Alphonse charges over and slices into one of the harlot birds.
[dice=Slash]1d20+15
[dice=Damage]2d4+14+2d6
CAAAWW!!!! Not very nice, pretty boy!
Nacht sees the amalgamation of beings that surrounded him and became much more excited. Their feeble attempts at resisting made the even that much enjoyable, the light strike against his carapace healing quickly.
Blades with likely more skill than the bird-beings had expected sprung up, a blender of flesh-skinning accuracy. Aimed at the unfortunate creature who struck him and individually out to each other one.
Nacht sees the amalgamation of beings that surrounded him and became much more excited. Their feeble attempts at resisting made the even that much enjoyable, the light strike against his carapace healing quickly.
Blades with likely more skill than the bird-beings had expected sprung up, a blender of flesh-skinning accuracy. Aimed at the unfortunate creature who struck him and individually out to each other one.
[dice=Multi Ant Wounding Sabre]1d20+14; 1d8+13
[dice=Multi Ant Sharding Sabre]1d20+14; 1d8+13
[dice=Multi Ant Hearseeking Sabre]1d20+14; 1d8+13
[dice=Multi Ant Undead Bane Sabre]1d20+14; 1d8+13
[dice=Secondary Multi Ant Wounding Sabre]1d20+9; 1d8+13
The bird-beings' enticing song is interrupted by the spinning Beetle Man's blender of blades, and they fall back, bleeding and shrieking in fear and pain!
EEEEEK!!! Away, sisters! Let us hunt dolphins instead! This prey has cost us too many of our dear sisters already!
The remaining harpies beat their wings furiously and fly out westward over the sea, weeping fearfully....
For a couple minutes, then the seawater in his mouth, the sun in his eyes, the seagulls squealing at him to snap out of it, and the lack of pretty magic singing causes the spell to wear off....
Nacht flies down picking up the remains of the bird-beings before landing on the ship with his grisly trophy examining them delicately while plucking the feathers off one by one. He was fascinated by their form and ability to fly. Looking to the surface being on another of these 'ships' that was used before to travel.
His voice having the softness of sandpaper grating against a feral cat pushed against a chalkboard.
" What now? We see a storm-being on this ship one who looks like a dark-being. "
"where ya lads headn?
" Why ssshould we tell you? Unlesss you are offering you vessel dark-being. "
"Come now, Nacht, it's no secret! We're heading to Vesuvius, to do battle with the dragon."
Hisoa slowly swims back wondering what exactly happened.
Well, anyone who can shoot down things with bolts of water coming out of his hands is good in my books. Good job, me boyo.
Hisao climbs into the boat with a pounding headache.
Seikaku ni nani ga okotta no ka?
"well let's be on our way to slay this Dragon."
with that he set a course to Vesuvius
The Argo, with the Lusty Fools aboard, speeds southward along the Italian coastline under a square sail filled with the winds of an elder air elemental bound to service by Poseidon in ancient days.... An elder water elemental, likewise bound, pushes the legendary vessel from below, adding to its already impossible speed....
Within only a few hours, the Argos arrives to within eyesight of the smoldering volcano known as Mount Vesuvius, destroyer of Pompeii in ancient days, now lair of the Beast of the Apocalypse, Wormwood, Conflagratius, ancient fire wyrm from Mercury....
Mt Vesuvius map and basic info, for your edification....
The Argo is anchored some 30 yards off shore, south of the great volcano Mt Vesuvius. An ancient marble statue of a heavily muscled warrior clad in lion skin and bearing a great club stands on the shore between the Mediterranean and the south slope of Mt Vesuvius....
The ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii, ancient cities destroyed by the erupting volcano some thirteen and a half centuries ago, can be seen in the distance.... A plume of smoke rises from the caldera atop the great peak....
From their positions on board the Argo, ancient fortifications are apparent on the seaward face of Mt Vesuvius to the Lusty Fools: crenelated walls guard two upward ascending pathways, and a round tower with arrow slots and murder holes juts out of the mountainside at an elevation of some 800 feet above sea level, a black banner with a scarlet dragon emblazoned on it fluttering from the ramparts....
