Albrέkt howls in frustration as he realises the elemental holds a significant tactical advantage on him.
The vampyr drops his heavy blade , then moves to the wall and begins climbing toward the creature
:
Molasbar's projectile connects, but doesn't seem to cause any damage. Sariana leaps towards the elemental, but fails to hang onto the creature
Seeing Molasbar as a threat, it swoops by with another flyby attack:
+
AC 19, touch 17, flat-footed 10 (+8 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 natural,
–2 size)
hp 65/85
Fort +10, Ref +15, Will +5
DR 5/—; Immune electricity, elemental traits
Haruk fires off a quartet of missiles, opting to save his better spells for now.
Mirror Image vs. the attack, 1 = Real Molasbar.
Molasbar stumbles back, hair standing from the shock administered to him.
He murmurs "Either it is lucky, or it can see through illusions."
He considers the creatures movements as it struck, still looking for a weakness.
Kirin check
Another shuriken.
To hit
Damage
Xanos conjured a cloud of swirling silver dust on top of the elemental.
Blinded, the creature flails around erratically.
AC 19, touch 17, flat-footed 10 (+8 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 natural,
–2 size)
hp 25/85
Fort +10, Ref +15, Will +5
DR 5/—; Immune electricity, elemental traits
The blood in Xanos' eyes seemed to boil, steaming into a crimson energy.
He simply stared at the creature, then his eyes erupted. For an instant there was a line between them, like a blot of nothing surrounded in deep reddish energy. It left an after-image in the air like too long looking at the sun.
Kirin check
Another shuriken.
To hit
Damage
Hanging from the ceiling akin to an ironclad spider, Albrέkt rakes at the elemental with gauntlet wreathed in sickly green flame;
:
:
:
:
Blind, cursed and beset on all sides, the elemental is pummeled into oblivion. Careening out of air, it crashes in a burst of electrified ectoplasm against a wall.
Xanos collected the elemental's heart and blood in an alchemical sample jar.
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Sari takes advantage of her greater speed and scoops a fingerful of elemental blood from the floor, before sticking her finger in her mouth and sucking on it like a lollipop.
"It tingles!" She reports with a slight expression of surprise. "I can almost feel it fizzing. This is spectacular!"
Albrέkt scuttles to the floor and recovers his heavy blade, as Sariana extols the virtues of the elemental's blood, the ironclad vampyr's own hunger is piqued.
He approaches Xanos as the necromancer busies himself collecting the elemental viscera. With drool forming on his jagged fangs the brutish undead beckons for his share;
"Let me tazte der elementares blut too Old Vun..."
"Do what you want with the rest. I only need the heart." Xanos said, finishing cutting the static-charged ball of unearthly viscera and sealing it in a jar. He stood and moved on to look at the alter the elemental was protecting.
The statue of Vetra-Kali is carved from hard green alabaster. He holds three knives and three bowls and leers eyeless over the altar before him. He presents a figure of brutal alien malice. The empty eye sockets are the same shape and size as the three emeralds you've found in the Horn.
The alter is scarred and stained black. It has channels cut in that feed into a basin etched with runes of corruption carved into its base.
Wrapped around the statue and alter are heavy silver chains that connect to a heavy seal pressed with the holy sunburst of blessed Mitra. This artifact prevents Ventra-Kali from manifesting on this plane. Removing it is your goal. Even so bound, the alter still radiates evil.
Xanos stared at the statue and the seal for a time. Then one by one he fitted the gems into the statue's eyes.
Albrέkt gluttonously laps at the ectoplasmic viscera, pausing only to observe Xanos approach the status.
As the necromancer fits the gemstone eyes into their waiting sockets, the ironclad vampyr halts his ravenous gulping and rises to observe...
Each gem begins to glow with a sickly green light when placed into its corresponding socket. Each of you is blessed with the knowledge of the boon provided by the gems when they reside in their proper place.
The eye of vigilance, when focused upon, allows the user to scry on any part of the horn.
They eye of hatred is on guard for any Mitran intrusion and will flash a warning is any divine Mitran magic is cast within the horn.
The withering eye returns the blessing of Vetra-Kali upon his temple. The eye desecrates the Horn (as per the spell, but is affects both undead and daemons)
With the placement of the eyes, there is a unerving chuckle that rises from the floor and the form of the the dread wraith Ezra the thrice damned coalesces in the room. "Well done pawns of Asmodeus. The blessing of Vetra-Kali fills our halls once more."
The wraith's form seems to swell, "Now remove the seal and let my lord's return be upon us."
While it speaks, the forms of Hexor and Vexor pop in the room. They look to you expectantly.
"There are preparations to be made first. The Horn is vulnerable." Xanos said flatly.
