Tassira growls and steps out from behind the bookcase. With arcane energy surging through her body, she extends a palm--
"IMBRE COLORIS!"
--and a burst of vibrant green explodes from her palm, coating the three before Regeris and dropping her invisibility.
The cultist nearest Tassira doesn't seem phased by the illusion. He wheels around trailing keen sickles that slice into Tassira before she recognizes the threat.
A surprise attack comes from behind Emileva - the invisible cultist from the doorway. Though it catches Emileva entirely by surprise, the point of one of the odd sickle weapons gets caught-up in the cultist's robes and her attack comes off clumsy. Her second sickle though, tears through armor and flesh.
The confusing words of the mad poet come flying back through the color spray at Tassira as the chanting half-orc turns his attention on her.
Nebbin rushes into the room, trying to see what's happening!
As he tries to make sense of it all, he rushes to defend Tassira.
HP 59/59
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (-2 to all when raging), DR 2/-
Fort +8, Ref +4 (+1 vs. traps), Will +2 (+2 Will when raging) [Defiant luck]
CMD 20 (22 vs. grapple)
Rage: 1/18; Harrow points: 2/3; Auspicious Mark (1d6+1) 0/1; Defiant Luck: 0/1
Effects:
Nebbin squeezes past Emi and Tassira to stick his nose directly into the fight. Emi's cultist opponent uses the confusion to strike out and hit Nebbin, but the warrior shrugs off the annoyance.
Ishan and Kayleigh arrive at the front door of the shop to find Emi in a battle with someone behind a book shelf and a crowded arch to a room of mayhem.
The enemy on the steps in front of Regeris is stunned by Tassira's spell.
Regeris looks down at his own blood-soaked hands for a brief moment of clarity.
"S... something is affecting my mind!"
Yet he has no idea what's happening to him. Taking a moment to get a sense of his settings, he sees the enemy in front of him and his friends in the melee. He mutters a prayer and slowly begins healing before he snarls and lashes out at the man in front of him.
Emi grunts in surprise and pain at the stabbing from behind. There's little space to maneuver, so Emi has to keep her falchion held high as she rounds on the attacker. She only has a moment to gage her new foe, but the nature of her stabbing has told her a few things about what to expect as well.
Her weapon is over her head already so she brings it down on her surprise enemy as though she were chopping wood.
"Nice to see you Nebbin!"
Regeris takes advantage of his attacker's confusion and stabs the man with his sword. It's not a killing blow but its impressively bloody.
Emi feels the resistance of the cultist's magical protections through her joints as the blade comes down on the cultist with force. Only the last second intervention of the shelving saves Emi's opponent from sure death. Among the flying, bloodied pages and cascades of collapsing shelves Emi's opponent breathes yet.
Tassira's thoughts are thrown into disarray when the spell completes.
"...Confusion? You son-of-a--" The mageling gets out before a sheen of lightning erupts from her fingertips towards the half-orc!
She then steps away from the cultist before her and lets Nebbin cut him down.
Jorgun gets hit by Tassira's bolt and endures the voltage leaving him scorched.
Emi's opponent vanishes down the aisle of shelving. She was there, twisted robes under a hail of books, and now she's vanished.
In the other room, the spider cultist shrinks from Nebbin's furious arrival. He steps back and quaffs a vial of liquid, causing him to vanish.
In the back doorway the half-orc flourishes his rapier, continuing through the verses of his Dirge of Doom while mixing in the now familiar chorus of Confusion.
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HP 59/59
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (-2 to all when raging), DR 2/-
Fort +8, Ref +4 (+1 vs. traps), Will +2 (+2 Will when raging) [Defiant luck]
CMD 20 (22 vs. grapple)
Rage: 3/18; Harrow points: 2/3; Auspicious Mark (1d6+1) 0/1; Defiant Luck: 0/1
Effects: Raging, confused
"Bu-bu-bu, whazz iz?" Nebbin babbles as his brain retreats.
Kayleigh enters the bookstore, hustling up to Emileva.
"What's going on?" she asks, noting with concern the injuries on both Emi and Tassira...and the fallen man at Emi's feet. Pulling forth the holy symbol on the chain she wears around her neck, the cleric prepares to channel positive energy to heal her friends.
Excluding the fallen guy she can see.
Emi fills Kayleigh in tersely while leaving for the back room.
"A fight, worse than it looks, more invisible in the room. When they're wounded they blink out and away. Watch you back. Looks like the book isn't for sale."
Now that she sees the half-orc she's furious, but not so much she's willing to take a great risk exposing herself. She squeezes by Tassira and Nebbin to help Regeris first. Unfortunately the chair between her and her target on the stairs forces her to really reach to get at him.
