Mirri looked back at Say'ri, ready to comply, before Mad Dog and Ibrahim charged forward to support her fight against the remaining hands. She gave Mad Dog a wink, seemingly amused over the muscular halfling's concern for striking her. Fighting along with Ibrahim had become a more practiced art, and Mirri darted backwards to flank the remaining hand. After the magus had struck, Mirri lashed forward with her knife, seeking to rip any tendons free if it survived.
+
Mirri and Ibrahim work seamlessly together, dispatching the last of the undead.
Mad Dog breaths a sigh of relief and props up the door as a poor man's barricade, and Marrna lopes off to retrieve another one.
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Seeing that Mad Dog, Mirri and Ibrahim seem to have barricading the door well in hand Say'ri heads back down the room towards the crowd of buyers and sellers - intending to make sure that no-one else has any mad thoughts of trying to rush out into the night alone and unprotected. Both she and Akhentepi, content on his high perch, look around for any other entrances or exits that the undead might try to force.
"Friends, we must remain calm. I know you have loved ones out in the city, my husband is out there, alone and unwell. But I know that I am more use to him here, alive, than dying pointlessly in the streets. We must stick together - once the sun rises I have no doubt that these things will return to the dark holes that spawned them. We must simply wait until then and trust in the gods. Now anyone who is strong enough should help us barricade the doors. Anyone with skills in healing can help these poor people." She gestures to the injured servants. "With faith and courage we will prevail."
Petra makes a cautious way outside, an arrow on the string, scanning the dark streets. "I think the press of the dead damaged the structure and caused the collapse... that is better than some intentional sabotage."
Petra listens for the sound of more screams on the night air, or the horrible noises of undead feet approaching.
Say'ri does not find any other entrances or exits, nor even any windows. It is essentially a glorified warehouse.
Mad Dog continues to drink, this time with Menya, while Marrna drags more chairs over toward the threshold. The shovel-wielding Andoran throws it onto the makeshift barricade, shaking off the copious dog slobber with a chuckle.
Petra scans the dark streets, trying to perceive any danger. After a few moments, she hears a dull thud, followed by increasing loud banging sounds, like a butcher tenderizing meat. The sounds come from the Canny Jackal's storeroom
At the sound from inside, Petra turns and hurries back in. Passing Menya and Mad Dog, she says, "Close that door to the outside and start piling chairs before it! More of them may come."
Outside, Mirri looked wistfully off in the distance towards Midwife and Say'ri and Ben-Ali's house. In the chaos of the attack on the Canny Jackal she had forgotten about the rest of Wati. Perhaps oddly, her thoughts turned little to her own family, my brother's prolly usin' the whole event to steal stuff, but rather to Ben-Ali. Her heart went out to Say'ri, and in truth she thought in passing of darting off into the shadows of night to ensure the man was OK. The distance was an effective deterrence.
Mirri's next notion was to play look-out on top of the building, but as she sized up the climb the shout came up from Say'ri regarding a noise in the storeroom. She gave up on climbing, and instead darted inside the building. Seeing the mass of people by the eastern storeroom door, Mirri continued towards the back of the building and western storeroom door, using her magical sandals to glide effortlessly past obstacles .
The party moves into position as the pounding intensifies, capped off by the door flying open. Behind it is a frightful scene: a shuffling humanoid, wrapped from head to toe in ancient strips of moldering linen.
A miasma of fear permeates the area around the woman, who searches among the crowd with hateful eyes. The two servants, recently rescued from the zombies, stand paralyzed with fear.
Party up
Mirri
Petra
Say'ri
Ibrahim
Petra moves around the crowd, trying to see into the room and see what has Say'ri speechless. "What is it?" she frowns... and then sees it.
She has her answer, and hisses through her teeth at another foul undead.
Mirri heard the shouts of panic to the north, and didn't need to look to know a fight would ensue. She continued to make a beeline south to the door, and upon reaching it through it open.
Say'ri hesitates a moment when she views the ancient horror. Petra, meanwhile, recognizes it as a mummy, an undead, preserved corpse with great power.
Mirri skirts around silently through the other door, waiting for her moment to strike.
Still up: Ibrahim
Ibrahim chants an incantation as several images of himself burst into view!
Then he moves forward to support Sayri
Infernal healing begins mending some of his wounds
Mirror Image (4 minutes): 4 images remaining
Infernal Healing (1 minute): 9 rounds remaining
The mummy swats at Ibrahim as one would a fly, dissipating one of his images.
