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Harry scrambles backwards over the pews away from the undead leaving him open as one of the operatives slashes a deep gash across his chest with its sickle. Brayne quickly rushes in to rip that one apart. Ignoring the pain, Harry then quickly trains his gun on the other. The shot smashes right in the centre of the undead and similarly blows it into smithereens as bone shards fly all over.
Up on the organ pipes, the three undead operatives converge onto Lenny the lightning elemental. One of them manages to land its attack, slicing off a large chunk of Lenny's mass.
On the keys, the blue-garbed skeletal figure slashes at Kulga, hoping to get through her to reach Vasily but her armor repels the blow. The other two remain standing on their respective keys, ready to attack any who approaches.
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With the two skeletons having fallen at the pathfinders combined might, Ischell moves around alter and towards the pipe organ. He approaches the keys, pulling up just short- preparing his next attack.
Reaching into his belt, a throwing star appears in the Paladin's hand. I guess these will have to do for now. The star flies from his hand toward the purple operative- skipping off the key in front of the creature.
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"If the music stops," Garduk calls out in response to the priestess's question, "Absalom gets visited by a lot more of these bastards. You might want to find someplace safe to hide for a while."
This is surprisingly easy, Garduk thinks. If it weren't for all the dead bodies around us and the threat of an overwhelming undead army about to invade the city if we fail, it would almost be fun.
The young arcanist aims at the warrior already wounded by his summoned ally.
"Telum magicum!"
Once again, the lightning elemental positions itself in the air over the organ and batters at the , sparks fountaining down onto the enormous keys below.
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Ischell moves towards the giant keyboard and flings a shuriken at the nearest operative, but unfortunately, it easily ducks away in time. Harry aims his rifle at the other further away. His shot of lightning smashes into the skeleton, blasting fragments of bones everywhere. The severely weakened skeleton still stands, however. Brayne goes for the direct approach, clambering up the keyboard. The undead slashes its sickle at his head when he comes within range and again when he moves past. Although it hits, can't seem to get through his tough hide.
On the other side of the keyboard, Kulga swings her axe to decapitate the skull of the operative in one blow. At the same time, Vasily continues dancing on the keyboards. It seems he has gotten the hang of it and music that can only be described as divine pour forth from the pipes. Ischell, Kulga and Harry finds their soul uplifted, emboldened in their task to eliminate the undeads.
Garduk, while explaining to the priestess the danger that the city is in, continues summoning arcane bolts to throw at the undeads on the pipes, this time destroying the one on the left. The lightning elemental slams itself against the yellow garbed one, breaking and charring some bones.
"Oh!" She seems to consider Garduk's explanation for a moment, then runs not away but towards the organ! "This is mu church! These vile creatures are not going to use it for their foul deeds!" She clambers up the keys near Vasily. "Go focus on the undeads! I'll keep the music going!"
The two remaining undeads on the keyboards gang up on Brayne, flanking him. However, while both hit the lumbering target quite easily, their weak blows again can't get through his hide. Up on the pipes, the operatives move to both attack Lenny, slashing through more of his stormy substance with their sickles.
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Anticipating the end of the aerial part of the battle, Garduk moves a few steps closer to the altar and takes aim at the yellow-clad skeleton. Feels like we're getting into a rhythm. The electrical beast keeps setting them up, and I keep knocking them down. Here's hoping it works a couple more times.
Once again, he snarls, "Telum magicum!". Two more of the pale blue bolts dart up to the top of the pipes, speeding toward the electrified Black Echelon agent.
The lightning elemental shrieks when the undead warrior's scythe slices into it, but remains in the battle. Sparks fly from its wings as it regains its position, and lightning races across its body from wingtip to wingtip, head to its featherless tail. With a thunderous crack, the elemental folds its wings around its body and mimics the shape of one of Garduk's magic missiles. The streamlined outsider launches itself through the air at .
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Now that the priestess was in charge of the spinning the tunes, Vasily could focus on the remaining skeletal operatives. Problem was, those two that were 30' above his head. With only a rapier for melee weapon, his luck against them wasn't going to be great. INstead, he sheathed his rapier, and took out his crossbow. Might not have much better effect but at least he wasn't going to have to climb to get there.
He loaded his crossbow, ready to fire at the upper target when time permitted.
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This close to the keys, it’s hard for Ischell to see what is going on above him. Moving a little to his left, he clamors his armor clad body up to the keys.
As he lifts himself into the upper level, he witnesses the end of the destruction caused by Brayne- watching in awe at the furry of the man. Or beast? I am not so sure anymore
He pauses a moment, waiting for the furry to settle, to see who still remains. Glancing farther up he notices another set of skeletons stuck in the pipes- seemingly hunkered down. How am I going to... At a loss of other ideas, he rummages around in his hip bet, pulling out a vial of radiant water.
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Seeing Brayne having things in hand, Kulga starts climbing up the mass (and mess) of pipes to assist Lenny, while Vasily switches to his crossbow. Garduk summons yet another arcane bolt to smash into the yellow-garbed undead operative, blowing this one into smithereens. The lightning elemental simulates the form of Garduk's magic missiles and plunges at the remaining undead on the pipes, blowing out a few of its ribs.
Brayne is undeterred facing two of the undeads by himself. First, a mighty swing with his right claws rip of the skull of one. This is followed by a powerful swipe with his left claw which does the same for the one of his left. By the time Ischell climbs onto the keys, the keyboard is cleared of undeads, leaving just one on the pipes.
