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Hank frowns at the results of his weapon. "Oh dear me that didn't go nearly as well. I had hoped better after the way the plants burned up from the fi--"
Hank stops in mid-sentence and calls out to Roman: "Good sir! Have you any more whisky? It need not be the good stuff, but if you do, douse yon Captain in it!"
Hank reaches down and makes some adjustments, setting the Configu-a-tron to 'molecular agitate'.
Amy pulls out her folded leather vial holder belt with holy water vials from her bag and flings one over head to the Captain. Amy keeps chanting keep the protection up in case some one gets hurt.
"Just a moment, Professor! Bit busy."
Roman executing a diving roll to pick up his fallen sword.
The glass vial of holy water blessed by Sarenrae breaks on contact with the Captain. The water splashes over the captain and some splashing on to the near by creatures. The holy water reacts to the evil creatures and they start to sizzle due to the effect of the water and it looks like the skin or what is left is burning.
Amy's protective ward dissipates as she hurls the vial. She'll be unable to call upon that blessing again while there is combat nearby. The holy water does manage to splash the Captain, causing burns that are slow to heal. Fleet begins to saw at the vines holding the sickle, and the Captain turns in anger and barks a guttural command. All of the plant zombies begin to converge on his location, trampling Roman in the process .
Silvio acts on the distraction from Amy's attack to once again spring into action. With the dashing agility of a chelaxian hero he dashes towards the pirate captain and uses some vegetation at the cave ceiling to swing himself behind the undead creature, trying to use the persuing vines to knock it over.
Silvio bravely swings in, knocking the Captain to the ground. The force of the blow makes the Dashing Hero lose his grip on the vine, though, dropping him prone right in front of the charging zombies.
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Hank frowns. "Stop playing with the plants and do what always works: Set something on FIRE! Pssht. Oh, nevermind I'll do it myself."
Hank futzes with some more dials and turns up the power. He points the Configu-a-tron at the Captain and starts to agitate the pirate's molecules as fast as they can go.
Roman screams as he's pummeled by the zombies. He forgets his sword for a moment and sings a song of healing on himself.
Amy runs up to Roman and try to help heal him. "In the name of Sarenrae, I will heal you." whispers Amy as she touches the injures caused by the zombies.
As Amy touches the injures they disappear.
Hank's gadget ignites the vegetation covering the Captain, and he screams in pain and anger. The fire dies out a few moments later, revealing living flesh underneath. While the vines begin to regrow, there's some time where the Captain's body is uncovered and (hopefully) vulnerable. As Amy casts her healing spell , the giant zombie - sword still protruding from its chest - lunges at the Cleric, teeth bared. The other (regular-sized) zombies split up at the Captain's command. A half-dozen charge Fleet, while the rest head for Hank and Silvio. You notice they're slower to respond to orders but still extremely dangerous.
Roman realizes that he's been left alone. At first his instinct is to protect Amy, but he decides to trust the cleric to protect herself for a moment longer.
Instead he retrieves his sword, and runs to the Captain. He desperately lunges at the monster, hoping to end this fight in a single strike.
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Hank's eyes narrow. While a part of him is in screaming, abject, pants-wetting terror at the plant-zombies that are coming to rend his flesh, the rest of him sees the pirate-captain as a physics problem just BEGGING to be solved. For right now all the attacks have been somewhat effective, but have been countered by the shielding-effect of the vines.
...
So what if they had some way of -conducting- an attack -into- his body?
...
Since the Configu-a-tron is already set on Agitate, he activates it again...but focuses on the sword in the pirate's chest!
Amy proforms a jumping kick at the giant zombie - sword still protruding from its chest, her foot planting on the sword pushing it in more before using it to bounce way from the giant zombie.
"Crap..crap...crapcrapcrapcrapcrap" Fleet mutters to himself as the zombies charge. He turns his nervous energy into more frantic sawing with his dagger at the vines, noting how they seem to resist and squirm away from his blade even as he cuts at them. He wonders at the power this sickle must hold...I bet I'll command these plant shamblers when I grab hold of this thing...almost got it! he thinks to himself as he pushes past the tiredness in his arms from the repetitive motion.
I continue to saw at the vines to try and lift off the sickle from the plants' grasp until I get it, even when the zombies reach me and begin tearing me apart.
With a single clutch of his muscles Silvio heaves his legs backwards and tumbles to his feet in order to meet the oncoming zombies. He fixes his feet and launches into a attack once the first zombie comes into his reach, striking his rapier through the head of the undead.
