He didn’t even flicker when portals opened up from above, and undead began to rain down from the sky.
From the explosions that followed, as well as the screaming, shouting and crying. It seemed that some of these undead exploded upon death. Doing even more damage to the city and its people, reflect the zealous nature of the being that had likely summoned them. It the gates hadn’t already been opened and many of its citizens already evacuated, then it was unlikely that many Al'Lamar’ citizens would survive. As it was through... it was quite likely that it was going to be a bloodbath. Especially if the necromantic powers that guided these undead to wreak havoc on the city below, was going to take those slain by the undead creatures, and raise them again as new warriors to fill the ranks.
Yet, he did nothing. Despite his tremendous reputation, despite the strength and might, he had at his fingertips. He did nothing. The plight of the city was nothing to him, and the allies he decided to watch over seemed strong and resilient. Enough to stand against the threat of this army, even if they were forced to retreat because of it. He had no reason to fight, these creatures could not even lay a single scratch on him, let alone prove to be a challenge in any way. No, he would stay, observing the Vulture King as well as Zaidel. Watching to see what they would do, curious about their strength, their power... and whenever or not one of them would remember him and ask for assistance.
As The Nameless Warrior dispassionately surveys the battle, opting to not get involved, the ground rumbles and shakes, then suddenly erupts in an explosion of rocks. A massive worm bursts forth, it's dead black scales seemingly devouring the light around it.
It smashes through one building, causing it to implode, as it makes it way through the city.
Zaidel begins to jump and flip from rooftop to rooftop to close with the black worm.
Seeing the worm explode from the ground, Kei will stop and say "Ladies, I hate to do so, but I must leave you to help stop that worm creature from harming a great many more people. Just keep heading that way and stick to the side streets, and you should be fine."
Before leaving, however, Kei offhandedly smashes a skeleton and then offers it's blade to the mother. "It's not much, but this should help you protect your child." He will then go barreling down the street towards the Worm.
Zaidel increases his range toward the black worm, but keeps to about 50 ft. from the rampaging beast. Loading his heavy crossbow, the big warrior takes aim and shoots at the giant vermin.
The Vulture King raises begins chanting in a long-dead tongue, rays of light emanating from his hands. He then raises his arms, the beams of light trying to pull apart the clouds and reveal the sun.
The beams of light, unable to part the clouds, merge together and form a shining orb in the sky. He then says, ”Let light come to us, and banish the foul darkness!”
Seeing the worm explode from the ground, Kei will stop and say "Ladies, I hate to do so, but I must leave you to help stop that worm creature from harming a great many more people. Just keep heading that way and stick to the side streets, and you should be fine."
Before leaving, however, Kei offhandedly smashes a skeleton and then offers it's blade to the mother. "It's not much, but this should help you protect your child." He will then go barreling down the street towards the Worm.
"Well, take care of yourself karate expert." Says the woman with long hair, adjusting her glasses.
"Thank you." Says the mother, adjusting her grip to hold the sword. "And yes. Take care of yourself young man!" She shouts after him.
Alyssa, upon seeing the giant worm, will immediately begin directing her band of refugees towards the farthest corner away from the monstrosity. Better to get away now, and besides, that worm is trouble.
As Alyssa escorts the crowd away from the danger zone and into the poorer parts of town she notices the construction worker with the jeweled dagger break off from the group and disappear into a nearby alley in the direction of the wall.
Meanwhile the baker with the spinning rollers seems to have formed a one man spear tip into the Undead getting in the group's way, his dual wielded cookery shattering skeleton skulls left and right with brutal flourish.
As the Vulture King's 'mini sun' springs into being, the shadows shy away from it. They are not destroyed , but they do visibly back off from it.
Meanwhile, Zaidel's bolt clangs harmlessly off the giant worms armored form.
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As Alyssa escorts the crowd away from the danger zone and into the poorer parts of town she notices the construction worker with the jeweled dagger break off from the group and disappear into a nearby alley in the direction of the wall.
Alyssa notices the man beginning to break off, and attempts to stop him.
"Hey! Stick together! It's dangerous alone! Now come on!" she cries.
As the baker continues pushing through the undead hordes, Alyssa takes the moment to gather the most formidable members of her ad- hoc crew.
