Xander has never seen a creature like this, but he did recall the description of one in a book he once read. After all, ten tentacled blob things kind of stand out.
"It's a decapus," he yells. "They're capable of creating illusions! Our eyes may deceive us." He mentally kicks himself for not having a handy acid attack like Broom. I will need to work on some sort of offensive magic. Instead, he whips out a dagger and throws it at the creature.
" Get behind me, get behind me!" he cried, brandishing his longsword with precision and finesse as he prepared to protect the others and cut down the creature with divine fury. More than just his sword arm, though, there was a ... a flare within Adelar. A power surging forth.
The disgusting creature on the ceiling wavers for an instant, but reacts appropriately to Adelar's longsword, pulling its tentacles out of the way of the Galtan's slashing blade.
"You chose the wrong bait," her voice was cold, her words clear, precise, directed at the thing on the ceiling, and carried the weight of doom. "now you've come to collect a goblin for dinner, only to find an ogre waiting for you."
From nowhere, a harrow card was now in Reine's hand. She flicked it contemptuously to the floor where the creature could see it - the face of death stared up at her prey.
The creature's mind is remarkably resilient. Even distracted, Reine can feel the monster resist the power of her will.
Terrified that Pouch was in immediate danger from the thing, Broom silently ran forward. As she did, a viscous black liquid smelling faintly of vinegar filled the palm of her hand. Once she was close enough, she flung the acidic glob as the strange creature.
The conjured acid splashed against the monster's flank and the creature recoiled with an ear-piercing screech.
"It's a decapus," he yells. "They're capable of creating illusions! Our eyes may deceive us." He mentally kicks himself for not having a handy acid attack like Broom. I will need to work on some sort of offensive magic. Instead, he whips out a dagger and throws it at the creature.
Xander's dagger flies at the decapus like an arrow from a bow, burying itself up to the hilt in the thing's fleshy side.
The monstrous creature, not willing to retreat without a meal, reaches down and grabs right Adelar off the floor. While the Iomedaean struggles, he can't ignore the pain as the monster's immensely strong tentacles squeeze the wind right out of him. Luckily, his masterfully crafted chain shirt keeps the abomination's beak from biting into his flesh.
Adelar went limp in the creature's constricting grab, sword clattering from his hand as blackness enveloped his vision. His ribs felt close to bursting inwards and spearing every organ, the lack of air leading to vivid hallucinations even while unconsciousness struck him hard and swift until he was a limp, barely-living body in the monster's hold.
You fool. You utter fool.
Desdemona had been deceived - it was obvious now. And she had fallen right into the lap of the predator, its mind-bendingly disgusting form right above her. She gasped as it wrenched Adelar off the floor and crushed him before her very eyes.
"Stop it! Stop it!!!" she cried, backing away as her hands jerked and moved in staccato gestures... but her shadow, strangely, did not.
It stretched forward, and up the wall, growing larger and larger and bizarrely serpentine - no longer the shadow of a woman at all. With arms that stretched impossibly long, it reached for the decapus.
Now, Desdemona did scream - but seemingly at her shadow, not the abomination crushing Adelar.
Uhhhhh... I sure hope that thing is grappled.
(half if corporeal)
(half if corporeal)
John moves down the hall to engage the tentacle monster eating the newcomer. As he moves he shifts his sword into a two-hand grip so that he can deal it a blow.
Miniel freezes as the shadow monster grabs one of the newcomers and crunches up his body. Trembling, she tries to call upon her goddess's power, but she's feeling too drained. If the Dawnflower abandons me now... Instead, she draws and shoots - hopefully that will do something.
When you begin a spell that takes 1 round or longer to cast, you must continue the invocations, gestures, and concentration from 1 round to just before your turn in the next round (at least). If you lose concentration after starting the spell and before it is complete, you lose the spell. You only provoke attacks of opportunity when you begin casting a spell, even though you might continue casting for at least 1 full round. While casting a spell, you don’t threaten any squares around you.
Laura tries to keep her anger in check, breathing quickly through her nostrils, one hand on her stomach. Hearing the commotion break out in the hallway, she rushes to the door and stares hard at the scene before her, doing her best to sort out what is real and what is something tampering with her mind.
Shaking her head, she sees the mass of tentacles grab one of them and pull him to the ceiling, and this spurs her to action. She rushes forward with the hope of bringing the creature into range of her greataxe.
Broom looks oddly somewhat relieved when the thing attacks Adelar. She rushes forward, speaking only arcane words in a strange tongue. As she does so, purple sparks leap about the fingers of her hands and the smell of ozone fills the air.
When she gets close enough, she reaches out and grasps the tentacled beast.
"Damn it all!"
Reine could tell by Adelar's limp form that he wouldn't survive if that creature had time to try again with that beak. She also was sure that she wouldn't survive if it grabbed her instead. She couldn't get to it - not through the crowd, so she raised her bow again.
"Don't let it take him!" Her call to the others wasn't desperate, but the calm in her voice was a little rough around the edges.
It stretched forward, and up the wall, growing larger and larger and bizarrely serpentine - no longer the shadow of a woman at all. With arms that stretched impossibly long, it reached for the decapus.