The beam from Hank's device strikes the sword in the Captain's chest, and it instantly begins to glow red-hot. Howling in pain, he pulls it out and hurls it at the Artificer with great speed and power. This leaves him defenseless long enough for Roman to skewer him again. The result is clearly a serious injury, although the Captain remains upright. Suddenly, Roman feels thorny vines envelope his limbs, pricking him dreadfully and obstructing his movement.
Elsewhere, Amy executes a gymnastic maneuver worthy of a Monk as she bounds away from the giant zombie. With a deep growl, it lowers its head and charges for her. Meanwhile, Silvio desperately fights to keep the undead horde away from him and Fleet. He takes down several, but there's too many to fend off for long . That's when Fleet finally manages to sever the vines and place him hand on the sickle. Immediately, he feels a powerful presence attempt to wrest control of his mind.
"Grrrggghhhhaaagggghhhh! GET OUT! OUT OF MY-HRRRREEEEAD!" the necromancer shouts, his fists clenching into white-knuckled knots, one around the hilt of the sickle. He punches himself hard in the side of the head with his free hand, hoping the pain will distract whomever is invading his mind.
+2 if Int is allowable, but usually Wis applies here. *edit* Never mind! I kicked this roll's ass. :)
Roman grits his teeth as the thorny vines continue to restrict his movement. But he makes another stab at the Captain.
Roman's aim is better than his last lunge, but leaves him vulnerable.
Amy dodges, sidesteps, bobs, and dips past the giant zombie and any other zombies that are between her and Silvio.
Once behind Silvio, Amy lays her hand on him and whispers, "In the name of Sarenrae, I will heal you."
Silvio's elation hearing his rapier sing allows the dashing chelaxian to ignore the pain of the zombies connecting with their fists. He dances between his foes striking out with deadly accuresy, while leaving his opponents hitting nothing but air at best and at worst, each other.
Fleet's will is much stronger than the sickle's evil intelligence had anticipated. With a thought, he hurls the foreign influence to the far reaches of his mind where it is unable to affect anything. For now...
The vines constrict as Roman strikes once again at the Captain, tearing the thorny wounds deeper . In addition, he's so focused on his immediate opponent that he overlooks the zombie charging in from one side. It slams into him and begins to gnaw at his sword arm . That's when Hank's gadget blows a gaping hole through the Captain's chest. The undead looks down in shock, and the plants in the chamber suddenly cease their animation. The other zombies, meanwhile, look around in confusion as the green light fades from their eyes. They remain upright, though, and quickly get back to doing what zombies do best - trying to eat the brains of the living. At least nothing seems to be controlling them now. Silvio keeps up the fight, dropping any undead that enter his reach.
Roman shouts in pain as the zombie bites down on his arm. He attempts to sing a soothing song of healing to mend his wounds, but he flubs the words.
@Amy: There's a zombie between you and Silvio. The concentration required for spellcasting means you won't be able to defend yourself from its attacks. Heedless of the danger, you focus your healing energy... and promptly lose it as the zombie begins gnawing on your leg You'll have difficulty walking (let alone any feats of agility) until the wound heals.
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Hank had had a working theory that once the main pirate cpatian had been taken 'hour de combat' that the rest of the zombies would collapse. Oh, wait, no. That's vampires. Oh confound!
He frowns and takes a step back. He makes a few adjustments to the config-u-a-tron. Setting it to target the plant-zombies, he puts the setting to 'gravitons' and hits the button for 'reverse'.
A nearby zombies claws desperately to Hank's arm, trying to break the law of reverse-gravity. It's yellow, dirt-encrusted fingernails rake his skin.
It goes without saying that Silvio simply cannot allow the zombies to gang up on Amy! The brave sea captain acts to trip the undead between him and the cleric hoping to free up some space. Then he stabs down on the unsuspecting zombie to pin it to the ground.
Fleet clutches the sickle in both hands now that the force invading his mind has receded. "Now...how to use you..."
"Okay everyone, stand back! I'm going to attempt science!" the necromancer shouts, gesturing at the remaining plant-zombies with his sickle. "STAND DOWN, THRALLS!" the necromancer intones, in hopefully his most authoritative voice.
Smiling at dashing Silvio, Amy said, Thank you for protecting me.
Amy vigorously stabs her staff down on the head of the gnawing on her leg as she moves her leg away from the zombie in an almost hobble due to the bite.
Amy then waits in anticipation of what Fleet is doing.
Smiling at dashing Silvio, Amy said, Thank you for protecting me.
"You are most welcome", Silvio replies with a graceful bow. "It is Silvio's duty to prevent harm onto his companions!"
Silvio and Amy continue to stand fast against the zombies surrounding them and bring down several more - taking a pair of bites in the process . Hank's device proves to be quite effective as he sends a cluster of undead skyward before dropping them back down. That's when Fleet stands up, brandishing the sickle. At his command, the remaining zombies stop moving.
