"Ghost, look out!" Able to escape the worst of the spectral energies, Tal'ariel swings her sword at the spectral lion.
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She then tries to dance back toward the entrance where there would be more room to fight.
Tal'ariel's sword seems to hurt the ghost, as it recoils. She moves back without any problem, leaving an opening for another to join the fray.
Trellara begins Inspire Courage with a rousing song (in Common). She must have heard it from a traveler somewhere, it's definitely not Elven.
"Time after time as we march side by side
Through the valleys of evil and the torturing souls
Night after night, for the glory we fight
In the kingdom of madness and the tales from the old..."
Denied its prey, the lion unleashes a bloodcurdling howl.
Round 1
Tal'ariel
Hamailii
Trellara
Ghost
Gaius
Bran
Gaius laughs at the lion as he steps forward, before scissoring both blades out for its throat.
Behind him Flame growls, fur bristling and large at the roaring lion, but doesn't move to attack.
It's hard to tell how badly hurt the ghost is. It clearly feels the blows, though.
Flame is about to turn and run, when Trellara's song keeps him in the fight.
Bran is up!
Need DC 14 Will saves from Bran, Hamailii, and Tal'ariel.
Bran hears the wail and readies an attack, seeing the way to the spectral lion blocked. "Its too cramped there!"
He notices that the hallway has some nooks and crannies to slip into so he revises his plan. Turnign to Hamailii he gives an encouraging nod "Hold on, I'm going in!"
The spectral lion reels from the blow!
Round 2
Tal'ariel
Hamailii
Trellara
Ghost
Gaius
Bran
Shrugging off the effects of the lion's howl, Tal'ariel figures the guys have things under control. She realizes she hadn't protected Flame with force armor, and does so.
Hamailii's spear hurts the ghost as well.
It would be still up at 2 HP, but...
Through the retroactive power of music, the ghost lion falls! It fades away.
As the battle appears to end, Tal'ariel tucks away her Mage Armor wand and draws her Wand of Infernal healing, which she uses on herself. She then quickly tucks it away again.
"So the Ghostlord really does command spectral lions! I don't know how much he would appreciate the fact that we just slayed one of them, although I don't know how else we can get him his phylactery back. I'm guessing we'd better keep an eye out for more of them!"
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Hamailii sighs with relief as the ghosts dissolves into nothingness.
One less! That's good. We don't know wether they are still commanded by someone or ever were, we'll have to find out i'm afraid. It seems the legends are true though, as confirmed by the existance of this creepy place. How do we proceed? Just go forward? Or should we call out to meet the master of the place? In any case i could cast a protective spell who will give everyone around me a bit of protection from the forces of evil!
"I think we need to press onward. If he were to listen he would do so if we cause enough ruckus and damage." Bran looks down at his breastplate, "I saw that my weapons hardly damaged the ghost," He clanks on the mail, "Will this help at all?"
Tal'ariel uses the Wand of Mage Armor on everyone.
"You're right, Bran. Regular armor is as good as nothing at all against those ghosts. This magical force barrier will stand up against incorporeal creatures in a way regular armor can't."
All assembled, you proceed forward, with Hamailii's Magic Circle Against Evil covering the front rank of Tal'ariel and Gaius.
Surprise! Another ghost lion!
Round 1
Trellara
Tal'ariel
Gaius
Hamailii
Bran
Ghost
Trellara resumes Inspire Courage
"Hearts of heroes will not fail,
Though ghosts and spectres haunt us still.
Our hearts are pure, we shall prevail,
Strength of arms and force of will."
Tal'ariel is struck again by a ghost, but endures it well enough. She lashes back with her sword.
;
And then makes room to allow others to join the assault.
Bran rushes at the ghost, drawing the masterwork axe. Despite the lack of magic on it he seems capable of hitting the creature; the chain around his arm shining for a split second.
Gaius steps in to protect his elven friend and slashes away with precise strokes.
The lion falls!
The injuries to Tal'ariel look like... aging spots. Wrinkles. Things that an elf like her would not expect to see for centuries, at least.
The corridor ascends in a smooth spiral. You see a wall ahead, and yet another spectral lion lunges forth from the wall! This one is much larger than the others, and you can feel the chill of death as it steps out of the wall.
So:
The lion roars and stares at Gaius! His body and soul are wracked with pain!
Gaius takes damage and must make a DC 17 Fortitude save or take Charisma damage.
Then, on your turns you must all either avert your gaze (50% chance to not need a save, 20% miss chance), close your eyes (no save needed, 50% miss chance), or endure the gaze (in which case roll your own physical damage, Cha damage, and Fort saves). Whichever decision you make will continue until your next turn, so if you close your eyes you will be flat-footed against the lion's attacks.
Gaius could potentially be affected twice in the round as per the Gaze rules.
Round 1
Lion
Trellara
Gaius
Tal'ariel
Hamailii
Bran
Trellara closes her eyes and starts to sing!
Although the lions gaze wracks Gaius, he steps into combat none the less and strikes, trying not to meet the creatures life draining gaze directly.
Flame pushes into combat too, moving to distract the larger creature as Gaius strikes.
Startled as she finds herself aging, Tal'ariel turns to her dark magics once more. The infusion of blood seems to rejuvenate her body, returning her to a youthful state.
;
Try as she might, Tal'ariel is unable to avoid the gaze of the much larger spectral lion, and feels it piercing into her being, though she avoids a potentially worse fate. She lashes out at the creature with her sword and then takes a step back from combat.
Bran quickly recalls a story of a fellow fighter who was once forced into a deadly battle against a creature with such a stare. There was some trick...