Now, Desdemona did scream - but seemingly at her shadow, not the abomination crushing Adelar.
Desdemona's bizarrely distended shadow somehow reaches out from the wall to swipe at the decapus. The monster on the ceiling flinches away, clearly hurt by the shadow's attack.
Shaking her head, she sees the mass of tentacles grab one of them and pull him to the ceiling, and this spurs her to action. She rushes forward with the hope of bringing the creature into range of her greataxe.
Laura rushes forward but can't find an opening in the scrum.
John moves down the hall to engage the tentacle monster eating the newcomer. As he moves he shifts his sword into a two-hand grip so that he can deal it a blow.
John chops hard into the creature's tentacles, shearing one clean off and drawing another ear-piercing shriek of pain from the monster.
Miniel freezes as the shadow monster grabs one of the newcomers and crunches up his body. Trembling, she tries to call upon her goddess's power, but she's feeling too drained. If the Dawnflower abandons me now... Instead, she draws and shoots - hopefully that will do something.
Miniel's arrow flies true and sticks fast in the monster's fleshy skin.
"Damn it all!"
Reine could tell by Adelar's limp form that he wouldn't survive if that creature had time to try again with that beak. She also was sure that she wouldn't survive if it grabbed her instead. She couldn't get to it - not through the crowd, so she raised her bow again.
"Don't let it take him!" Her call to the others wasn't desperate, but the calm in her voice was a little rough around the edges.
As she tries to avoid her new compatriots' heads, Reine's arrow flies wide, missing the creature entirely.
John flinches momentarily as the stranger's shadow animates and attacks on it's own.
"Why is everything so weird?" he asks rhetorically.
He slices at the goober hanging from the ceiling.
(power attack, 2handed)
Too terrified even to run, Desdemona gasped for air as she slowly backed away, her eyes fixed on the shadow attacking the decapus. It stretched longer and longer as she backed away, billowing up into a huge blot on the wall it crawled up to strike at the thing. Waving her arms as though to ward away the entire nightmarish scene, she mumbled something unclear - and a spurt of air coalesced around her hand, growing darker and darker until yet another shadow clung to it.
She shrieked and whipped her hand, and the clot of shadow went sailing toward the melee.
Her tiny blob of shadow arced past Adelar and the thing, hitting the floor beyond them - where it ate into the ground, the solid stone transported to the shadow realm in a spatter pattern.
(half if corporeal)
(half if corporeal)
Laura looks up at the blob on the ceiling, and takes a deep breath. She concentrates for a moment, drawing upon her hazy unremembered experiences, channeling the feeling of a little girl rushing through a mass of back alley bullies. Holding her axe ready to respond to the creature's attacks, she moves quickly forward past John and through the illusion to end up straddling Adelar's unconscious body.
When she gets close enough, she reaches out and grasps the tentacled beast.
Broom reaches up to grab a tentacle but a sudden flinch yanks the arm away from her touch at the last second.
She shrieked and whipped her hand, and the clot of shadow went sailing toward the melee.
Her tiny blob of shadow arced past Adelar and the thing, hitting the floor beyond them - where it ate into the ground, the solid stone transported to the shadow realm in a spatter pattern.
Both of Desdemona's shadows miss the monster on the ceiling this time.
Laura looks up at the blob on the ceiling, and takes a deep breath. She concentrates for a moment, drawing upon her hazy unremembered experiences, channeling the feeling of a little girl rushing through a mass of back alley bullies. Holding her axe ready to respond to the creature's attacks, she moves quickly forward past John and through the illusion to end up straddling Adelar's unconscious body.
Laura dances through the melee with remarkable agility.
But as she maneuvers around her companions, the decapus grabs her with a pair of tentacles that wrap around her with incredible strength.
John flinches momentarily as the stranger's shadow animates and attacks on it's own.
"Why is everything so weird?" he asks rhetorically.
He slices at the goober hanging from the ceiling.
With two people in its tentacles, the decapus has no attention to spare for John and his sword. He slashes through the monster's side, dropping a rain of disgusting green ichor onto the floor.
The monster screams again and then... disappears as if it had never been there.
Broom, Des, and Miniel all see the trick for what it is- the creature is trying to make an illusion of the ceiling below itself as it moves toward the library doors with Adelar's body and Laura still struggling in its arms. At the same time, Bisartis's body disappeared.
"Wait....I didn't think I hit it that hard."
"Where did it go? Did it explode? Where are the others? Why didn't their bodies fall?"
"It ran away, back to the library. What are you all standing around for?!" Miniel shouts at the confused-looking crowd as she runs up.
Laura grunts, and shouts, "It's still here, bugger has a hold of me! Do not be fooled by its tricks!"
Confused and terrified, Desdemona kept trying to back away - she wanted to flee, but couldn't bring herself to actually turn her back on the scene - but she couldn't move her legs - they simply refused to release the shadow stretching from them... or maybe it was the other way around.
The serpentine shadow snaked across the ceiling, seeking the missing decapus, gliding here and there in vain.
Then... it moved toward the library.