"Look, it's madness in here, and people are starting to break off. We can't have that, it's too dangerous. We're safer together than we are alone."
She gestures to the baker at the front. "Looks like he'll be able to keep pushing us ahead, for now," she says.
She looks to the matronly woman with the broom. "Can you keep everyone from wandering off? And, if you see a few stragglers, get them into our group? We need to keep everyone headed in the same direction, calmly."
Without waiting, she looks to the mage's apprentice. "I don't know what type of bolts you're throwing, but I want you in the clear, looking around for threats. If you see something scarier than this, like another one of those worms, you holler, ok? Then hit it with everything you got."
I'll cover our retreat. If I have to, if things get too hairy, I'll sacrifice myself to give you all some time to escape. Ok?"
Once the tasks have been distributed, she looks at her lieutenants and states. "We need a place to bunker down. Off the streets, someplace relatively defensible and large enough to house us and maybe 1000 or so other citizens. Any suggestions?"
As she finishes, she punches an undead minion that begins to stagger back up after an onslaught of rolling pins. "Stay down," she commands the abomination.
Zaidel curses, "Dammit! I can't break his skin!"
The big warrior didn't want to leave the worm to roam and destroy, but despite his new powerful body, Zaidel wasn't powerful enough to tackle the black worm head on.
Looking down at the quickly ruined city, Zaidel can do nothing but hope Alyssa is okay. He hopes so. She's a general stick-in-the-mud, but Zaidel never wished any harm to come to her. "Hopefully I can find her after the battle is done", Zaidel whispered to himself.
"Gotta go find V.K. Maybe he can help deal with this worm."
At that, Zaidel holstered his crossbow in his backpack and began to jump and flip over rooftops and streets back to where he left the avian god.
Kei waves exuberantly at the women with a smile on his face as he departs, then he turns. When he does, his smile is replaced by a look of fierce determination that would be a bit shocking to anyone who knew him. He begins sprinting along the ground, zipping through foot traffic in order to get to the Giant Worm critter.
The Vulture King raises his arms before bringing them down, a wave of positive energy bursting forth.
As Zaidel makes his way back to V.K., he notices the very small sun next to his avain god. A moment later, a wave of positive energy washes over him. The big warrior felt the energies once before after we woke up from his resurrection. It still felt amazing.
"Thanks V.K.!" shouts Zaidel. "Need a hand?!"
V.K. calls down to Zaidel, "Young one, do you see the shadows around me? Help me to destroy them, and then we can deal with that beast over there."
"You got it, V.K.!" Zaidel shouts up at his floating mentor.
Catching sight of one of the shadows, the big warrior makes a quick running circuit of the rooftop he's on, drawing his magic longsword and leaps upward with heroic effort!
As Kei runs through the city, quickly closing the distance to the giant worm, he launches himself off the side of a building, gathering extra momentum. With the increased force, he lands a single mighty blow to the armored side of his foe. However, Kei knows the strike did not have as much effect as it should have.
While the attack wasn't as strong as it could have been, it nonetheless got the worm's attention, and it lashes out with it's powerful tail and crushing jaws.
Unfortunately for it, Kei's one punch might not have done much damage, but it did rattle it such that both it's attacks fail to land.
Meanwhile, high in the sky, a battle between light and shadow rages.
The divine vulture unleashes a wave of powerful positive energy, which rips through the nebulous forms of his foes, harming them greatly.
As he does so, the mighty warrior Zadiel explodes into the fray, slicing deeply into of the shadows.
Two of the shadows attack the avian god before them, their umbral claws passing through most of his protections.
However, their weakened strikes fail to land upon their foe.
The other pair flank Zaidel, who landed on a nearby rooftop.
Feeling his vitality ripped from his body, Zaidel attack one of the shadows in panicked abandon.
V.K. Flies toward Zaidel and places a hand on his shoulder, his hand glowing with healing energy. He says, "There you are. Go get them."
After receiving the powerful restorative spell, Zaidel looks around as the shadowy assailants close in. Turning his back to V.K., the big warrior grins and asks, "Back to back? So they can't flank?"
Kei unleashes a flurry of attacks on the giant worm, hoping to down it before it can harm others, or at the very least keep it focused on him.