Kayleigh's healing channel affects Tassira and Emileva only.
Emi ducks into the chaotic little room, but can't bring her weapon to bear effectively against the man half-way up the steps. Instead Regeris's enemy attempts a ridiculous acrobatic move to slip by the inquisitor up the steps. Regeris blocks the move easily and may take advantage to strike.
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"For suck confusion our throws saving do why badly so?!" Tassira reaches up and grabs a fistful of her own hair in exasperation.
Acts Normally.
Regeris's weapon still radiates the holy glow of Bane as he lashes out at his fumbling foe. Again his blade comes away bloody, but the stubborn foe stays upright. The inquisitor presses his advantage, even as the Bane effect fades he tries to take down the enemy, but his attack goes wide.
As Kayleigh moves quietly through the shop she hears whispered words behind the bookcase that divides the room. Someone saying a prayer or casting a spell!
In the backroom, the cultist flashes suddenly directly in front of Emi, sickles slicing in from multiple directions. One of the weapons pierces Emi's forearm, opening a painful wound.
The bard in the corner continues to bellow out panic-inducing verses. In between he mixes an incantation that makes him suddenly go blurry in everyone's vision.
Kayleigh hears the spell being cast and has to make a split-second decision. "I'll block the door and make sure no one can sneak out!" She moves to the open door and closes it. Eyes fixed on the bookshelves across the room, she whispers one word to Ishan: "Spellcaster!"
Sorry Nebbin. Yes you’re still confused.
HP 59/59
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (-2 to all when raging), DR 2/-
Fort +8, Ref +4 (+1 vs. traps), Will +2 (+2 Will when raging) [Defiant luck]
CMD 20 (22 vs. grapple)
Rage: 4/18; Harrow points: 2/3; Auspicious Mark (1d6+1) 0/1; Defiant Luck: 0/1
Effects: Raging, confused
Nebbin swings wildly, his sword hitting home with a sickening crunch on Tassira as it shears through flesh and bone.
Ishan mutters a simple Shield of Faith prayer and pulls the dagger that hangs on his belt. He pads forward quietly, putting the counter on his left.
In the other room, the monk on the steps launches a furious round house kick that Regeris steps away from.
The orc in the corner continues to chant and spell to no obvious effect.
Regeris' moment of clarity is gone as he screams again, running headfirst into the wall. He is covered in what is mostly his own blood at this point and clearly having just... just the worst day.
Emi fails at a bunch of stuff.
Tassira retaliates by picking up her spellbook and swinging it at Nebbin.
At the door of the shop, the hidden cultist appears very suddenly as she strikes. One of the attacks ends with a screech as the point of the weapon caroms off Kayleigh's shield. The second catches Kayleigh's arm behind the grieve, digging painfully.
The other cultist presses his attacks on Emileva. One of his blows is parried away, but a second gets through to draw the warrior girl's blood again.
Even as she recoils from the sting of the fresh wound, Emi endures a single deep throb of pressure and pain in her head that threatens to make her pass out. She wobbles in her stance for a moment.
The orator slides across the room while he chants. He calmly sips a potion, then drops the spent vial to the floor, eyes locked on Nebbin throughout.
"Kill that unclean b&&&&!" he growls.
Kayleigh stifles a cry of pain as the cultist appears and surprises her. She stays calm, though, shifting a bit to give Ishan a chance to flank the woman. With her silver morningstar still glowing from the light spell cast on it for the exploration of the unoccupied store next door, the young Milanite takes a swing at her foe's ribs, but the attack is both weak and inaccurate.
Maybe Ishan is secretly a great warrior, the cleric thinks without a lot of hope.
for
HP 59/59
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (-2 to all when raging), DR 2/-
Fort +8, Ref +4 (+1 vs. traps), Will +2 (+2 Will when raging) [Defiant luck]
CMD 20 (22 vs. grapple)
Rage: 4/18; Harrow points: 2/3; Auspicious Mark (1d6+1) 0/1; Defiant Luck: 0/1
Effects: Raging, confused 1 round
Nebbin swings again, spraying Tassira's blood across the room.
"No, spider, no! NO!"
Tassira goes down hard.
"Oh no! Tassira's down!" Kayleigh cries out to Ishan.
Kayleigh's attack misses badly.
Ishan starts to flank the cultists when he hears Tassira's gasp. Seeing a raging Nebbin pulling his blade from her, his face takes on a moment of confusion. Then it resolves and he begins a different prayer.
