The icthyian abominations gape soundlessly at the barbarian, and their eyes look dull and insensate but possess a cold malice. Those seeing them are reminded of the horrible things from the deepest ocean depths overlaid on the form of a man.
Akahale allows himself a small smug smile as Seram boots in the door and unleashes abomination on them.
"Speak deep ones. Speak of your purpose before doom falls upon you all."
Akahale addresses the horrors, and they pay him as much heed as they paid Seram. Their answer is a ghastly gasping, and their corroded swords are brought to bear.
"Very well. Opportunity was offered and refused. Doom follows." Akahale's eyes spin with black motes as he starts to channel his powers.
Rowan's jaw drops.
After a moment he blinks before looking at whoever is closest to him as he is near the back if not at the back.
"What in heaven's name is that?!" Rowan asks.
Manny gapes at the fish-men with a slack-jawed look very similar to their own. He then slaps his hand over his eyes and pulls it down his face slowly.
"BArbarians." He mutters. "Always thinkin' with their biceps!"
He then grins as he takes his staff in a two handed grip and levels it at the nearest fish-face. The tip of the staff begins to glow as the wizard focuses his power.
"Fish-fry anyone?"
"What in heaven's name is that?!" Rowan asks.
"That is the fun I was promised earlier!", Seram anwsers.
"I'll leave that one too you", he motions to the party. "Me and my friend here are going to dance by ourselves."
ROUND 1
Block 1
It
Fishmen Slayers
Seram
Manny
Block 2
Akahale
Grafire
Rowan
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are within 2 squares of a fishman at the beginning of your turn, you take a -2 penalty to attack rolls (thanks to their Vile Stench aura) until the start of your next turn. This is a poison effect. At the moment that means everybody except Rowan is affected.
With unexpected speed, It moves to interpose Itself between Mandrake and the nearest creature (2 squares NE). It then attempts to use Its shield to push the creature back down the stairs whence it evidently came.
The fish-man dodges It's rush and squeezes past him into the room, with a horrible silence it proceeds to stab It quite nastily with its rusty rapier.
The fish-man in front of Seram glares at him balefully and dashes into the room, thrusts at the indomitable barbarian backed up by its comrade, who also takes a stab.
Another foul beast flops horribly into the chamber and stabs Akahale.
Things look bad for the intrepid investigators as they are assailed on all sides by foul fish beasts.
"This is great", Seram looks down at his wounds. "It's been too long since someone's been able to cut me. I can finally cut loose!"
"Come on!"
The fish-man dodges It's rush and squeezes past him into the room, with a horrible silence it proceeds to stab It quite nastily with its rusty rapier.
Fortunately, It is well-protected against such things.
Fabes:
Grinning with glee, Seram deftly slices at the creature and it stumbles backwards. He has turned the tables on it!
Akahale grimaces slightly as Seram's enthusiasm pushes another fishy abomination his way. "I am so glad your day is improving" he comments drily.
Moving diagonally works the same as other movement, except you can’t cross the corner of a wall or another obstacle that fills the corner between the square you’re in and the square you want to move to.
The fish-men eagerly size up Akahale as an ideal specimen for disection.
Gagging on the fish-man's stench, Mandrake releases his staff with one hand to grab his nose.
"Ack! Gag! EWwww! Really now, You can't wait till your alone to do that? That's just rude! I mean c'mon! You stink! Go away, Shoo, scram, beatit,... GIT!"
Waving his staff one-handed as a very ineffective fan, Manny attempts to fend off the fish man, or at least the odor. On the last word the mage jabs at the scaly monstrosity with the end of the staff instead, and with a peal of thunder a rippling wave of force erupts from the end of the staff to batter at the Aberration.
Mandrake's 'Spectral Ram' spell: (vs Fort) (1d20 11=17, 2d10 7=17)
Looking grimly at the advancing fishfoes, Akahale shifts diagonally . "Abomination," he hisses at the brute, as he reaches upwards and swings himself onto the stairs.
Acrobatics check (DC20) to leap effortlessly up on the stairs: (1d20 6=23)
Once safely out of range, he extracts his rod and aims a blast of dark power at the monstrosity.
Grafire will shift 1 sqr se to flank Fish4 and use Guarding Attack giving Manny a +10 to AC against fish4 attack until the end of my next turn.on hit
With a roar Grafire almost chokes on his acid breath and slips in behind Fish4 and tries to lay a blow on him.
Rowan calls upon his faith drawing forth his bastard sword he levels it at the abomination in front of them and states.
"Bahamut sends his greetings, do be sure this means your end!" Rowan intones as he unleashes his lance of faith
The spellcasters of the party perform a tactical retreat, or in Akahale's case a crazy acrobatic stunt! As the young dragonborn leaps to grab the banister and flip over, a fishman nicks his ankle.
The fishmen shrug off the spell Manny lets off and casually block Grafire's attack. Seram hits home. Akahale is obviously somewhat shaken by the leap and misses his target.