Raising his buckler and gauntlet forward, he uses the small glimmers and reflections to push through to the spectral monster.
"Don't look at it!"
Keen Eye (Perception 5 ranks): You have mastered the art of using the reflective surface of your shield to locate foes that you dare not look at directly. On your turn, you may choose to forfeit your shield’s AC bonus for 1 round to improve your defenses against one creature using a gaze attack. Your chance to avoid having to make a saving throw against that creature’s gaze attack increases to 100%, and the creature does not gain concealment against you. For every 5 ranks in Perception you have above 5, you may simultaneously use this ability against another creature with a gaze attack.
Hamailii's ghostly starknife strikes the dire lion.
Gaius could be affected twice in the same round.
Despite his efforts to avoid the beast's gaze, he meets it.
Two of Gaius' strikes miss, and two hit.
Is Flame boosting Gaius's AC against the next attack?
Bran uses his buckler's reflection to engage the ghost. He also strikes at it with the spiked gauntlet.
The lion swipes at , its claws sinking past all the magical wards and into his heart. However, the combination of the magic, Flame's efforts, and Gaius's own quickness make the blow not as grevious as it might have been.
Trellara keeps singing with her eyes closed and shouts "Let me know what I can do!"
Round 2
Ghost Dire Lion -29
Trellara
Gaius -43
Tal'ariel
Hamailii
Bran
Seeing a quick glance off his buckler he strikes at the lion with his gauntlet.
"Trellara, help out Gauis! Who knows what it's capable of!"
Tal'ariel tries to shield all of her companions from evil.
She takes another step back.
Tal'ariel, you are all currently within Hamailii's Magic Circle Against Evil, which makes PfE redundant, so I will let you retcon your action if you wish. If you have your eyes open, we'll use the same rolls for the gaze (but roll 1d4 for Cha damage).
Bran strikes the lion once, and Hamailii's starknife hits again. The cleric fails to make contact with Gaius, but her hand remains charged with healing power.
Trellara tries to heal Gaius.
;
Gaius strikes again, trying not to look directly at the creature as he does so. This makes his life difficult!
Gaius meets the lion's gaze despite his best effort!
His soul is tormented by the dire lion's unholy visage.
The ghost lion presses the attack on Gaius.
The warrior's luck turns, and he dodges the attack.
Trellara again tries to heal Gaius.
Round 3
Ghost Dire Lion -62
Trellara
Gaius -31, 4 Cha damage
Tal'ariel -17, 2 Cha damage
Hamailii
Bran
"Stupid, bloody!" Gaius seems to be becoming less and less conversant the more he fights the creature, attacking more with blind fury than any real strategy!
The swords manage to slice the spectral form twice... it seems to be losing cohesion... somebody finish it!
Round 3
Ghost Dire Lion -70
Trellara
Gaius -46, 4 Cha damage
Tal'ariel -17, 2 Cha damage
Hamailii
Bran
Tal'ariel tries to finish this.
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Though her attack is not very accurate.
Tal'ariel just misses the lion.
Bran seeing that Gauis is faltering musters up some inner strength and unleashes a flurry of attacks from the safety of his mirrored arm.
Though the attacks aren't very accurate, he feels that one of them may have landed its mark.
Bran's first raging swing is out of control, and misses wildly. His second swing, while still aggressive, is more precise and manages to land, the spiked gauntlet slamming into the phantom.
The Ghost Dire Lion fades away!
As you take a moment to catch your breath (and probably heal up), you hear a rumble of thunder outside.
Trellara still has her eyes closed. "What happened? Is it gone?"
Bran exhales a moment and turns to the others, "It's gone. We've felled the creature. Are you all ok?"
Trellara opens her eyes.
"I am fine... but Gaius looks awful! And Tal'ariel too!"
Both of their faces are scarred from meeting the gaze, as if mauled by a lion.
"I could try to heal some of their wounds," says the bard, "but we may need more of my magic for what lies ahead."
She will heal more if asked to, although between Hamailii's channeling and wand it probably isn't the optimal course.
The corridor ends in a dead-end, although Tal'ariel soon enough finds the secret door.
Bran sizes up the two wounded allies, "You feel okay? You sure don't look it, but that ghost didn't do anything to you did it?" He seems curious and a little worried, "Either way we should use our resources as best we can, we can't afford to walk into another one of those wounded."
He pauses, "I don't know much about magic, but if we have anything that's less flexible, maybe we should use it first."
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Uh just in time! This gets more and more horrible.
Hamailii touches Gaius who gets healed a bit instantly.
She looks at Tal'Ariel and Gaius.
You two look damaged, but it seems the hurt goes a bit deeper with both of you. I have one spell to help with that at the moment. And of course i can heal you!
"Goodness, Gaius, your face looks awful. I can heal you with this wand, though it takes a bit of time. It . . . um . . . does feel a little funny because it invokes devil magic, but really there's no lasting harm."
Tal'ariel goes to her treacherous trusty wand to heal herself, but as the wounds close, she still feels a throbbing in her face. Her hands go over and feels the scar, the same scar that was now marring Gaius's pretty face.
"Wait--my face, it didn't heal!" This seems to send Tal'ariel in a panic. "Er, does it look bad? Hamailii, you can only help one of us? Well, obviously looks matter a lot more to a girl!" She looks around as the others seem to balk at her logic. "Er, I mean, I guess you should help whichever one of us looks worse."
She grips her sword tighter with anger and determination. "Next time, I am NOT going to be surprised if another freaking ghost walks out of a wall!"