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Harry raises his musket and fires at the remaining undead but the shot goes wild.
This sole undead slashes once again into Lenny. The elemental, already severely weakened by so many strikes, finally dissipates with this blow.
With the keyboard finally clear of undeads, the priestess with full concentration dances up and across the keys with a divine grace, generating music that uplifts the soul.
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Despite the enveloping mist surrounding the Black Echelon operative, Vasily's bolt flies true and punches into chest of the undead. The skeletal figure collapses into a pile of bones that rain down the pipes.
Despite this, the sole surviving priestess continues dancing up and down the keys of the organ, clearly enraptured by her dance and music. With all the undeads cleared, she has the full spread of the keyboard to perform the morning Abadarian hymn. The majesty of the music pouring forth from the organ is only marred by your thoughts that if the other dancing priests were alive, the combined performance would have been much more grandeur. But perhaps she knows that she is the sole survivor that inspires her to pour her heart and soul into the performance. Gradually, her steps slow. The hymn winds down until finally the final note hangs in the air and eventually fades. The priestess collapses onto the keyboard, and tears start pouring forth as she looks around the scene of devastation in the cathedral as she mourns the demise of her fellow priests.
By now, Yargos has entered the cathedral and he, too, was clearly touched by the scene. He stands at the doors looking kindly at the priestess, apparently without sense of urgency with regards to the undead invasion.
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A small tear forms in the corner Ishell's eye. A few moments pass before he notices it, and (not so) slyly wipes it from his eye.
"I have never been much for "traditional religions", but man- that was beautiful."
He looks back around the temple at the carnage of battle. "I hope we didn't cause these dudes too much damage." Remembering Harry took a couple of hits early in combat, Ischell heads over and taps him with his wand "Duuuude", offering the same service to the acolyte or anyone else who needs healing.
"I am totally glad we came here first. I am not sure they would have been able to fend off this attack on their own. This aggression will not stand! I pray those here find the peace and healing from Iori, man."
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Garduk tucks his wand back into his belt and surveys the destruction. He waits awkwardly while the priestess finishes her hymn; once or twice his hand reaches almost of its own accord for the novel tucked into a pocket of his jacket, but each time he stops before pulling out the book, berating himself.
Because it would probably be rude to start reading in the middle of a religious service surrounded by the victims of a brutal undead attack, idiot.
As soon as the priestess finishes, he says, "So, erm, I'm very sorry for your losses and horrifying trauma and all the bodies and everything, but is there anything you need that can't wait for the city guard? Because if we don't get going to stop the amateur... the criminal who is calling these monstrous invaders things are going to get a lot worse."
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"The poor girl..." Yargos sighs as he looks at the crying priestess and the scene of massacre in the cathedral. Despite the urgency urged by the Pathfinders, he walks over to pat her awkwardly on her shoulder before exiting to gather again with the Pathfinders. Turning to them, he explains, "With the immediate invasion staved off for now, I believe we might not be under time pressure. Nessian would not be able to attempt to launch another until the next morning. But certainly, there's no need to dally. He could certainly still wreak havoc elsewhere. Come, let's go."
Yargos leads the team out the city into the Cairnlands. Broken and dilapidated siege machines pepper the area, many of them towering to heights of large buildings. After an hour or so, he pulls you to hide behind what was once a large trebuchet and gestures towards the distance. "I think that's it. Nessian's so-called Pyramid of the Dog."
The structure that Yargos is pointing out certainly bears resemblance to a pyramid at first glance. On more careful study, the decrepit lair consists of four ancient, battered siege towers, three of which have collapsed inward toward the largest, forming a giant, tepee-like wreck. The three surrounding structures are quite broken-down. Nonetheless, the two facing your direction still have their entrances intact, and hence presumably the third facing the opposite direction. The central structure is mostly still sound, and is two-story high with a bridge on the 2nd floor, likely to allow the invaders access over city walls. A closed door on this structure is faces you. About 15 feet in front is tethered a group of three hounds who are lying restlessly on the ground as the morning sun gradually climbs into the sky. Otherwise, the Pyramid of the Dog has no other signs of life.
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Garduk renews his Mage Armor, and does the same for Brayne (two charges off the wand).
"Any other preparations we want to make? We'll need to keep our eyes open, and if it's a running fight from the entrance we may not have another chance."
Taking his own advice, Garduk casts Heightened Awareness on himself. His eyes glow a cold blue for a moment before fading back to brown.
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The paladin glances at the half-orc, and responds to the uh... generous... offer as he awkwardly excuses himself. "I think I uh... no, man, I think I am good- but uh... I appreciate it and all. I just think that I just need to find my own center, is all."
The shinning armored man follows along behind the group- conscious of his size and conspicuousness. Darting from rock to rock, he feels as if he managed to be somewhat successful!
That isn't half bad- maybe I can figure this stealth thing out after all!
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Leaving Yargos behind, the team creeps ever closer. The sun is shining bright but while the ground between the Pathfinders and the Pyramid is free of other structures, it is undulating enough that the Pathfinders are not immediately visible. When you get almost within 200feet, a number of you spot a few humanoid figures within the structure: one in each of the leaning structures, two on the ground floor of the central tower, and another on the open bridge on the second floor.
Kulga draws back her bow and fires...