The first medusa looks Blackacre up and down, approving of the work of her sister. She takes a small step around him, caressing the shoulder of the statue with her hand, and draws a magic frost longbow. She faces the half-elf, who is averting his eyes.
"You're a problem," she says. She strings an arrow that glitters and softly crackles with rime. The medusa shoots it at Quinn. Thwock! The icy cold hits!
Quinn keeps avoiding her gaze, and returns the attack with a salvo of his own. The medusa takes multiple arrows to her body, and is knocked back several times. She falls to the floor. Her body twitches, and her snake hair flops to the floor like a wet mop. She is dead.
Phoebe holds the cloak above her head and makes a tent out of it, so she can see Sandru. "Oracles wield divine magic, along with abilities we get from our mysteries. Each oracle has a mystery, which is difficult to explain...like a mystical path for that person alone. When Agnes was born, all the clocks in the house broke. Like time transferred to her, or she interfered with it, or something. No one knew exactly what.
"We are twins. I was delivered right after her. Born into a world with broken time. She controlled it. I was at its mercy." Phoebe sighs. "My birth was normal compared to hers. I was born to smiling faces, to a nice midwife, in front of a warm and crackling fire. I know...boring. I reached for the simplest explanation, and thought that was why my mystery is flames." She looks past Sandru, searching the cosmos for her lost sister. She mentions that apart from fire, she has some low-level cantrips and divine healing spells at her disposal, but that is all.
"But that can't be it. Life isn't so simple, is it? At some point, everyone has to prove their mettle. Everyone has to discover their purpose. Why they exist." Her eyes roil with the strange purple fire. Of course, she does not light up under the cloak. "Agnes knows the mystery of her existence. But I do not. Neither do you. We are like each other, in that way. There is a reason we met, Sandru. We're traveling down a path. We'll find our answers at the end of this road.
"Things are moving faster now with each passing moment." She dramatically exhales. "To the time when the clocks break for us."
Round 2:
Grimacing in pain, the archaeologist speaks in Osiriani as he unlimbers his bow and fires a single arrow back at the mummy, striking it in its midsection. "لديك كلمة بلدي سأعود الكنوز الخاصة بك!"
Pwah! The arrow strikes the mummy's bandages, kicking up a cloud of ancient dust. "ولا أعتقد أنكم، وريث جاستنيتشت!" it rasps. It shakes off a portion of the damage.
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The remaining medusa, Jubet, cricks her neck. The venom in her bloodstream pumps against the black adder venom, grapples with its chemical structure, and neutralizes it. She drops her hands from her face. The area around her eyes is blackened.
She snarls in La Siréene's direction. With balletic grace, she withdraws to the pharoah's side. When she reaches the ectoplasmic slick on the floor, she almost slips, but steadies herself just in time. The mummy's creepiness would overwhelm her, but she steels herself, single-minded of purpose.
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La Siréene smiles and opens her eyes, only for her smile to freeze when she sees Blackacre. The mad man...
With a shake of the head, she refocuses on the task at hand, and walks past Blackacre and over the dead Medusas body, , and observes the remaining medusa and the mummy but avoids the eyes, focusing on their body movements.
Standing over the dead medusa now, La Siréene, while not suicidal enough to look her in the eyes, smiles in the direction of the remaining medusa and playfully hisses back at her, letting her hair fall aside to reveal her emerald eye.
"Excuse me a moment, Sandru," Phoebe says. She lifts the cloak, averting her eyes from the medusa. She casts a bless spell. There's a burst of pale yellow light and stars, centered on Phoebe. Paf! She throws the cloak back over her.
The Earl's spell summons three Archons, who proceed to move in on the medusa and mummy, flinging beams of holy at light at them
Elspeth sprints under the floor, and attacks Medusa 2
Lord Caromarc continues to summon, his outstretched hand now a portal to a land of Light.
The Manservant struggles impotently
The archons' rays laser through the dark all over the place. Some of the beams hit the two dread creatures!
