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Helgarr stares hard at Cleo, anger evident in her face and eyes. She grits her teeth, looking around at all of them in turn - "I hope it was worth it for you" - is the only thing she manages to say, taking another drink.
"Follow me outside, we need to talk about Maria. Come" - the barbarian stands up, her strong constitution being the only thing keeping her from wobbling as she moves outside the inn - "Will be right back" - she informs the staff.
Outside, she pauses for a moment, pondering what their group has become, and how far they have strayed from the path. She feels a good amount of blame for all that has passed.
Then Helgarr looks at the others - "I should have stopped you. Like I should have stopped Maria" - the young woman clenches her fists and growls - "Now she is dead because I let her go on that foolish mission. and you are... I don't even know" - she tells them - "She attacked me, unliving, turned by something or someone... She was dead but living you see?! And she attacked me! Tried to kill me!" - she roars, then pauses again - "So I ended it"
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Cleo bites back a retort to Helgarr's greeting. She doesn't want to fight with Helgarr, she wants to stop the bad people from killing more. Silently but still resolute Cleo follows the large woman outside and listens...
and crumbles, each and every bit of her. Maria...
"We." she manages quietly after several minutes. "We should have stopped her. She was a child... and we failed her." she wraps her arms around her chest, trying not to break down. She can't beat this feeling down, so the tears come no matter how hard she tries.
Stepping over to Helgarr, she reaches out and grasps the woman's hand. "I'm sorry you had to do that alone. It wasn't Maria anymore, you know that... it doesn't help, though does it. She was a beautiful ball of energy, full of life... and snark." she adds with a sad smile "Remember her like that."
Letting go and standing straighter, looking Helgarr into the eyes. "As for me, it is still me. I knew there would be a price, but I accept it. Erastil is punishing me. The other one -" refusing to say her name "- is laughing at me. But I'd do it again. People are dying. I am tied of... " ...being helpless... "… letting that happen."
Wabbit follows Cleo and Helgarr outside but let's them talk this out..... He didn't KNOW Maria but respected her bravery and clearly sees the effect this has had on Cleo.
Besides.... He's exhausted and certainly can't muster the energy to defend their actions regardless of how well intended.... Not now and given the wound he feels in his soul... Likely Not ever
"Yes, I failed her" - Helgarr nods - "And all of you also, even if you think the price is acceptable" - she adds through gritted teeth, though not letting go of Cleo's hand.
"We all need to sleep, and tomorrow we need to go to Father Zantus and make the arrangements for Maria's... Remains..." - she changes the subject - "Then you will let me know what there is to know"
Brelin keeps quiet during the journey to the inn her thoughts somewhere else entirely.
Before going to bed, she looks at this unselfish group, these people who gave a bit of themselves to help strangers without regret and makes a decision.
Tomorrow we should talk at breakfast... I don't think we all saw the same thing. I'm gonna need your help after we wrap this... or maybe I saw another part of the same problem we're dealing with.
Anway, sleep first, we all deserve it
The news of Maria stung her dearly, but it's a different face she sees during her troubled night.
The woman's face remains blurry to your vision, but something more familiar is a medallion hanging from her neck. It is a heavy-looking large coin that bears the mark of the sehedron rune, the five-pointed star. As for the town, it was in shambles. Not destroyed, but likely owned by the poorest people who scrounged whatever materials they could find. It was very dark, with no natural sunlight coming from a black sky.
Your dreams are dark tonight. You see yourself in a mirror, wearing a black hooded robe. Cleo, Brelin, Wabbit, and Aggah stand around a huge ritual circle, with at least two dozen people bound inside. One of those people is Helgarr. Wabbit says "In order to save Sandpoint, we must make sacrifice in this new ritual." His eyes are gleaming with excitement and ecstasy. Cleo says "For the greater good we will sacrifice the few to save the many." She looks calm and certain of her task. Brelin says "The criminals and those who oppose us will be the catalyst to our salvation. Let them do good for once!" Her eyes have glossed, over, focused already on another future. Aggah says "Aggah just here for the killing!" Her mouth waters. Then all four pray to various dark gods (Urgathoa, Norgorber, Zon-Kuthon, and Lamashtu). They draw their blades and one by one slaughter the bound prisoners, including Helgarr. Their pleas and threats fall on deaf ears. When all are dead, their blood fills the ritual circle and a red light erupts to the ceiling. When all calms down, the four members say in unison "It is done."