This evil artifact is possessed with the mind of an evil druid who seeks to transform the world into a plant-based realm. As long as the weapon is in his/her possession, the wielder is immune to disease and poison. In addition, s/he gains control of nearby plantlife and can turn clusters of vines into disease-filled zombies under his/her control. However, the evil intelligence inside the weapon will continually search for weakness and attempt to dominate its wielder's mind.
"Fleet?? There is no chance of turning into a zombies from a bite right?"ask Amy with a touch of concern. "Great Job in taking them down, now how to destroy the sickle?"
Turning to Hank and Roman, Amy said"Amazing job taking down zombies. Thank you."
Roman carefully moves away from the zombies before singing a song of healing magic.
Doing the little peace that as come about, Amy decides to do some healing.
Amy walks to Roman and whispers, In the name of Sarenrae, I will heal you.
"Who said I want to destroy the sickle, Amy? This thing could be the key to our survival on this island, I'm not about to throw it away! I mean...just look!" he says, gesturing at the quiescent zombies.
"Back off, zombies!" he orders, and they step away from Amy and Silvio.
The necromancer glances down at the greenish-glowing sickle in his hand, and smiles. The weight of it feels good in his palm. Really good.
"Thralls!" he orders once again, gesturing at them with the sickle. "Finish off the pirate captain, so he can't bother anyone else, then destroy each other."
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Hank starts nodding along with John, until he hears that last part. "Destroy each other? As amusing as it would be to see our recently-former would-be-murderers slay each other, sees to me that they are now a valuable resource! Canst you summon these things at will on the instant? If not, why not bring them with us? Or is our path of escape so secure that we would never show gratitude for such beings so willfully foddering themselves unto the canon?
Consider again, friend Fleet. The pirate, yes, of course, but loyal (if mindless) allies are always in short supply."
Fleet shrugs. "Very well then thralls, you may only destroy the pirate," he orders them, pointing the sickle in their direction.
"I wanted to create new ones on the fly, considering we're on a mini-island off the main island right now. I don't know how well these blighters swim. But you're right, no sense in throwing away something we already have. We'll test it! More science!"
"Fleet, I am just concerned about the fact that the sickle has so much power and has caused so much evil on this island. Will you be able to keep any possible evil away?" with a concerned look Amy responds. "So now that we have the sickle, how do we lift the curse on the island? Could science help us heal this island?"
Amy walks to Hank and ask, "My I try to heal you?
At Amy's words, a dark cloud passes over Fleet's face. "I..." you can hear doubt in his voice as he considers the sickle in his hand. "I did feel a...presence, within the sickle itself, when I picked it up."
He looks up at the cleric, resolve in his features. "I can handle it."
As Amy moves to heal Silvio, her injured leg gives it for a moment, and she stumbles. When this happens, some material from one of the destroyed zombies gets into the wound. Hopefully there'll be no infection...
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Hank nods as Amy approaches her. He has seen her ability ease the injury of others, and has no cause to doubt her abilities. As she draws near, he takes up her concerns. "Indeed, while there may be consternation about using the weapon of the enemy, we must realize that weapons themselves are not intrinsically evil. A sword is just a sword, but the hand that wields is the source of either divinity or maleficence. Since we know our good friend John to be a man of integrity, I'm sure we have little to fear from the sickle henceforth."
Whether Hank is ignorant of the presence, or just not genre savvy, is yet to be seen. =)
Silvio and Amy continue to stand fast against the zombies surrounding them and bring down several more - taking a pair of bites in the process .
As Amy moves to heal Silvio, her injured leg gives it for a moment, and she stumbles. When this happens, some material from one of the destroyed zombies gets into the wound. Hopefully there'll be no infection...
Silivio quickly rushes to the cleric's side as he sees her gate falter. "Are you ok, lady Amy? You should tend to your wounds first and foremost. With you we have a steady supply of health care, but without you woefully short on options."
"Silvio would like to voice his dissent regarding the sickle. It is true that a weapon is rarely evil in of itself, but it does happen. And when it does it comes in nefarious forms, like a sickle. And we also have the word or the lovely nymph who tasked us with securing the blade and remove it from the island. With that said, Silvio will not press the matter, merely stating his oppinion for now."
"One moment, Amy, let me serenade your pain away." Roman belts a slow vibrato kissed with healing magic.
Roman clears his throat as the last note warbles just slightly off.
***
• Whom do you serve?
• What do you wish I would do?
• How can I get you to ______?
• What are you really feeling right now?
• What do you most desire?
Roman approaches John, seeming charming and open. He puts a friendly hand on his shoulder.
"Master Fleet, what are you really feeling right now?"