Zhalet hurries up the stairs and, at the top of them, slings a bullet at the closest pugwumpi among the rafters. Afterward she drops down behind a pew in the same way that Solomon has on the other side.
She looks over the inside of the alter room.
Rather than trying to get to them, maybe we can bring some of them to us.
From a position that she has cover from half the group up in the rafters she knocks and looses an arrow.
"Hmm. Looks like the typical stance of a saint of Sarenrae," Alexander says as he stares at the imagery of the man with the pointed beard. "Must be an obscure one, though."
As the group comes to the Pugwampi nest, the old man immediately seeks cover.
"I have no ranged weapons, but I might be able to set that nest on fire if you can help me get close enough."
"Then tuck in behind me Wizard. I'm going in".
Erizi goes into the room serving as a meat shield for Alexander... at least till the man finds cover elsewhere... then he's going pug hunting.
Erizi, you will have to climb into the rafters to engage the Pugwampis in melee, and the ladder is at A2a.
Alexander, you are fairly certain that if you use fire spells near the dry aged timbers in the rafters, there is a high likelihood of it catching fire. It would need to be very carefully aimed.
Round 1
Erizi moves into the room, looking for a way to reach the Pugwampis. He spots the ladder on the western wall of the chapel that leads to the rafters.
Solomon flings a dart at the Pugwampi standing on the chandelier, striking it easily.
Zhalet enters the room and whirls her sling over her head. The sling bullet streaks out to smack into the face of the loudest of the pugwampis on the rafters.
Rukn snaps off a couple of shots at the pugwampis in the choir balcony, but the arrows strike the wood just short of their targets.
Zhalet
Zhalet
Rukn
Rukn
Rukn
The pugwampis fire off a volley of tiny shafts, returning fire upon those who attacked them. Two of the tiny things, little more than aerodynamic splinters, stab into Rukn's tender flesh.
Alexander looks for a way to bring his magic to bear, with erizi volunteering to be a meat shield.
Kilarra fires an arrow up at the Pugwampi on the skull-chandelier, but the grisly thing twists just wrong and her shaft arches up into the recesses of the chapel.
Pugwampi #2: 2 damage
Pugwampi #3: Unhurt
Pugwampi #4: Unhurt
Pugwampi #5: Unhurt
Pugwampi #6: Unhurt
Initiative:
Erizi: 21
Solomon: 20
Zhalet: 18
Rukn: 17
Pugwampis: 16
Alexander: 8
Kilarra: 7
Round 2!
-Ughh! You lil'...!
Rukn tries to keep calm.
-At least they didn't break my bow this time.
Solomon prays and charges himself with divine power again, his swirling tattoos glowing with the sun's radiance.
Kilarra moves back until she feels the pressing dread of misfortune begin to ebb away. At that moment she turns back to the room, drops to a knee to help steady herself and as she draws her short bow calls out to her companions "Stay clear of the chandelier!"
Looking carefully for the best place to shoot in order to try and bring the grotesque demon perch down to their level and feeling she has found it, she lets loose her shaft. Trusting age and weight to do most of the work for her, feeling that it only needs a little nudge to bring the whole thing down she watches her arrow cross the room and mutters under her breath "Let's see how lucky you really are...you bastards"
Her arrow flies true and strikes hard.
In a tense moment she waits to see if the grins on the Pugs a top the suspended skull throne stop laughing as they plummet to the ground or will they laugh all the harder at her vain attempt...
Seeing that the pugwampies closer to the chandelier are already being engaged by other members of the party, Zhalet moves in a crouching run from her position behind the pews on the far side down toward Solomon. She takes new cover behind the same pew as him and casts Grease, centered on the three pugwampies nearest the wall, hoping to cover the beams and make it impossible for them to maintain their balance.
Round 2
Solomon calls upon the power of Sarenrae and his tattoos begin to glow in response.
Zhalet rushes across to Solomon, and greases the choir balcony where three of the Pugwampis are standing with a few arcane words. One of the pugwampis screams as its feet slip out from underneath it and it comes crashing down from the rafters.
Having been waiting for an opportunity to smash something, Erizi rushes over to the fallen pugwampi and swings at the unfortunate creature with a hammer whose head is bigger than the pugwampi is. He strikes the creature solidly in the middle of its chest with rather predictable results.
Rukn fires off two more arrows in quick succession, the first strikes the pugwampi solidly, but the second flies wide of its mark.
The pugwampi on the skull chandelier (#1) howls in pain and fear and tries to leap from its swaying perch to the rafters. Its ragged clothing snags on one of the gnoll skulls and it ends up dangling from one side of the grisly chandelier instead.
One of the two pugwampis on the rafters (#2) also howls in pain and runs to the large cloth bundle above the middle of the eastern side of the room and climbs into it and out of sight.
The other three pugwampis, barely controlling their laughter at the misfortune of their fellows enough to use their bows, loose arrows at Solomon. Only one of the tiny arrows finds its mark.
