Lunal raises the electric cloud into the air so it doesn't risk striking any allies, continuing to move forward.
Shaedeen moves forward into the larger cavern. Seeing a lone ghoul to the east, she stops and readies a strike, forcing it to come to her if it wants a piece of her.
for
Hollie rushes forward and thrusts her rapier at the ghoul on the ramp down. Meanwhile, Draxtherian takes to the air, flying down and above the goblin ghouls around their "friend undead" and snaps at the one nearest him from above.
Cator chases after the group and while he does so, he begins his raging song again
Hollie and Drax hit.
Krovek is sickened by the smell of one of the goblin ghouls!
Two of the smelly ghouls turn to Krovek, who gets clawed a little. The others keep assaulting the revenant, who ignores them, and attacks the door!
Two of the regular ghouls come out of the side passage and scrambling forward, attack Lunal and Shae!
Hollie continues to thrust her blade at the ghoul while Drax descends to try and rip this smelly one apart!
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Lunal brings down the thundercloud on the ghoul attacking them!
Then with a sharp flick and the similar incantation barked out, Lunal summons a second cloud of electricity on the furthest away ghoul!
Krovek again tries to kill any of the ghouls left behind by Drax!
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Kazaht attempts to block the advance of the ghoul attacking Lunal.
Shaedeen continues to fight defensively, stabbing at the ghoul to her immediate west.
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Cator pauses his raging song, but the lingering effects still persist. He swings his Nodachi at the nearest Ghoul
The ghouls near most of the party are badly hurt, and Hollie attacks again with her secondary attack but barely misses. The goblin ghouls are able to dodge out of the way of all of the physical attacks.
They return the favor by attacking Krovek, stepping around to try to attack him, and continuing to hit the revenant.
One hits the revenant twice, and the others miss Krovek. One moves to engage with Hollie.
Hollie's ghoul attacks her, the one near Cator attacks him, and the one near Kazaht attacks him.
Two of Cator's mirror images disippate and Kazaht is bitten. The stalwart megafauna's muscles sieze up and it can't move!
Krovek senses his companion has suffered a dangerous wound. "Kazaht is paralyzed--protect him!" he demands.
He himself tries to finish off the immediate threat so he can also help. ;
Lunal raises both arms, using them like puppet strings, a maestro of storms as the two different thunderclouds dance around!
Hollie and Drax each continue to slash, thrust, claw, and bite at the undead fiends before them.
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Shae continues to fight defensively.
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Cator again strikes at the nearest ghoul
The ghoul near Lunal is damaged by the lightning. The ghoul near Shae is killed by Shae, despite fighting defensively. Cator steps up and finishes off the other ghoul near Lunal.
Drax misses with all of his attacks, but Krovek finishes off the ghast he's near. Hollie successfully hits her enemy.
The two goblins move to dispatch the revenant, hissing and shrieking as she ignores them and claws through the stone door.
The revenant is hit once. One of the goblins moves to attack Hollie and the other regular ghoul continues to scrabble at her with its claws.
Hollie clawed a little bit, but shakes off the paralysis. The revenant keeps attacking the door.
Hollie tries to ignore the damage and continues her attack against the ghoul, trusting that Shae and the others can handle the one moving past her.
Meanwhile, Draxtherian grows tired of this nonsense as both Hollie and their apparent key through the door are under attack and in danger. He proceeds to lash out with powerful, targeted strikes at the one near him.
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Lunal moves further into the room, sneering down at the ghoul that fell. With another dramatic gesture the flickering ball of lighting that remains continues on its ruinous path.
Shaedeen swoops into flanking position opposite Hollie against the goblin-ghast. The plucky teen grits her teeth a bit at the thing's stench but stands strong, stabbing at the monster with her rapier, dropping her defensive stance with fewer threats remaining.
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"Finally!" Krovek feels reassured again as the threats around Kazaht are eliminated and Krovek starts connecting with his own attacks. Assuming that Drax obliterates the goblin ghast in front of him, he engages the other one and with another heavy swing of the axe.
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Cator runs over to the Ghast near Shae and strikes at it with his Nodachi.
In the span of six seconds, every remaining ghoul is obliterated with a shriek, and the only sound remaining is that of the Revenant, busting a hole into the room beyond.