As first the dread wraith, then the daemons manifest, Albrέkt greets them with a leering grin dressed with ectoplasmic gore;
"Vunderbar... but as Der Old Vun says, zhere are schteps to be taken. Ritus to be karried out. Only zhen vil Der Neu Epoch be upon zhis most fragile mortal koil...
The wraith hisses, "Preparations? You've been stinking up the place 'preparing' for weeks. You disappoint me with your lack of progress, Asmodean. I don't like being disappointed."
The creature slips back into the stones, but you get the impression that it has not gone far.
Xanos ignored the wraith, focusing instead on learning how to use the magics of the Eyes of Vetra-Kali. He explained how scrying worked, and how to focus the view of the eye towards specific areas.
"We should keep someone here on watch at all times, with an active Message spell to allow them to alert the rest of us should they spot something," Xanos said. "This will be the backbone of our defensive preparations."
Haruk also ignores the undead. For something that lived forever, it could use some more patience. "Good idea Xanos, perhaps one of our newly recruited minions could be stationed here?"
Molasbar doesn't ignore the undead. Instead, a neat compartment of his mind starts working on solutions for the seemingly inevitable confrontation with them. He says to the others "Hexor and Vexor do not need sleep, and can teleport to us to warn us. The scry ability you described could be used for them to keep track of where we are, so they know where to go to get to us." He defers to Xanos and Haruk when he asks "Unless you had another priority for them?"
"I do not. Excellent suggestion." Xanos said as he headed for the stairs.
At the wraith's chastisement Albrέkt hisses a harsh chuckle;
"You vud all do vell to heed der vords of Ezra Dreimal Verdammt. If der toten turns on us, minn einfluss may nicht spare you."
If he hears Rose's dissent on his feasting the fell plague knight does not react.
Instead he grins, basking in the newly awakened power of The Horn and the boon it gifts to the dead within its halls.
"Truly zhis isz now heim. Der power zhe Drittes Auga exzudes... It engorges me... From loin to fang..."
As the ecstasy of his feast fades, Albrέkt wipes his bloody maw and nods towards the hulking daemons;
"Vhat pflicht do ve schet our most prized daemons?"
The next few days were productive. Hellhounds and a Nightmare were summoned. Mudmen were created in the depths of the Maw. Molsabar and Xanos finished their work on the Lyre of Building. Xanos' disembodied right hand had been playing it nearly non-stop since it was finished. The Horn was slowly rearranging itself, breaking down walls and building new ones, strengthening fortifications, preparing for the inevitable arrival of the forces they'd been recruiting.
Molsabar directed the efforts of the Lyre to repair the Horn's damaged traps, and dig out a few more based on Xanos' designs. Xanos completed the repair work on the damaged Golem and was nearly ready to throw the switch and wake it up.
Albrekt, Rose and Sarianna made additional trips to town, returning with cartloads of equipment hauled back by Albrekt's tireless charger. The Horn's magical larder was soon stocked and the Death's Head Tavern was ready to reopen business. Halthus the Flayer, their resident hundred year old, formerly petrified Torturer (having nothing else to do at the moment) was given a secondary job as their bartender. All he needed now were patrons, of one sort or the other.
While the ninth knot worked, the seventh knot was not busy either. They tracked down a suitable sacrifice whom they were convinced was a blood relative of a devoted Son of the Pale Horseman.
On their last supply trip, Sari, Rose and Albrekt returned with a caravan of attendees. Their recruitment efforts had paid off. There were not a lot of followers yet, but it was a start.
It was nearly time to begin the ritual.
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Sounds good to me. I have to agree with Gang, I'm finding this very hard to keep track of without being able to see/absorb all the information in one go. The pace of pbp conversation doesn't help!
This is a great group though so I'm sticking regardless :D If this does become too tough we could probably jump straight over to Helps Vengeance boil 3 without too much trouble! Swap archbaton Fez for Cardinal Thorn and you're pretty much done!
Whilst in the city on Knot business, the fell vampyr visits upon the Orphanage in the guise of his kindly sage Opa Langenschlaf ("Grandfather Longsleep").
He will make a 200GP coin donation citing he wishes to fund the eduction of the orphanage's wards, and will also gift the Orphan Master Bergil Mott 2 Talingarde Military Medals (worth 90gp each) that were taken from Franz's Mott of Talingarde's effects. (Old Opa will presume that they are related and cite the recovered medals should perhaps reside with the family...
Albrέkt ensures that there are some craftsmen amongst the new recruits, and upon arrival back at The Horn puts them to immediate use constructing a ornate coffin for him to nest in.
Regardless of other work to be carried out - the towering vampyr will stress upon the mortals the importance of the work, and the priority it is to be given (regardless of instructions tor the contrary from his fellow Knotters)...