Kilarra takes a few steps back, drops to one knee, and fires a single shaft. It flies true and with an audible twang the rope parts and the chandelier comes crashing to the ground, its hapless passenger shrieking the entire way. The chandelier shatters on impact and the pugwampi (#1) is crushed beneath it. For a moment there is blessed slience as the Pugwampis stare in horror at the destruction of the gnoll-skull chandelier.
Pugwampi #1: Dead
Pugwampi #2: 8 damage, hiding
Pugwampi #3: Unhurt
Pugwampi #4: Unhurt
Pugwampi #5: Dead
Pugwampi #6: Unhurt
Initiative:
Erizi: 21
Solomon: 20
Zhalet: 18
Rukn: 17
Pugwampis: 16
Alexander: 8
Kilarra: 7
Round 3!
Grinning in satisfaction at the new color of his shoes, Erizi heads towards the ladder, whistling a merry killing tune.
-Okay, let's keep on thinning the ranks, we'll find that lil' bastard later
Rukn enters the nave so as to have better vision angles. He produces an arrow and lets it fly to its marks.
Edit:
Solomon hopped the pew in front of him and crouched behind the next one, throwing a dart mid jump, right back toward the Pug that had shot him.
Kilarra unable to contain herself at being able to actually kill one instead of feeling rather useless stands abruptly, a look of shock on her face replaced quickly with one of immense satisfaction and joy, cries out ...yyeESS!! Trying to compose her excitement as she moves up, draws and knocks another arrow, takes aim and let's loose.
Having difficulty containing her laughter, her aim is unsteady and goes wild at the last second.
Cursing under his breath, Alexander runs up to Solomon and clumsily clambers up onto the pew closest to the Pugwampi. As soon as he feels he is high enough, the old man sweeps his cane at the two standing close together. A cone of vivid, clashing colours blasts forth from the steel head...!
Round 3
Whistling a merry sounding tune, Erizi climbs the ladder to the choir balcony above, reaching the top of the ladder but yet
upon the choir balcony.
Solomon's leaping dart throw technique seems to be a sound one, as the dart finds a new home in a pugwampi neck. Without a sound, the last of the pugwampis on the rafters falls to the floor.
Rukn's shot is thrown off by an unlucky stumble on the stairs into the nave.
The two pugwampis in the choir balcony howl in fear and shoot arrows at Erizi. The close proximity of an enemy gives them incentive to aim well and both of the tiny arrows score a hit on Erizi.
Unnoticed beneath the pugwampis, Alexander clambers atop one of the pews for long enough to cast Color Spray again. As the colored light washes over the tiny creatures, they both fall unconscious to the floor of the nave.
Pugwampi #2: 8 damage, hiding
Pugwampi #3: Dead
Pugwampi #4: Dead
Pugwampi #5: Dead
Pugwampi #6: 8 damage, unconscious
Initiative:
Erizi: 21
Solomon: 20
Zhalet: 18
Rukn: 17
Pugwampis: 16
Alexander: 8
Kilarra: 7
Round 4!
Zhalet hurries to finish off the other pugwampi on the ground.
"Was there another one?" Alexander asks as he clambers down from the pew.
"Maybe we can capture the last one for information?"
Raising his voice, the old man shouts in a harsh language of barks and snarls:
Contradiction sprouts in Rukn's mind. These tiny lil' bastards... but deep inside he knows Alexander is right. And on top of that, killing like that, in cold blood... doesn't feel right.
-Okay, let's see if he has something worthy to say. What do you all think?
While talking, Rukn moves to get a better sight and tries to discern the Pug hidden up in the ceiling.
Kilarra looks at Alexander with an unrestricted look of disbelief. After a moment see seems to begin to fight back her own feelings of hate toward these creatures and with a note of bitterness says "Fine....but after we have judged its worth to be at an end I expect its subsequent demise. Agreed?"
"Does anyone speak Gnollish?"
You cannot see the pugwampi from any position or any angle in the room. It has entered the strange construction of cloth up in the eastern part of the ceiling and is obstructed from view on all sides.
It does not seem to respond to Alexander's words, but you can see motion inside the cloth.
-Uhm... so, what do we do? Should anyone try to climb up over there and force him down? With the "bad luck mojo", it doesn't seem a good idea... any suggestion?
Rukn looks at Kilarra. -I think you are more skillful at this than me, I am still... an apprentice. Shall I do the countdown?
Zhalet listens to the planning of the the others with some concern.
"If we use fire against the um, nest, how do we control it? If it were to spread to the rafters and other wooden parts of the ceiling, we could bring the entire ceiling down. That is old and dry wood. If it is a question of who would go up and get a closer look, or deal with the pugwampi up close. I will go. Perhaps there is someone else who will come as well?"
Those of you with experience lighting things on fire are pretty sure that any fire directed into the rafters will bring the whole roof of the nave down in flames, if not the roof of the entire monastery.
I agree with Zhalet, unless we want to destroy this location, fire would be dangerous. Alexander, I saw a magician in the city once float up into the air as if he were standing on solid ground. Can you do that? If so you could float up and cut the 'cave' down. Alternatively could you do that thing that makes everything slippery? Eventually it should slide out and fall at our feet. Kilarra seems to think for a minute then says. As gross as it may sound this kind of reminds me of a pimple. Could we use the same principle of popping a pimple here? Find a way to squeeze the little devil into a corner to the point that his shelter turns into his prison?