'Brahim, what is it? Khammayid asks worriedly.
Marrna growls, low and guttural, and approaches slowly. She yelps and freezes, and only then does Mad Dog seem to notice.
Whassa matter, girl?
Party up
"Mummy," Petra calls out over the assembled room. "All of you who cannot fight, get to the other wall, quickly! Fire will help destroy this beast, if any have it at hand!"
She reads from the scroll in her hand, intoning the protections of the old gods of Osirion to lift the fear of the grave from Say'ri. "Say'ri al Bashere! Your warrior's soul knows only courage!"
Say'ri's blade sounds a dull thud as it strikes the mummy, not seeming to do much to the animated corpse.
Still up: Ibrahim
"Uh, I don't have any fire, Petra. Can mummies be shocked?" Ibrahim muses with a shrug as he gives it a try.
Infernal Healing (8 rounds remaining): Fast Healing 1
Shocking Grasp: Charge held (I assume, as I think a 16 misses)
The mummy roars as Ibrahim's spell takes effect, filling the auction hall with the smell of burnt, rotten meat. The corpse swipes viciously towards the swordsman, and two more images wink out of existence.
Party up
It's attention fully focused on Ibrahim, Mirri attempted to forcefully insert her knife between two of the mummy's lower vertebrae.
Mirri and Say'ri's blades both get stuck in the magically-preserved flesh, while Say'ri's sword manages to rip free a little linen and tissue with it.
Mad Dog stumbles towards his beloved pet, while the others who can flee in terror.
Still up: Petra and Ibrahim
The trio of Ibrahims shrug and go with the tried and true tactic of using shocking grasp again, not concerned with the possible attack of opportunity.
Mirror Image (38 rounds remaining): 2 images
Infernal Healing (7 rounds remaining): Fast Healing 1
Petra looses an arrow at the foul undead, then hurries closer-- Say'ri still has injuries left from the first wave of undead, after all.
Ibrahim carves through the mummy, who winks out his last image with one strike, then catches him on the backswing. The back-handed slap rattles Ibrahim's teeth and drives him to the ground. Lying there, his broken nose continues to mend itself somehow.
Witnessing Ibrahim's bravery, Khammayid turns to help his old friend, but catches the mummy's eye and goes pale, frozen. Mad Dog yells and bounds over to his beloved pet, but suffers the same fate.
Party up
Mirri winced as the mummy's brutal blow took Ibrahim out of the fight. She then waited for the best flanking opportunity before again lancing her dagger into a vital organ.
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Say'ri immediately crowds the Mummy, shoving Akhentepi's scarab shield into its heavily bandaged face. As she does so she feels the shield wriggle in her hands, closing with the undead almost of its own accord and imbuing her with a reserve of confidence she'd never felt before.
As Mirri strikes low Say'ri swings in high, aiming for the Mummies head, hoping to draw its defenses away from the halfling.
Seeing that Ibrahim is already down, Petra makes a hard moment's choice: work to keep another warrior standing, or save a man already on the ground. Seeing Ibrahim's nose starting to knit together helps Petra decide-- she invokes Anubis's gifts of life and touches Say'ri on the shoulder.
Petra rolls her eyes wordlessly at all the people rushing forward only to get caught in mummy's life-sucking presence.
For my turn: at -3 hp and auto stabilize thanks to I.H.
Mirri slices vertically through where the mummy's kidney would be, had her organs not been removed after her death. The halfling slices deep, carving through the rotten flesh and rags. Say'ri hacks into the mummy's temple and draws it's ire, but her skill with her ancestor's shield saves her, sending a shockwave along her arm as she blocks the attack.
Next up: Party
Say'ri's blade bounces off harmlessly.
In desperation, Mirri again attempts to end the undead foe.
Mirri carves clear through the mummy's knee. It sways, collapses, and does not stir again.
Combat Over!
Khammayid snaps to his senses and rushes to Ibrahim's side, breathing a sigh of relief when he sees him still breathing.
One of the Andoren explorers shuffles past into the storeroom and sees an empty sarcophagus, likely the means of the mummy's transport.
Bu-but, it was empty. I swear it! How did...forget this, no amount of money in the world is worth this!
He throws a bag at your feet and starts speaking to his compatriots.
+1 dagger, a scroll of burning hands, a scroll of color spray, a scroll of grease, and a scroll of shield.