The blob of Elspeth's shadow rides low in their wake, ready to press the advantage.
The archons become pitched and frenzied in their attack, haloed by a palpable aura of menace. The mummy swats his arms, managing to stave off their fiery wrath.
The mummy tries to advance across the greased floor, but is too stiff and clumsy, though he manages to stay on his feet. He grunts and looks through the bobbing orbs of light at Caromarc.
"AAAAAOOOooohhh!"
He starts to trace blue sigils in the air, casting a spell.
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Round 3:
Come Phoebe, let us move away... Picking up the Oracle, I move nearer to Caromarc and half of the construct.
Round 3
The monk does not stare at the second snake-headed creature, knowing that he does not wish to succumb to the same fate as his friend Gaston. He, again, does not focus on the creature but stares at her feet, using his peripheral vision in his attack. Quinn is also grateful that he has been "blessed" and feels the effects and, as usual, he unleash another deadly volley from his bow targeting medusa #2
Weakened by the venom in her eyes, the medusa goes down under the hail of arrows. She is knocked back to the far wall and slumps to the ground, her eyes still open, her head lolling to the side like a doll. The snakes on her head quit writhing, and droop. It's clear the threat from her is over.
Pleased with his handiwork, Quinn turns his head towards Sandru and Pheobe. "Hey half orc, let Pheobe stand by me so you can go play with "Rags" over there." The monk nods in the direction of the mummy.
La Siréene's eye twitches. "Quinn... please. Please stop calling Sandru that. Please don't classify him by his physical characteristics." ...What? Why does this bother me? It’s just a judgmental and uninformed opinion, nothing new or upsetting about that. Why am I bothered?
La Siréene forces herself to refocus for the second time this confrontation.
"Nice job on snake hair, though."
At this contrary remark, she flashes Quinn her typical, sardonic smile.
La Siréene starts weaving her must powerful summoning spell.
Beneath the cloak I smile, thankful... Phoebe sees it in the eerie light cast by her eyes. Think there will be enough left, Copper?
The disciplined warrior says to his comrad, "You better hurry up and introduce yourself. Looks like Lady La Sireene is going to beat you to it."
Tenebrous shadows around the pharoah reach out like a big, mummifed hand, and clutch at Caromarc's lantern archons. They capture two in their grasp! The small outsiders veer wildly, swing low, and dim their lights, rattled by the ancient dread.
The third archon zips a loop-the-loop, dizzyingly darting out of harm's way.
Round 3:
Ianez replies in Osiriani, "يمكنك مشاهدة لي، إذا أنا أعيش من خلال هذا." Three arrows wing towards the mummy; one strikes it squarely, but the second fails to penetrate the thick wrappings and the third misses completely.
The mummy's cavernous eyes flare in anger at the injury. Its unending thirst for vengeance mitigates some damage from the arrow.
La Siréene finishes her summoning, letting a famiiar shapa take form staring the Mummy down.
"Attack."
A shape forms. A familiar shape. Placed her by a familiar master. With a familiar command.
"Attack."
The magnificent shape strikes the mummy.
Caromarc summons another lantern archon
Caromarc summons yet another glowing ball of light, and it joins its nimble comrade in bathing the Mummy in light. Sadly the Osirion is sheltered by the Tiger's bulk.
Turning, Caromarc unleashes his most potent combat weapon.
The mummy notices the tiger, and raises a hand swathed in fetid rags in salutation. "آه! موضوع أوسيريون، هنا لمساعدة حاكم الخاص..."
For a moment, the tiger almost arches its spine and backs down like a scared housecat. However, faced with such fear, it finds renewed energy for its purpose. The beast gnashes down on the mummy and tears into it like a gourd! "أوه! هجوم النمر! هجوم النمر!" the mummy yells.
The tiger chomps down on the pharoah! It shreds at him with its claw! Ew. (The moldering linens afford a little protection from any creature wanting to snack on him.)
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The wizard's bolts of arcane energy arc across the crypt. Dazzling light and smooth zooming... They cannonade into the harried foe!