Monday the 18th of Lamashan, 4711AR. 2AM
You are all woken up by the sound of a man screaming a blood-curdling cry outside. Through the window, you see a hoard of figures approaching from the other side of the river, and along the bridge you see a man falling over. Several small figures leap onto his chest.
Brelin, still reeling from a troubled night tries to move as fast as she can donning her robe
She stops just a second to cast a protective spell and the moves to the inn's entrance. She only carries her deck and spell components bag
Cleo screams herself awake, immediately she goes for her dagger, thinking for all that is holy she'll kill herself before she'd every let that happen... but the screaming doesn't stop. No longer hers...
She rushes out, in only her shift, quiver, and bow.
Helgarr doesn't even pause to ponder - she puts the falchion at her back, grabs the bardiche, and jumps out the window - "Avast foul creatures!"
Wabbit usually sleeps like the dead. Now death pervades his dreams and he tosses and turns despite his emotional exhaustion.
Something wakes him....and then he hears the tail end of a scream
Girls! OUTSIDE! and rushes out
Helgarr picks up her weapons and leaps out of the 2nd story window to the road below. Though she doesn't quite make the landing, the only significant damage is to her pride
Brelin picks up her spellcasting materials and protects herself with a magical barrier before making her way to the Rusty Dragon's entrance. Wabbit is already getting out the door (since he didn't take anything with him), and Cleo's not too far behind him. It is at this time that Brelin notices Ameiko Kaijitsu (the owner of the Rusty Dragon) coming down from the 3rd floor wearing nothing but a nightie and a drawn rapier.
It is at this moment that Cleo realized that she forgot her holy symbol.
These little humanoids, roughly the height of a Gnome, are hunched over and walk on a combination of all fours and just two legs. Their skin is stretched taught over their bodies. Most of them aren't wearing any clothing at all. Two who killed the guard at the bridge start eating him clothes and all, and rip into him with sharp teeth and claws. The others advance over the bridge, and one sets foot onto Sandpoint proper.
"Monsters" - Helgarr growls, charging headlong at the creatures - "Have you not heard me?! Avast!"
As Cleo reaches for her holy symbol to cast barkskin on one of her barely dressed friends, her stomach drops when she realizes it is not there. Remembering the quick bath and the strong desire to sleep, combined with an ache of loss... she shaked her head, it doesn't matter. She runs as quick as she can after Wabbit.
Brelin moves outside and tries to keep up with her companions
She yells at them keeping a frantic pace
What is it? Who's attacking?
Aggah also picks up her weapons and races after Cleo. "Yes! Aggah kill things!" The two and Brelin run out the door and down Mud Street towards the sound of the man who screamed.
Ameiko jumps out the window after Helgarr, and while she did minimize the fall, the toll on her legs makes her buckle and fall over.
"Wabbit is already getting out the door (since he didn't take anything with him),"
Wabbit continues rushing to the bridge. Doesn't look like any enemies will be in striking distance this round
Ameiko stands up and begins to sing a song of glory and conquest.
Brelin, Cleo, Aggah, and Wabbit are running down Mud Street past the stables, where the horses are already whinnying. Wabbit is just about to be able to see around the corner.
Helgarr stands up and gets ready to slice any monstrosity that comes within reach. She is disappointed when the nearest undead instead opts to run up River Street, which happens to be right around the corner from Wabbit and the others. The other undead cross the bridge and begin to fan out, with one of them heading down Rum Street. The guard who was killed and eaten stands up! Now an undead skeleton with nothing but bones and half eaten flesh, he picks up his longspear and begins crossing the bridge.
