the monkey in front of me.
Infected wound on Left-Ear's knee from the demon monkey's bite and then the simian adeptly dodges the rapier thrust, as he bares its teeth at the pirate.
Gruug looks disinterested as he sees the monkeys come streaming at the group. Barely able to deem them a threat, he casually descends his falcion on one, hoping to split it in half.
The half-orc's falchion cuts into the little monkey, but part of the wound closes immediately, and despite the rest of the damage, the monkey refuses to die!
Three of the monkeys should be literally dead but they refuse to fall and continue to attack, snarling savagely, a deep hunger in their eyes!
Baolo takes a step back to get a clear shot at the one by Left-Ear. "C'mon Shimye-Magalla, lend a sweet sea breeze ta my arrows dis time." Baolo draws forth another pair of the beautiful silver-fletched arrows and sends them flying toward the monkey attacking Left-Ear. As they fly, a spray of salt water flies off the cold iron tips and the smell of ozone permeates the jungle.
Both arrows strike the demonic monkey, piercing its skin like butter. The monkey screams in pain, yet even as it does so, it lunges at Left-Ear and bites him in the ankle!
Its body then trembles and melts into a puddle of acidic goo, spraying the surrounding area, and leaving only the small skeleton of the monkey sticking out.
Round 2: Demonic Monkeys go!
The two monkeys on Ialda continue to try and bite her, with one of them biting her thigh.
The monkey on Gruud misses the well-armed half-orc again!
Gruug looks down at the monkey in amazement. Something is wrong about these monkeys. Terribly wrong. Gruug brings his blade down with full force on the little annoyance.
Ialda continues to swipe at those darnn monkeys, as they keep nipping at her.
Attack one.
Damage
Attack two
Damage.
Xarethi thinks, observing the demon monkeys standing even after taking enough damage to fall, but it only takes a moment before she begins making the gestures to open a gate to the celestial realm in the air above her.
"Hey mon, if any o' deh rest o' ya ken bring magic on dem instead o' cold iron it might help. I tink deh ah like little orcs an' keep fightin' when deh should be dead."
Gruug's monkey, as well as Ialda's, are still up!
Aeronniell frowns as the monkeys refuse to die (as monkeys often do) and instead chooses to discard her longbow and draw her sword as she approaches Ialda and aids in her defense.
Feeling like she has the monkey distracted, she calls out to the massive half-orc to strike it.
"Hit it hard, Gruug!"
The old salt leapt away a moment too late, and the monkey's bite burned away part of his pants leg, as well as a good bit of the meat beneath. "Yarrr!", he howled. "Aright, enough o' this! Time for a bit o' the weirding way!" He began to sing a rousing and quite bawdy shantysong in a strong baritone voice.
Starting bardic performance this round, 12 rounds remaining.
"Ah, smell dat sweet breeze blowin' past Left-Ear? No, na de nasty monkehs. Dat is Shimye-Magalla blowin' de demon monkehs back ya hell." Baolo smiles broadly and steps forward again. He flicks another pair of arrows to his bow and sends them at one of the monkeys assaulting Ialda. "Ah, tanks fa dat boost Left-Ear. Arrows comin' Ialda!"
Both of Baolo's arrows hit the small demonic monkey, but as before in its throes of death, it reaches out and bites Ialda one more time, before its skin peels off and dissolves in a puddle of acidic goo, leaving only the monkey's skeleton.
Round 3: 2 Monkeys attack!
The monkey sees Aero approach and tries to bite her flesh but misses!
The last monkey tries to bite Gruud again, but he also misses!
"Ugh! Wretched monster!"
Frowning in disgust as the diseased monkey, Aeronniell makes another distracting stab at the monkey.
After her meager attempt, she steps around the other monkey and tries to coordinate a strike with Gruud.
Noticing a tactical advantage, Gruug steps forward to flank the monkey while shouting, "Die you stupid critter!"
Gruug swings with all his might, down at the creature. His annoyance at the creature gets the better of him though as he misses it badly and buries the point of his falchion into the ground.
"Ah, two o' dem down, two ta go." Baolo steps forward to get a better line on the remaining one by Ialda. He nocks two more arrows in quick succession and fires them at the last monkey facing Ialda. "Dat is a good song Left-Ear. It stirs ma blud an speeds ma arrows."
Ialda 5' moves to Y 27 and swings at the evil little monkey.
Attack
Damage
Attack two
Damage
Baolo's arrows and Ialda's claws kill the last monkey, who tries to bite Aero before dying but misses. It then dissolves in goo, spraying its acid on Ialda and Aero.