The revanant finally bursts a big enough hole into the door and slams through with her shoulder. She does a shriek of her own, in rage.
Lunal follows with brows lowered, but does take a brief moment to check the room to the west of them.
Hollie proceeds to try and catch up to the revenant, even as Drax lands and follows it through the opening.
As the immediate threats subside, Krovek pops out his healing wand and heals himself.
[ooc]41 charges remain on party wand.[/ooc[
"Gather close, we're gonna follow her again."
Sadly, Kazaht can't follow at the moment because he's still paralyzed!
Cator hustles into the broken door
Shaedeen follows after the revenant as well.
The western half of this foul-smelling cavern is heaped with bones, each scarred by the scraping of teeth. Most of the bones have been cracked open for the marrow within. [/ooc]Lunal sees nothing of consequence.[/ooc]
The air in this damp cavern reeks of a horrific stench—a foul combination of decay, brine, and mold. The cave contains a rickety table, its damp surface cluttered with all manner of what appears to be garbage: empty bottles, bits of clothing, crumpled bits of paper, and more, lying in neatly organized rows. A painting leans against the far side of the table, facing a large leather chair that sits nearby. This chair’s high back and cushion are horribly stained by smears of rotten meat and its arms are sticky with blood. A smaller table sits against the southern wall, its surface heaped with plates and platters of rotten, maggot-infested meat. The horrific stench of the room seems strongest to the west, where the cave’s wall has been overtaken by a horrific growth of dark green mold and dripping fungi. At the center, a patch of black tumescent fungus grows, its horny ridges and tumorlike bulbs forming what could almost be taken to be a humanoid outline. What appears to have once been an exquisite puzzle box the size of a man’s fist lies smashed on the ground at the fungoid shape’s feet.
On the table are a lock of curly hair, and some varisian jewlery. Shaedeen immediately recognizes both as her own, though she didn't even know the jewlery was missing.
The painting looks like it was originally of the woman who is in the room now, the revenant, though the painting has flesh 'pasted on' here and there in a grotesque caricature that appears to be an attempt to make it look like Shaedeen.
Aldern Foxglove is seated in the chair, looking well-coiffed, though his clothes are covered with gore and blood. His eyes widen as the party enters the room, and they especially alight onto Shaedeen, though he is somewhat distracted by the presence of the revenant that is standing in front of the chair, staring at him. His eyes flit to the revenant.
"Iesha - what, what happened." He asks, seemingly confused, though there's a look of guilt in his eyes.
The revenant stares at him, calmly, and he looks over to Shae, "there was nothing between us, my love, you are the one I care for!" Though he obviously has a look of lust in his eyes for the rogue. But he drops to his knees, and grabs at the tattered remains of her dress with his bloody fingers. Iesha Foxglove carresses his sallow cheek for a moment.
Hollie says to the others ”Surround him. He doesn’t leave this room. His evil ends here, now.”
She points her blade at him, and her eyes begin to glow silver. The draconic tattoos appear on her forearms and begin to glow a silver radiance as well, the power crawling it’s way down her weapon until the blade is radiant with silver, divine power. ”Aldern Foxglove, you are to answer for the evils you have done,” she says as she stares at him, Draxtherian snarling at her side.
Lunal tries to shove through the crowd keeping their vision from Aldern. "Ahhh!" They cry out in frustration. Lunal grabs one wrist with the other, and a jolt runs up the arm. A moment later Lunal floats a hair off the ground.
"Stay back, Shae, don't let this creeper get to you."
Krovek steps up, ready to strike if he takes an aggressive action toward the party.
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Shaedeen looks at the scene before her in abject horror. She wants to flee the house--hell, all of Varisia for that matter--but she figures some other horror lurking in the manor will get her if she tries. In the end, she takes Krovek's advice...for now.
Cator begins his raging song again, delivering an uplifting oratory to prepare his party for battle.
Krovek is inspired to heights of rage!
A moment later, Iesha shrieks in rage and attempts to destroy Aldern.
She claws at the man, who shrieks in pain, and tries to grab him by the neck, but he stumbles back, "help! She's mad, help me! My friends, my love. Don't let her kill me!"
The nobleman looks to be frightened, his eyes pleading for help. He points at Shae, "You! Shae! You’ve come to me! I knew my letters would sway your heart, my love! You came to save me!" Aldern gestures with the razor he's wielding, in a defensive way.