Three more of the small undead crawl up to the bridge. Behind them is a human sized creature vaguely similar to the little ones. However, its tongue is at least a foot long, and it wears armour.
Wabbit continues running toward the bridge blade in hand, tinkerbell circling his head comfortingly.... He turns down river Street and attacks the thing blocking his way to the bridge
Cleo kicks herself for forgetting her holy symbol, already feeling like a horrible cleric she didn't think she could get lower, but here it is. Aggah and herself round the corner to fire at the small undead thing charging Wabbit.
Cleo will also drag her sleep addled memory for any knowledge of the undead attack.
Wabbit turns the corner and strikes at the undead, but it very nimbly sidesteps him. Cleo and Aggah turn the corner not long after, and to their knowledge they see a ghoul, but it was once a Halfling. Aggah considers shooting recklessly to hit the ghoul, but decides that accidentally hitting Wabbit might be a bad idea. Her arrow misses, while Cleo's just barely connects. It's a good hit though, but not enough to kill the ghoul.
You beat the DC by 19, so you may ask 3 questions about Ghouls from the following topics:
- Origin and Lore
- Defences and Vulnerabilities
- Offensive Capabilities
- General Statistics
Defenses: These Halfling ghouls are extremely agile, but a half decent strike from Helgarr should kill it without issue. They have a fairly strong will and reflex, they can be maneuvered around without much issue, and their undead traits are a double-edged sword. They do not possess any resistance to channel energy, nor any other kinds of damage.
Offense: Ghouls are finesse based monsters, so they usually hit often, but rarely very hard. That being said, swarms of them can prove very dangerous, especially if you succumb to their paralysis venom delivered through their claws and bite. Their bite can cause a vicious disease called Ghoul Fever. Elves are immune to the paralysis.
Stats: Ghouls are stupid, but nimble, and excel in superior numbers. They do not fight with tactics, and do not retreat. They do happen to be very good at hiding (but rarely do so), and they can be decent climbers. Ghouls only speak Necril.
"You will pay for this" - the barbarian grunts, moving forward and attacking the creature in her path.
Helgarr slowly advances and makes a careful thrust for fear of the ghoul suddenly charging her. Her cautiousness was completely in vain, for the ghoul is easily stabbed through the head and is thrown to the side to lie dead in the mud.
Brelin advances towards Cleo uses her cards, trying to save her magic
Flurry +5bab +4dex +1size , -2 piranha striking, +1 waveblade , -1neg lvl
Wabbit's just getting warmed up....Still a little groggy from being rudely woken up. He tries finishing off the one in front of him.
The Gods enchant Wabbit with a sudden haste, but alas it did not pan out. Chaldira will be disappointed yet again. Brelin however turns the corner and quickly flicks out a card at the ghoul, who now looks unsteady on its damaged legs. It does not show any sign of pain, but now limps terribly while it continues its rampage. It tries desperately to bite and claw Wabbit, all the while saying things (in Necril) like "What's for dinner? Is it time to eat!?", but fortunately it misses with every attempt.
The two ghouls charge Helgarr. Such foolishness, for one of them is effortlessly decapitated while Helgarr nimbly dodges the second's leaping bite. Ameiko comes closer to help, but stays behind Helgarr just in case. Her song reaches close enough now to affect Wabbit.
Three more ghouls races up the bridge while the armoured ghoul casts a magic spell to summon a human ghoul out of the ground. It crawls out of its hole (which fills up in an instant) and races up the bridge as well. From above the brewery, a crossbow is heard firing, and the voice of a man yells "Ah fuk! They're fording the river!"
"Ameiko, stay behind me" - Helgarr urges, stepping back and swinging again at the creature attacking her.
"The Ford..." Cleo looks over and sees more of the creatures on the other side of the river. She wants to go with Wabbit, meet with Helgarr, but if these creatures pour in from this side, they will get into town and whole knows how many will die.
"Go on ahead. Aggah and me will hold these here... hopefully she adds silently. She'll also blurt out all she knows about these creatures to the others.