Reflex
Reflex
"What in the world were those things? They beat me all to hell, most of it after they died!"
The celestial eagle appears in a flash of blue light and charges the remaining monkey.
Claw
Claw
Bite
Aeronniell will take a step to the still-standing monkey and attempt to provide a flank to its attacker as well as aid her ally's swing.
The sailor leaps towards the final tainted monkey, his blade glinting in the sunlight even beneath the canopy.
"An' when I were but twenty-four, I sailed down Osiriani-ways.
The women in that land, why they were hotter than its days!
So you may keep your pharoahs and those undiscovered tombs,
For I will be contented by a-plunderin' their - HEY!
Away, boys, away!"
Continuing bardic performance, if you hadn't guessed!
Moving to AA29, and attacking.
Round 4: 1 Monkey left!
Left Ear's swing misses the agile monkey and he moves to bite Gruud in its savagery but his teeth cannot penetrate the half-orc's armor.
Ialda moves to help Gruug with the last monkey. She moves to the north of the animal and swings a claw at it.
Attack
Damage
Gruug just glares down at the annoying animal and tries to end its life.
"Aie, heads up dere!" Baolo steps closer to the one still fighting Gruug. ""Try ta keep a line clear fa me!" Baolo grabs two more arrows and sends them flying with their silver fletching glistening off breaks in the jungle canopy.
Ialda misses, Gruug misses, and one of Baolo's arrows hits but the wretched monkey still lives.
"One clean shot comin' up, Dreads!", Left-Ear shouts during a pause between the chorus and the next verse of his shanty. He steps to the large half-orc's left, continuing his song and slashing at the frothing mad monkey.
"An' when I were but twenny-five, we sailed right on to Galt,
The hussies there, why they could make the bosun's ticker halt,
But jus' be mindful now of runnin' in an' out of beds,
Or else you jus' might find they'll be cuttin' off yer - HEY!
Away, boys, away!"
Moving to AB30, continuing performance.
The celestial bird claws and bites the demonic monkey but its wounds heal almost immediately.
Left-Ear stabs at the monkey but misses.
Monkey tries to bite Gruud:
Ialda 5' steps to AB 28 and tears into the monkey again.
Attack
Damage
Attack
Damage
The money lashes out before it dies at Gruud but misses!
As you stop to heal with the wand and collect your breaths, Ialda and Left Ear's wounds darken and begin to fester, causing your skin to break out into a terrible black rash. 5 rounds later, they both fall to the ground screaming, Ialda gripping her forearm and Left-Ear his knee. Short bony protrusions rip from the flesh where the monkeys' bites infected you.
Reflex
Ialda screams in pain at the strange changes from the poison or whatever was in her system. "Everyone stay back! I've got strange urges and I don't know what's going on," she groans, not daring reveal to the others that she momentarily felt hunger for her friends.
Confused and unsure what manner of vileness has Ialda and Left Ear in its grasp, Gruug releases a wave of positive energy.
Left Ear howls in pain as the acid splashes onto him yet again. "Arrr, these things have blood that could strip the varnish off a Chelish galleon's deck as quick as ye like. Best watch yerself about them, else ye get a faceful of YEAARRRGH!!!"
The sailor's warning is cut short as he falls to the ground, clutching his knee. He looks on in horror as bone spurs plunge out from his skin and he bares his teeth in rage and pain. Horror gives way to the rage and the pain and the hunger and how he wants to tear into some supple manflesh crack their bones suck their marrow NO!
"What...", he says shakily. "What be this new deviltry..."
Aeronniell frowns as her clothes sizzle from the dead monkey's exploding corpse but she immediately focuses on the festering wounds of Ialda and Louis.
"Let me see those, they don't look good at all..."
Aero examines her comrades' wounds and has never seen any such infection in her life. What she can tell is the following from remembering the monkeys' unnatural behavior and Ialda's comments:
1. It was passed on in the saliva of the monkeys and is now in the bloodstream of her companions.
2. If left unchecked, the disease will cause the infected to lose rational thought daily, unless fought off, until there is a point of no return where the infected will be beyond hope and only seek to satisfy their hunger for flesh.
3. The onset time for the disease is every 24 hours.
4. Other than loss of rational thought, there are no other adverse effects, while the subject retains its humanity. When that is gone, his/her skin will harden and the person will gain DR, same as the monkeys.
5. The only cure is magical (spell or potion).
Upon hearing Aero explain the situation, Baolo exclains, "Oh, no! Dat not good at all. How are we gonna cure dem?"