"I can do... something else," Alexander says as he speculatively eyes the nest and slowly draws the sword section out of his cane.
The nest is secured at several points both to the rafters and the underside of the ceiling and knit together out of interwoven tapestries, sackcloths, sheets, blankets, and other bits of loose cloth.
Given the number of uses of the hand of the apprentice you have available to you and the unending string of bad luck that afflicts you when near the pugwampis, you find it unlikely that you will be able to sever enough of the anchors to cause it to fall in a single day. (it is anchored by far more than 4 fastenings) Alternatively, you could try to use Hand of the Apprentice to slash large tears in the fabric to try and make the contents of the nest fall out.
"Stand ready," Alexander says as his blade rises up of its own accord and attacks the cloth, attempting to inflict a large tear.
With a note of bitter sarcasm Kilarra says to no one in particular, Good luck...
-Well, I'm certainly not climbing up there... any other idea? I heard you arcanes could charm people and the like...
"If we're going to restore this place, we're going to have to tear down the old wood anyway. Why night light it on fire? Might get rid of the smell." Solomon said with a shrug.
"I will climb".: Erizi moves into position to climb
Zhalet nods to Erizi. "Alright I suppose we should get to it."
She looks around for a way to access the rafters.
"You know, we're probably in greater danger of falling due to the unluckiness than from the pugwampi itself. Does anyone have some rope? maybe we could tie ourselves off so that if we fall we don't go all the way to the floor."
Rukn opens his eyes widely. -Are you kidding? Climbing up there with the pug's effect on here?
-Man, that's the closest I can imagine to suicide. But on the other hand, something must be done... and I can't let them do the dirty work for me.
-Ok, I have rope and even a grappling hook, so I'll climb.
Alexander's first strike at the nest passes too close to a rafter and unfortunately the blade is stopped by the rafter beam. The second strike, however, flashes up to the middle of the southern section of the nest where movement can be seen and the blade slashes through the obviously very rotten cloth. It is likely that any more weight in one spot than that of one of the pugwampis would be enough to simply rip right though the cloth.
There is a high pitched yelp, a sudden movement inside the nest, and a very loud string of high-pitched invective directed at Alexander in the gnoll tongue.
Alexander... sneers. Again, his blade lashes out at the cloth, in the same spot that elicited the yelp.
"He does not wish to cooperate, but has been of use already. There are more of his ilk nigh, and also a sovereign of his kind by the name of... 'Moknokk'."
Rukn watches how the Hand of the Adept tries to rip the tent the pugs probably call home.
-So... what do we do, then? Can you just rip it off completely? Shall we help? And how?
Kilarra visibly shivers at the thought of a 'Soveregn Pug' Who knew the Gods could be so cruel so as to curse this existence with such a wretched and pervasive Demonic incursion such as this... after a moment she begins to grin and says On the bright side I can think of no greater service to help those of this land than to purge it of such a blight...yes, lets!
Erizi eagerly waits below the tent, his Earthbreaker on his shoulder. He intends to swing at the pug as it falls, and smash it against the far wall.
Rukn watches how the Hand of the Adept tries to rip the tent the pugs probably call home.
-So... what do we do, then? Can you just rip it off completely? Shall we help? And how?
Alexander's blade lashes out three more times slicing large holes in the fabric. With a high pitched squeal that ends with an abrupt cracking sound, the pugwampi comes tumbling out of the cloth nest along with a mass of foul smelling cloth redolent of body sweat and liquid waste.
A shrill voice calls out from behind the group in horribly accented common, "Oy! Wot inna name o'th'Carrion King are yous pig-things doin' wit' ours house?! Yous are gonna pay for it! "
Distracted by the 'waterfall' of stinking cloth and soon-to-be-dead pugwampi, the group did not notice the stealthy approach of another group of pugwampis. The pugwampi that spoke in common is slightly larger than its fellows and actually has an improvised tiny breastplate armor. It wields a two-handed warhammer in its tiny hands.
Alexander 6+1=7
Erizi 18+1=19
Kilarra 4+8=12
Rukn 4+9=13
Zhalet 4+8=12
Solomon 3+8=11
Rukn:
Solomon:
Kilarra:
Erizi:
Zhalet:
Alexander:
Surprize Round:
All five pugwampis make a breaking gesture towards one of the group, then brandish their tiny weapons.
Initiative:
Rukn: 26
Kilarra: 25
Zhalet: 21
King Mokknokk: 18
Erizi: 9
Solomon: 8
Pugwampis: 6
Alexander: 2
Round 1: Fight!
Rukn turns with surprise on his face. -Stupids! We've been too focused even knowing there were more enemies around!
As one of the pugs makes an already familiar gesture towards him, he grabs his bow tightly. -Not again!
Then he shoots at the Pugs. -I will leave the boss alone in case Alex or any other can knock him unconscious. I'm sure they want a chat with him.