As the Vulture King flies to aid Zaidel, the two shadows each take a swipe at him.
The Vulture King nods to Zaidel and gets back to back with the bulky warrior. He lets out another burst of energy.
Kei unleashes a devastating series of brutal strikes, most of which land their mark. However, as before, they do not appear to deal as much damage as they should.
The worm roars in defiance, and returns the favor, snapping at Kei with it's powerful jaws, and smashing him with it's massive tail.
Fortunately for our martial arts master, the bite once more fails to pierce his defenses, but the giant stinging tail cuts through his armor and injects him with it's vile venom.
As the titanic struggle rages on the streets below, Zaidel decimates the shadow he struck prior, as his blade seems much deadly than mere moments ago.
Meanwhile, after being struck by a particularly vicious claw attack by on of the shadows, the king of Vultures manages to restore the lost vitality to Zaidel, even has his own strength is sapped away.
The two shadows who did not go after Zaidel do so now, flying towards their foes.
The other pair, now no longer weakened by the divinely created sun, attack the mighty warrior with the big sword.
Create Spawn (Su)
A humanoid creature killed by a shadow’s Strength damage becomes a shadow under the control of its killer in 1d4 rounds.
Strength Damage (Su)
A shadow’s touch deals 1d6 points of Strength damage to a living creature. This is a negative energy effect. A creature dies if this Strength damage equals or exceeds its actual Strength score.
With no fanfare, Zaidel falls to the ground a lifeless husk with a shadowy mist escaping his open mouth.
As Alyssa escorts the crowd away from the danger zone and into the poorer parts of town she notices the construction worker with the jeweled dagger break off from the group and disappear into a nearby alley in the direction of the wall.Alyssa notices the man beginning to break off, and attempts to stop him.
"Hey! Stick together! It's dangerous alone! Now come on!" she cries.
As the baker continues pushing through the undead hordes, Alyssa takes the moment to gather the most formidable members of her ad- hoc crew.
"Look, it's madness in here, and people are starting to break off. We can't have that, it's too dangerous. We're safer together than we are alone."
She gestures to the baker at the front. "Looks like he'll be able to keep pushing us ahead, for now," she says.
She looks to the matronly woman with the broom. "Can you keep everyone from wandering off? And, if you see a few stragglers, get them into our group? We need to keep everyone headed in the same direction, calmly."
Without waiting, she looks to the mage's apprentice. "I don't know what type of bolts you're throwing, but I want you in the clear, looking around for threats. If you see something scarier than this, like another one of those worms, you holler, ok? Then hit it with everything you got."
I'll cover our retreat. If I have to, if things get too hairy, I'll sacrifice myself to give you all some time to escape. Ok?"
The apprentice Wizard moves to obey but the matronly woman with the spearlike broom handle huffs and clenches her side, when her hand comes away it is bright red with blood.
"One of the boners with a blade got me hun, I don't know how much more I can help." She says apologetically.
The man in construction work overalls returns to Alyssa's group, looking annoyed at...what? Being called back? Being spotted in the first place?
He doesn't respond to Alyssa at first, rather glaring at her and fingering his jeweled dagger. "I don't particularly like it when a woman thinks she's in charge." He says inappropriately and apropos of nothing.
As the rest of the group moves to obey Alyssa as best they can the construction worker holds Alyssa's gaze with an uncomfortably direct and unblinking stare.
As the Nameless Warrior nonchalantly surveys the battle a figure appears down the street.
A tall, handsome, middle aged man with dark hair and dark eyes stands some sixty feet away, facing Nameless squarely. He wears a worn leather jacket and shades his eyes with a wide brimmed hat. On each hip an oversized black steel six shooter rests in a well used holster while a string of shells encircles his belt to the back where a pair of short swords are sheathed crosswise.
"Well, well, The man himself." The stranger says, chewing on the stump of a lit cigar, the heat from the smoke momentarily casting the stranger's dark eyes in a hellish red illumination.
"Kammella says the Nameless Warrior needs to die, and I told her I'd get the job done, if such a thing can be done at all."
The Stranger throws back his cloak and his fingers hover over his guns, ready to draw.
"Any last words?"
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Alyssa Mirai
GM Artemis
Lucerna Nightingale