I'll back you up Cleo
Brelin moves a bit to stay halfway between Cleo and Wabbit and yells at him
Wabbit, do you have your pearl? I can armor you if you have
Last but not least she flings another card at the same ghoul, trying to finish him off
[/b]
Brelin moves a bit to stay halfway between Cleo and Wabbit and yells at him
Wabbit, do you have your pearl? I can armor you if you have
Nope...it's in the room DAMN
Wabbit is highly confused.....How, why is this ghoul talking to him and how does he understand it?
+5bab +4dex +1size , -2 piranha striking, +1 waveblade, -1lvl, +1insp courage
THIS is for dinner he says in NECRIL and shoves his blade through the ghoul what the....not understanding at all how he can speak with these things
After shoving his blade through the ghoul Wabbit moves down the street to engage the next one....Helgarr! We gotta take out the leader
As Helgarr takes a step back and completely butchers the remaining ghoul from shoulder to thigh, Ameiko uses her magic to keep the song going while freeing her mouth to reply. "Well I sure wouldn't want to be in front of you! Keep it up!" She simply remains behind Helgarr and keeps singing and dancing.
Cleo and Aggah start taking pot shots at the ghouls on the far side of the river, both of which hit their target for minor wounds. Brelin however tries to finish off the ghoul in front of Wabbit and expertly dispatches it. The card she throws slaps it right on the face and explodes into silver dust, throwing it back with a sickening crunch that breaks its neck.
Wabbit tries to finish off the ghoul in front of him after saying "This is for dinner!", but Brelin beats him to the punchline.
Seeing the ghouls neck snap in front of him all because of a little card..... how does she do that?
Wabbit runs down the street and strikes at the next ghoul. Hoping to join up with Helgarr
Wabbit charges forth to stab the ghoul when he learns that Helgarr has just chopped it in half. As a slit-second decision, in instead opts to take on the skeleton. The skeleton guard tries to stop Wabbit in his tracks, but even in this reckless state Wabbit weaves around the long spear and dives in for a stab. The bones resist most of the stab to its spine, but it leaves enough damage that one small smack might just snap this guy in two. The skeleton takes a step back and then slowly tries to stab Wabbit with no chance of success. The ghouls from the bridge race up and leap into the air fangs first. They both yell "FEED ME!!!" to Wabbit. The first one didn't leap far enough to strike, but the other catches Wabbit off guard and gets a bite in. Wabbit takes some minor bite wounds, but does not befall any illness.
The man up top fires a new bolt into the already hurt ghoul, who is now starting to look like a pin cushion. Nevertheless, they both leap into the water and swim at breakneck pace to reach the shore. They spring up and race towards Cleo and Aggah.
The summoner conjures up three skeleton archers who dig themselves out of the ground. They take their bows made of spine and sinew and fire little shadow bolts at Wabbit. Their undead nature lets them fire calmly and smoothly, with two of them hitting their mark.
Surrounded by enemies and not liking ghouls taking bites outa him, Wabbit begins to RAGE (+4dex=+2 to hit and +2ac, now ac 21)
Wabbit strikes at the undead
Flurry/Rage +5bab +6dex +1size , -2 piranha striking, +1waveblade, -1 lvl, +1 insp courage
And What a FEARSOME thing the RAGING Wabbit has become. His little blade skewers whatever foe it strikes. And he taunts them in Necril back to the grave minions
Brelin hesitates when she sees Wabbit outnumbered but she decides to finish the fight here first
She defers to Cleo on undead knowledge
Cleo, do you think they're affectd by mind affecting magic?
Then she concetrates on the goul attacking her trying to put him out of the fight for a while. She appears to scream but no sound comes off, only her enemy hears it
+ daze
While she thinks, she suggests to Aggah to back away from the poor creatures. Forming a wooden fist of thorns she tries to take one of them.
Aggah scampers back and fires her crossbow.
Wabbit starts taking things VERY seriously once he's been bitten, and as retaliation jams his waveblade into the eye socket of the first ghoul, then rips it out and slashes across the neck of the second one to decapitate it. Both crumple to the ground completely dead.