While the immediate danger seems to be gone, the howls of rotting lungs and screams of mortal fear echo across the city. It's clear that the Sunburst Market isn’t the only location under siege.
Panic Level 20, Ghost Town: The streets of Wati are virtually abandoned and the city temporarily gains the Hunted disadvantage while at this Panic Level.
The vast majority of shops are closed and most services are unavailable, making prices soar 200% above normal. Wati’s temples are so inundated with refugees that they cannot provide spellcasting services above 1st level. (Crime +4; Economy, Law, and Society –4; Danger +20; reduce base value by 20%)
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Say'ri looks around, practically bouncing with indecision. On the one hand there are a number of people here who need to be defended - on the other, Ben-Ali is out in the city and she desperately wants to find him. Seeing all her companions and few others in range Say'ri speaks quietly. "I do not want to leave these people here without protection, but Ben-Ali is out there somewhere and I can't stand being here without knowing if he is safe. What do you think we should do?"
Petra crouches by Ibrahim, not knowing what magic slowly heals him but knowing they need all of them together and on their feet-- there is no time to waste for slow magics.
"Can you hear me, Ibrahim?" As the man's eyes flutter, she nods shortly, then looks up from her crouch to Say'ri.
"You have opened your home to us. As has your husband. My debt is to you and to him. We will go find him," she states, as if it were as simple as that.
Raising her voice, she calls to the others in the building: "Priests of Nethys! Can you help? Many in here are wounded, two of our number in defending all of you. I have some prayers of my own, but they must be conserved."
One way or another, Petra tries to see to the healing of her companions and at least some of the townspeople's injuries. She pays no heed to the bag, letting the others look at that.
"You people should barricade yourselves in here. Perhaps the dawn and the rise of the sun will send these abominations back to their graves. But our duty lies elsewhere; we cannot stay to protect you."
Mirri nearly gagged breathing her sigh of relief as the mummy fell, the rotting flesh was still nauseating. Holding a hand over her nose, the Halfling nearly ran right into the Andoran explorer who came to investigate the sarcophagus. Wonder why they brought a coffin here anyway.
After the explorer spoke, the conversation quickly turned to the next steps. Mirri glanced down at the dropped bag, then opened it and glanced through the contents. Magic stuff maybe? Such items would have driven her mind wild with avarice not long ago, but the regular influx of riches had tempered that notion to some degree. Nevertheless, she took the bag and stashed it with the rest of the group's remaining unsold items. She then joined the conversation.
Petra's right, let's go find Ben-Ali! Keeping Mirri from heading out immediately proves difficult. Nearly bouncing on her toes while Ibrahim is brought back to consciousness, Mirri loses patience at the healing of others. I'm gonna go, these dead things 'll never see me. She then proceeds to head out the door and vanish into the shadows.
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"Akhentepi go with her!" Say'ri calls, unwilling to leave the townsfolk without instruction, but deep down unable to prevent anyone going to look for her husband. Akhentepi called his response, swooping out of the door after the halfling.
Say'ri meanwhile turns to the rest of the room. "Mad Dog, Khammayid. You must keep everyone here. You will be safe as long as you keep the doors barred and keep the lights low. We will return with the dawn to help people return to their homes. Pharasma and Horus will guard you."
Once she's received acknowledgement of her instructions and Ibrahim is ready Say'ri will head out with Petra and Ibrahim - making for her home as fast as possible.
The Nethysians channel the power of their god, and heal the remaining wounds of those gathered
Khammiyad recoils from Say'ri as though he'd been slapped, color appropriately rushing to his cheeks. He tries to stand tall but also leans back away from her. Must I? You have skill at arms, I don't deny, but don't presume to give me orders. But fear not--if you think I'm venturing out into the dark, you're insane.
As if to punctuate his statement, Mirri takes off at a run, looking every bit like a mouse going to ground as Akhentepi chases after her. The only thing to mark her path is the bird overhead, as none gathered at the auction house can track her movements through the shadows.
Mad Dog lets out a defining belch, then turns his head toward Say'ri. Whassat, now? Yep, sure thing, stay here an' keep the beer safe. Mmm hmm. Aye aye! He makes his best drunken attempt at a military salute and spills half the contents of his mug, which Marrna laps up furiously.
The others seem resigned to their fate and begin barricading the entrance, leaving space for you all to exit.