Rowan calls upon his god to aid him, but the lance of faith called forth is dodged narrowly by the horror he aimed at.
Its right arm levers backwards then shoots out like a piston, hammer extended, into the fish-man in front of It with a horrible squelch.
Crushing blow (with flank and bad breath) on 4 (1d20 14=32, 2d8 16=22)
It's mighty blow staggers the fish-man, but with horrible resilience the thing keeps on going.
From the other side of the room, one of the monsters heads to the warforged with terrible purpose and barges into It. The creature bounces off the metal man with a squelch.
Emboldened, it's recently pummelled comrade attempts to do the same thing. It too meets a solid wall of warrior.
The beast that Akahale recently missed, heads back into the room it emerged from and can no longer be seen by the party as it goes round the corner.
The now isolated fishman facing Seram slashes at the barbarian with its foul blade. He blocks the fishy foe's slash with his falchion and retaliates in his usual fashion only to be blocked in turn.
Manny laughs out loud as the first creature attempts to rush the man of metal.
"HA! That's quality workmanship there! Not as easy as it looks, is it?!" He chortles. Then furrows his brow and grows angry as the second also tries.
"HEY! Don't you guys ever learn? Give me a break, do you have any idea how hard it is to buff dents out of armored plate?!? Not to mention it's gonna take me a week to get the smell off of him!!" He growls. With a commanding motion, he holds up his left hand, which fills with a glowing sphere of what looks like shimmering, solidified water. Leaving it hanging in mid-air, he takes a two-handed grip on his staff and glares at the aberration directly below him.
"Batter-up fish-face!" He cries joyfully, and swings his staff, sending the shimmering sphere flying towards the creature. As it nears the monstrosity it explodes, sending shards of light scattering across it and the creature next to it, but somehow missing IT and Grafire.
Rowan draws a breath in disgust at his foe's apparent good luck.
"Bahamut bring forth your blessing upon those who serve you during this dark and ungodly time of night let your majesty restore the light and fortune to the righteous!" Rowan prays.
Stepping forward so he's alongside It with Manny behind him Rowan calls upon his soldier training and swings his sword "Astro d'crio" at the nearest fishman...
With a disgusted curl of his lip, Akahale drops a dark curse on the head of Fishthing 2, then he raises his rod high above his head and intones something in a language nobody present wishes to understand.
Dark energy curls up from the floor enveloping Fishthing 4, sucking life from the abomination into each coiling tendril.
"The gifts of the dark greet you foul one"
He backs further up the stairs to try and avoid the overwhelming stench.
Akahale heads down the stairs instead and blasts one of It's attackers with dark energy. The fishman reels and coughs up bright red blood in gouts... still in horrible silence. It fights on with horrible resolve.
Grafire attacks Fish4 with Viper's Strike:Effect: If target shifts before the start of my next turn, it provokes an opportunity attack from the ally of my choice.[IT]
The tide is turning against your aqueous foes as one fish-man in particular comes under furious assault from the heroes...
The tide is turning against your aqueous foes as one fish-man in particular comes under furious assault from the heroes...
The adventurers start to bring pressure to bear on the fish-men and their attacks hit home. Manny's force shards strike his second target as the first dodges, Grafire takes advantage of an opening backed up by Rowan's mighty swing. Could this be the turning-point in their fortunes?
It brings Its craghammer from left to right across its field, damaging both fish-creatures in front of It.
Cleave on F4 to F2 (1d20 14=28, 1d8 10=13) 5 damage to F2 on a hit.
The fishfoe's missed attack enables Akahale to step into a black void and reappear at the other end of the room. Which is what he does.
It bludgeons one of the monsters in the side of the head and it falls to the ground, dead, with a horrible thud. The warforged's blow clips the other beast and it recoils in pain.
That fish-man then tries to shove It again, to no avail. The creature backs away warily. The fish-man fighting Seram decides to make a break for it and dodges back from the barbarian and runs out of the open door, and down the stairs!
Another beast emerges right in front of Akahale (is it the same one that ran away before? Hard to tell!) and slashes at him.
Round 3 post-fish moves >>>>MAP<<<<
"Running, coward", Seram approaches the double doors and looks down.
Seram peers through the doors and sees that the stairs lead down to a room. Other than that, he can't tell very much.
Mandrake looks at the fish-man occupied by IT and Grafire, then looks past the stairs at the one attacking the smaller dragonborn. Grasping his staff like a spear and holding it at waist level, he murmurs,...
"Alright, let's show this prehistoric b!@#$ how we do things in MY town!"
The wizard stalks around the stairway until he is only a few feet from the aberration.
"Hey! You! Slime-for-brains! Can I see your hunting license? We have a strict limit on Dragonborn hunting around here!" Manny taunts as the end of his staff begins to glow incandescent with focused energy.
"Like shooting fish in a barrel,..." He smirks. And a blast of white energy flies from the end of his staff towards the creature,...