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Caromarc's new archon fares worse. Despite the mummy's predicament, it still radiates an aura of despair. The archon flies up next to its companions, but is also struck by the creepy gloom. It veers, swings low, and dims its lights, unable to act for rounds.
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The mummy loses the summoning spell he was casting, and roars in dumb frustration. AAAHHHoooOOOH! Scrambling in the tiger's maw, he presents a holy symbol that looks like a fly in the shape of a death's head. He channels a burst of dark energy centered on himself that radiates in a wave over the tiger, Elspeth, and the four lantern archons.
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Round 4:
I throw the cloak off our heads, taking a look now that the snake-witches are dead.
The pharaoh seems busy. Phoebe, what do you think of these blue symbols you noticed?
Phoebe is thoughtful. "They ward the chamber against fire," she says. "Probably the source of the pharoah's magic." She looks on as the mummy and the tiger struggle. "That last incantation was a summoning spell. I shudder to think what he would unleash."
The Zen Archer take a 5 foot step to J-13 giving him a straight direct line of sight and then unleashes his volley of 3 arrows at the mummy.
The mummy's attempt to heal was wasted. Kwanjan "Kill-shot" Quinn sends him back to eternity where he belongs!
The mummy slumps in the tiger's fangs. His wrappings twirl and unravel.
Quinn immediately runs to Gaston and looks him over.
"Master Caromarc, Lady La Sireene, Master Gastnicht. Come quickly! Is there anything you can do for Gaston? Even though the Zen Archer was a critical part of dispatching the enemy, it does not help in soothing the helplessness he is feeling when he stares at Gaston's stoney eyes.
"I do not have the power to reverse the transformation. Caromarc?"
Ianez moves over to the fallen mummy king. He bends to pick up the body and places it into the sarcophagus it came from before carefully closing the case.
The remains of the pharoah disintegrate to dust. Outside the sarcophagus, a blue mote of light twirls up in the air and blinks out in a small burst of light. Standing near the tiger is the ghostly form of the pharoah as he appeared in life - handsome, noble, regal, kind. He wears a tunic, with a long phylactery draped across his shoulders, a royal headdress, and circlets of gold.
The pharoah lovingly pets the tiger, and smiles at Ianez. His voice echoes with a whooshing sound. "Ianez Gastnicht, heir to Eibor and all of his generations. My thanks to you and your friends." His timbre grows in depth, resonance. "For so many years, I languished under my own curse, and was consumed with self-pity and revenge. At last, unwittingly, you have freed me."
"While a mummy, I heard your promises through my dumb ears. And thank you for honoring my remains. Here is my final royal decree. You have done your kin honor...I forgive the House of Gastnicht. Let us exchange tokens to seal this pact. Let us end this age-old feud."
Of course, being a king, he extends his empty hand out to Ianez first.
Ianez removes one of his rings. "If I recall my history, your afterlife journey can be a long and arduous one, so food offerings were left for you. There are none here, so take this ring in their stead. May it sustain your spirit as it has my body through many of my journeys." The archaeologist hands over his ring of sustenance.
The pharoah takes the ring from Ianez. "Thank you, heir of..." He catches himself. "No...your name is Ianez. Ianez Gastnicht, friend of Osirion. Henceforth, your name will be remembered in my lands." He hands the archaeologist a prism wrapped in a strip of paper. "This is of value to you, Ianez. Read the paper. It will tell you how to use the prism."
He blinks out and goes to the afterlife.
Despite the creepy remains of former adventurers and dead medusas (whose eyes are darkened...petrification no longer a threat), the crypt is a potential resting place for your party. BOOM! A strong quake rocks the room! A questionable rest, but sleep nonetheless.
With the death of the mummy, the blue runes around the room fade away. The wall releases the Mechanical Manservant. The sarcophagus that housed the pharoah's remains unlatches and opens the way ahead.
Quinn starts casting Detect Magic, using it on the medusas and other objects in the room.