It is heavily fortified. Most probably can detect invisibility too. Hisao sighs.
There has to be a way up that we cannot see. Hisao and I can check...but I am not keen on being up there alone.
I should stay close to holy man. Hisao mutters. Do not want my mind interfered with again
[dice=Kn. Religion]1d20+11
Alphonse looks upon the sculpted brawn of the Greek and Roman demigod Herakles or Hercules. He wears the impenetrable hide of the lion he slayed as one of his legendary labors....
Seagulls cackle at The Lusty Fools as they consider the volcano before them....
Is there settlement where we can find room and board or is there only fortified volcano?
Fredrick grunts looking at the volcano
"lads the looks to be a bloody climb"
Is there settlement where we can find room and board or is there only fortified volcano?
There is a small fishing village on the coast in the shadow of the great mountain....
The sounds of organ music can faintly be heard from an old gray stone church....
Seagulls caw and cackle, providing a dissonant counterpoint to the faint strains of modal church music....
"Well, if we're likely to find help and a place to stay, it's at the church. Should we inquire there?"
Well, since there isn't likely to be a tavern nearby, the church will have to do...
Deboarding from the magic trireme, the Lusty Fools, accompanied by their goblin band and newfound captain friend, walk down the gangplank to the dock in the harbor of Naples. The harbor master, a swarthy little man with a greasy beard and tangle of hair under a worn cap, points the party toward an inn called Casaverde (the Green House). Several feral cats lick fish bones on the sea wall. It is about 4:00 in the afternoon when the party sets foot in the cobbled streets of Naples....
Napoli map....
Nacht seemed overtly wary. This was the lands of the Dragon he had promised to kill yet it seemed the idea of such a place without enemies was flawed. The creature narrowed it's eyes at every moment and felt the sounds and feelings of the area.
" Thissss is not safe "
We have a letter from the Duke for someone here, do we not?
He grunts as he slowly moves down the gang plank. Water and electricity swirl around him has he pulls a cloak over him to hide.
Signs of the dragon can be seen all over this coastal town.... Singed buildings, smoking ruins of houses destroyed by the wyrm's hot breath.... Indications of families mourning the deaths of their loved ones are visible on every house.... The very air in the streets stinks of something gargantuan and reptilian....
There is a stench from the pits....all the perfume in all the brothels on the continent couldn't mask that smell.. .
Dragon not making friends. Why not just destroy town?
"Some sick pleasure, probably. Torturing these innocent people." Alphonse says, nearly shaking with anger.
"it's a control tactic. It's Basicly saying you live because I choose for you to."
Hrmf.. is this letter of introduction of any use then? Hisao asks Or should we just find a place to sleep and then see about this fortress in the morning?
The sounds of wailing and weeping drift from within the homes the heroes pass as they trudge warily through the soot-blackened streets of Naples.... The buzzing of flies and the croaks of crows and buzzards feeding on roasted corpses mingles with the plaintive dirges of grief and sorrow....
At around 4:30 PM, the heroes approach the facade of Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta (Cathedral of the Assumption of Saint Mary)....
Within, the Lusty Fools are greeted by a tall, young priest in plain vestments carrying rosary beads. Two altar boys snuff candles on the altar with a snuffer. Within the sanctuary, a reliquary holding a vial containing a ruddy substance like dried blood can be seen....
leans on a staff as they walk along the streets. His head turning towards the houses.
"this be a pitiful lot, mayhaps once we be done with ye lads chore here. They won't be."
[dice=Kn. Religion]1d20+11
Alphonse recalls hearing the legend of the Sacred Blood of Saint Januarius, which would be brought out on two different holy days during a ceremony in which the dried blood would miraculously liquefy as though freshly shed.... If it failed to do so, it was a sure omen that some catastrophe would befall the town of Naples....