Brelin screeches loudly at a pitch that only the ghoul in front of Cleo can hear. Though it certainly makes the ghoul vibrate and have its skin tear, the ghoul seems to resist the dazing effect.
Meanwhile, Cleo gets distracted by Brelin's question and forgets to enchant her fist, which causes her to punch the ghoul for absolutely no effect. Aggah however scampers back, then whips around and shoots the ghoul right between the eyes and sends it flying backwards several feet. Aggah's practically beaming with happiness and pride.
With a smile at Ameiko's words, Helgarr steps forward and swings at the next creature.
Helgarr steps forward and spears the ghoul on the tip of her bardiche, then flicks upwards to launch it up and backwards. It flies like a ragdoll and lands on a nearby barrel with a crunch. The skeleton and two of the archers attack Wabbit, who easily dodges out of the way. One of the archers has held its arrow knocked and simply waits patiently. The summoned ghoul (who is human sized) charges at Helgarr, but she stabs it with her bardiche, lifts it over her head, and then when it falls behind her she slashes it across the chest.
The ghoul fighting Cleo goes into a frenzy and starts ripping into her unprotected body. She is both bitten and clawed, but thankfully the paralysis doesn't seem to kick in.
A man with a long and glum face looks over from the roof of the brewery and holds a light crossbow at the ghoul. Ameiko turns the corner into River Street, but she's just a bit too far for her song to affect Cleo or Brelin.
The summoner ghoul begins a long incantation...
(In Necril)"Shadow and hatred I summon you..."
More ghouls spill out of the forest with three looking to ford the river, and two to reinforce the summoner. Wabbit can see two a little further down the river who look ready to dive in.
You hear the splash of water, the skratchy sound of Necril, and the sound of battle coming from the South-West. The voices say "Time for elevenses", "My precious!"
Feeling the righteous power of Chaldira flowing through him (rage), tears of joy begin streaming down his face as he stabs yet another undead abomination ...he'd had a tinge of doubt Chaldira would respond to his need after participating in the blasphemous ritual... The relief is overwhelming.... And the huge smile on his face promises more death for the undead
An arrow through the throat of the creature she was trying to hold back made her whoop with thanks to her friend goblin, but the whoop turned into a cry of pain as the other one dug into her flesh. She's not a fighter and without her armor sooner or later she was going to be taken down with these numbers, but what was the alternative... run? Never.
She swings while Aggah continues to pepper them with arrows.
"Cleo! Brelin! Join up here!" - Helgarr roars, pressing forward and attacking again - "Do not relent Wabbit!"
Wabbit cautiously steps in to shank the skeleton with the longspear, and even though his blade doesn't cut through bone very well, it's still JUST enough to finally crack through the spine. The skeleton that was a guard of Sandpoint just minutes ago collapses to the floor and rattles as the bones disconnect and scatter.
Cleo swings with her wood-encrusted fist and this time decks the ghoul, but it manages to stay standing. It looks like it's going to try to eat Cleo's fist. Meanwhile, Aggah... well she's trying her best.
Helgarr strides in and stabs the last ghoul in the area. The tip of her bardiche doesn't really pierce the target, but her innate strength rams it so hard that the ghoul's skull shatters. Because it can't feel pain, it tries to come forward to attack, but drifts off sideways, bashes into the wall, and then finally dies (while twitching).
Ameiko moves a little closer to Cleo, Aggah, and Brelin and says "If you come to me I can heal you, Cleo." Just as she finishes speaking, the sound of a crossbow firing is heard, followed by the gurgling of the ghoul in front of Cleo. It has a crossbow bolt that has traveled from its head all the way into its throat. It stumbles before falling over and rolling down the hill into the river.
The man lowers his crossbow and says "Get ready, there's more of the buggers coming."
Brelin yells back at Helgarr
They are crossing the river! If we leave, the city is unprotected
She then removes her ring and offers it to Cleo
Force shield, it will help a bit