"NO!" Desdemona shrieked again, but she couldn't help it - she was dragged along as the shadow crawled along the ceiling toward the library. Her arms flailed, and dark blobs of shadow formed around her hands once more. She shook them wildly, trying to shake the shadows loose, and one they were free of her hands, they leapt up at the ceiling once more, skimming along the walls.
Now that John knows what he's looking for, he notices the false ceiling is much lower than it was before, and once he sees that the entire illusion falls apart in front of his eyes.
"Whoop, there it is!" John exclaims as he sees the ceiling shift.
He follows it into the hallway and chops at it again.
(power attack, 2handed)
"What in the hells?" Reine cursed, as the illusion of Bisartis disappeared - and so did the creature on the ceiling, and Laura and Adelar.
When she heard Laura's call, and saw Desdemona's jerky walk into the library, Reine cursed again under her breath, and took off running. Once in the library, she pulled up short between Desdemona and John. Her eyes following the elongated shadow of her smaller companion, Reine took one more step to clear her sight line, and brought her bow up again.
Breathing heavily, her blood dripping onto the floor, Laura drops her greataxe with a roar of frustration and draws her dagger. Still crying out with unintelligible sounds, she stabs and slices at the blob.
Still seeing nothing but ceiling, but trusting the others (to a degree), Xander follows the others into the library, cursing his inability to see past the illusions.
With sparks still popping about her hands, Broom wordlessly rushes forward heedless of her own safety. As she gets just below the beast, she hops upwards, trying to grasp the dangling tentacles.
With sparks still popping about her hands, Broom wordlessly rushes forward heedless of her own safety. As she gets just below the beast, she hops upwards, trying to grasp the dangling tentacles.
Broom jumps and stretches out her fingers, just barely brushing the decapus's tentacle. It's a mere graze but the electricity arcs into the monster's arm and up into its body, jolting the creature with a pop and the sizzle of burning meat.
The spasming monster drops Laura, making her miss her slash with her dagger.
The decapus, looking nearly dead, moves at full speed for the southern door with Adelar still clutched in its tentacles.
Miniel continues to give chase, looping around the other side of the bookshelves.
John runs to the far end of the library and slams the door.
Broom rushes up and with few options left mutters a word and flicks her fingers towards the beast. A few drops of viscous black liquid are flung in its direction.
Desdemona's wide grey eyes caught sight of Broom's actions, and she bared her teeth in a rictus of fear - Were those shadows that Broom was flinging, like her own? Had her shadow begun to infect the others?!?
A moment's distraction was all her shadow needed. She was dragged to the far end of the library, wheezing with terror.
Xander looks bewildered as Laura's body seems to fall out of the ceiling. He runs forward to her and casts a healing spell on her to keep her from dying.
Laura, briefly disoriented by the creature's sudden release of her body, suddenly feels better and nods to Xander-- Xander? Is that his name? Bah, no time to worry about that now-- with a quick look of gratitude. Spinning on her heel, she charges across the library with the dagger clutched in her fist!
Crying out in anger and frustration, she exerts her whole being into the strike, stretching her legs and arms as she reaches the creature.
Seeing the doors on the other side of the library slammed shut, Miniel moves over and closes the set they came through, completely closing off the room.
Broom rushes up and with few options left mutters a word and flicks her fingers towards the beast. A few drops of viscous black liquid are flung in its direction.
Broom's acid splashes against the monster as it desperately tries to flee the horde of heroes, burning away a small section of its flesh and releasing an unholy and wholly unnatural stink into the air.
Laura, briefly disoriented by the creature's sudden release of her body, suddenly feels better and nods to Xander-- Xander? Is that his name? Bah, no time to worry about that now-- with a quick look of gratitude. Spinning on her heel, she charges across the library with the dagger clutched in her fist!
Crying out in anger and frustration, she exerts her whole being into the strike, stretching her legs and arms as she reaches the creature.
Laura jumps up and jabs her dagger into the decapus's fleshy center mass, driving the blade with her whole body and plunging it forearm-deep into the creature's disgustingly hot and spongy guts. It spasms around her hand and arm, tentacles grabbing and flailing at its killer as it dies. The monster's unsettlingly viscous and terrible smelling blood clings to Laura's arm as she pulls it back out.
As the monster's mind fades away, the illusion disappears, letting everyone see the decapus for what it is.
"That thing is ugly!" John exclaims as he looks over the corpse of the dead aberration.
With a cry of triumph, Laura collapses on the floor beneath the fallen decapus, panting. She looks over at Adelar and pulls herself closer to look at his wounds and try to close them.
As the foul thing falls, Broom rushes over to Laura. She looks at her with concern and silently gestures towards the beast, then to the fallen man. She points to the vile substance covering Laura and then stares at her for a moment or two.
A confused look comes over her face as her brow furrows in concern. Broom looks at Xander, gestures to the group and looks at him expectantly.
Laura stares at Mashiki, still trying to catch her breath. Her expression is just as puzzled, as if to say "Whatever you're saying, you're not making any sounds." She points at the ichor clinging to her arms and then at the blob of flesh, indicating that it is mostly the monster's.