Nebbin and Regeris both regain clarity of thought.
Then the monk on the stairs removes it again for Regeris with a solid punch to the jaw that send the Inquisitor down.
In the corner of the room, by the fireplace that's unlit, the old clock that's not wound chimes one mournful tone.
Things have gotten so bugf!+@ crazy Emi doesn't even know what things to think about. She decide she just needs to keep her head down and deal with her little part of the mess, and hope for some good things to happen elsewhere.
It's hard to ignore the man who wounded her and make her feel sick, but she really needs to reduce the number of threats around her. She strikes again at the man on the stairs, judging him to be the most weakened.
She can spare only a moment afterward to check the foes down on the floor with her, but she does.
Emi destroys her enemy at the knees and he goes down in a tumble, falling back the few steps to lie sprawled unconscious at the feet of the stairs.
The sickle wielder before her leans into his attacks, trying to take advantage of Emi's focus on the man on the steps. His attempts are numerous but clumsy, and Emi's able to parry them away.
Out in the front room, the cultist wheels out of the noose made for her by the two clerics, focusing instead on the one without the shield. Kayleigh realizes as the woman's quick attacks land home, that the Abadaran's wearing street clothes and is holding something about as dangerous-looking as a kitchen knife. Each of the cultist's sickles draws the young man's blood, pinning him back against the counter.
The orc seems to recognize that his influence over Nebbin is broken. He flourishes his blade again at the massive warrior and assumes a dueler's stance.
"En guarde!" he barks.
As Regeris' mind clears, he stares through the haze of blood at the first that comes for his face before he sees black. This has not been his day as he starts bleeding to death.
HP 59/59
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (-2 to all when raging), DR 2/-
Fort +8, Ref +4 (+1 vs. traps), Will +2 (+2 Will when raging) [Defiant luck]
CMD 20 (22 vs. grapple)
Rage: 4/18; Harrow points: 2/3; Auspicious Mark (1d6+1) 0/1; Defiant Luck: 0/1
Effects: fatigued 10 rounds (-2 Dex and Str)
Gasping for breath as he returns to his senses, Nebbin is horrified at the scene around him. Tassira's dead, and he's pretty sure he's responsible. Plus Regeris looks like he might be dead too. The only saving grace is Kayleigh is still OK. He thinks about telling her to run, but he knows she won't.
He sets his jaw, nostrils flaring as for perhaps the first time ever he looks like he's ready and willing to deal death. He turns his attention to the half-orc. Closing with him, he ignores the man's dueling stance and just brings his sword down like a brutal club.
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Kayleigh glares at the female cultist, wanting nothing more than to beat her down with her morningstar in a righteous display of Milanite fury. But the woman's fighting smart, trying to cull the weak and unarmored (a.k.a. Ishan). I've got to be smart, too.
Taking advantage of the lane the cultist has left her, Kayleigh moves past Ishan and into the next room, standing over Tassira's prone, unmoving form. What she sees is fairly horrifying--Regeris is down, too--but the gravity of the situation makes her feel she's made the right move. Healing's what she does best, and she's put herself into the best possible position to do just that. Selectively omitting the old half-orc and the other cultist still standing, Kayleigh grasps her holy symbol and channels positive energy.
"This way!" she tells Ishan, seeing no foes in the left half of the back room.
Regeris' eyes snap open as the healing magic floods his body. He looks around quickly to get a sense of his surroundings.
The orc seems very confident in the face of Nebbin's fury, and he manages to land a swipe with his rapier before the big man closes the distance. But Jorgan's confidence takes a hit when he's standing face-to-chest and forced to deal with Nebbin's sheer size. He's smashed up against wall, shattering a small chest-of-drawers and sending broken baubles and shattered glass flying. When he regains his feet and turns back to face Nebbin, one of the lenses of his spectacles are cracked.
Kayleigh snakes through the front room and calls down the power of her goddess. Tassira, Regeris and the enemy on the steps groan back to consciousness, prone and vulnerable.
Hearing Kayleigh's call, Ishan slips away from the cultist and past Kayleigh into the fireplace room. He speaks a Sanctuary prayer and kneels down next to Tassira to see how bad are her remaining wounds.
The monk on the stairs rises into a crouch as part of his move.
Emi sees the man on the stairs moving out of the corner of her eye. She quickly skewers him while keeping her focus on the poisoner scum in front of her.
Emi lays the hapless enemy back down, harder than she did the first time.
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Emi tries to be tricky. Rather than withdrawing her falchion back to guard, she swings hard at the man in front of her from the far left as soon as she's withdrawn her blade from the man on the stairs.