The revenant is focused on him, which they said means he is her killer. And he confessed to the letters, which means he is guilty of those crimes…
”Take him down!” Hollie says as she moves into the room, a protective hand in front of Shaedeen. As she advances, Draxtherian steps around and snaps at Aldern with his jaws!
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As she moves closer, though, the tattoos start to fade a bit! Hollie can feel the divine power that fuels her smite slip away, which causes her to second guess every theory she had!
”Wait…something’s not right! Stop!” she says in panicked confusion!
The nobleman shrieks when he's hurt, sobbing, holding up his hand defensively, "no, no, he's coming, why did you bring him out?" the nobleman cries in alarm, flailing his arm but with one arm holding his head, as if he's in pain, but he stiffens and his flesh cracks and bulges on his body and his mein changes. With a snarl, his face deforms, and his tongue extends from his mouth, his teeth elongate.
With a theatrical voice, 'Aldern' says “I wonder how your deaths shall affect your friends. What things might you have done that will go unfinished? What will those broken promises spawn? How will your murders shape the world?”
When the man changes, a nauseating stench permeates the air around him, affecting everyone but Iesha!
With the change, Hollie's tattoos flare to life. He may not have been evil before but he is now.
Iesha on the other hand viciously swipes at her enemy, even more badly injuring him, then successfully grabs him by the throat, lifting him up, and he's silenced, gurgling in pain as he tries to dislodge her grip.
Hollie sees the markings flare to life brightly, but the whole thing has shook her. She doesn’t know the right move anymore. ”Guys…I don’t know what is going on…”
”Guys…I don’t know what is going on…”
Lunal's eyes are pure white, sparking with electricity. They sneer down at Hollie. "He just said he would murder us. Your hesitancy is weakness. Finish him!" The last words are distorted into a thunderous boom, and a new ball of electricity appears!
Krovek hesitates in striking out as Aldern undergoes his transformation and immediately regrets it as he transforms into some evil undead.
"Listen to Lunal!" agrees Krovek. He sidesteps and strikes!
;
Kazaht makes an effort to join his friends, though it's doubtful that he will contribute given the crowded space.
Cator rushes beside Krovek to flank Aldern, saying "I dunno what is happening to Aldern but I don't think we can afford to do nothing" and strikes.
Shaedeen continues to hang back, not sure how Iesha might react were she to join the fight. The teen rogue's also not entirely sure which undead entity she fears more after witnessing firsthand the revenant's fury.
The powerful-looking ghast seems to dodge the lightning with some ease.
Krovek manages to connect, but Cator misses. The ghoul grins viciously and tumbles, trying to get away from iesha and towards Shaedeen.
As the nobleman adroitly tumbles, he lashes out with his razor on the other side, catching the revenant unawares in the side of the neck with the razor, neatly decaptiating her. The energetic, rage-filled screams are silenced with a gurgle, and the man's former wife crumbles to dust. Satisfied, the creature extends a long tongue to lick away the black blood from his tongue, and then keeping his body still, turns to Shaedeen. "If not in life - you will join me IN DEATH!" He cackles, shrieking horribly, and turns his attention to the teen.
Hunched over, the 'nobleman' leers at everyone, eyes glowing with a reddish light. "Leave her to me and you may flee - SHE IS MINE."
Hollie spins around, the divine energy coursing through her now reinforcing her determination further given his evil actions. She replies to him ”I don’t think so!” before slashing at him twice with her blade.
Drax, a bit shook by the things taunting and agility, decides to graciously allow one of the mortals to move up to attack the thing. Especially since he can reach it from here anyway. He snaps at it with his sharp fangs as his long neck snakes past Hollie.
Lunal continues burning through their arcane energy at an alarming rate, throwing the cloud back onto the corrupted nobleman!
The sight of Aldern decapitating Iesha is horrifying, and Krovek suddenly wonders if he's going to survive this fight. There was only one right response. "Aaaaarghhh!" He shouts a battle cry, trying to turn the tables and scare Aldern!
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Meanwhile, as Shaedeen flees, Kazaht suddenly moves up in her place and attempts to gore the wretched undead!
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The horror proves too much for the teen rogue: She lets out a strangled shriek and flees back the way the party came.
Though shaken, Cator Closes with Aldern and attempts to strike him again