It looks like they have the boss-man dealt with, convenient! Anophth looks like he might be getting overwhelmed... I need to do something drastic, quickly!
Tabog rushes out from behind the tree waving his arms dramatically, calling out to his companion as if the two thugs weren't even there!
"No! Oh lordy lord! First it was you Anny, now the Gremlin beast is after me! Help me! Heeeeeeelp...........!!!"
He falls to the ground and begins rolling around as if in pain. A moment later his body begins to shift and morph in a rather unpleasant display of disfigurement until finally a fluffy, white and handsome feline emerges and begins to sprint at the Rude Boys, making the worst cat sounds possible!
Imedren uses his magic to shatter the knife of the man attacking him! Anophth lunges at the Rude Boy who stabbed him, badly wounding him!
The uninjured thug next to the rat tries to attack, but the gremlin makes his knife explode, too! The man attacking Imedren tries to punch him to no avail.
Dramm steps forward and casts a powerful destructive spell. Kelvin's body suddenly erupts in a shower of gore as his bones crack and his blood vessels burst! His twisted broken body falls to the floor.
Tabog dramatically transforms into a cat and scampers forward.
Phineas steps up to Deekin and attacks him. "Hands off! She's mine!" he shouts. Deekin parries the attack.
"Here, kitty, kitty!" the nearby gremlin cackles as it gives chase. It sinks its teeth into Tabog's haunches. "Mmm, tasty!"
The thug Anophth has bitten repeatedly retreats, moving carefully to get away from the dangerous rat! The hexed man staggers over to attack Imedren, while Deekin stabs at Phineas. Neither hit!
For her part, Candace looks around with wide-eyed horror, seemingly overwhelmed by the raging melee around her!
Dramm moves as he stows his dagger and pulls his long knife from his waist. He reaches out his left arm to pull Candace behind him.
"Quickly, out of the way. Dreen sent us to collect you safely." He says irritably. Dramm wastes no time driving his knife into the back of the Rude Boy he now flanks with Phineas.
As Tabog feels the pain from the bite he drops the act and turns back into a man. He turns and reaches for the Gremlin, visibly annoyed at the rude interruption.
"You little shit, come here!"
Bog grabs for the Fey, choking him.
Possibly 1 Dmg
Seeing the two men circle in, Imedren takes a ready stance and attacks.
He smashes his staff into the Rude Boy who came to swing his dagger at him.
Imedren then looked at the other one who was now disarmed. "Get it now, you're all dead."
Imedren's staff shudders as the gremlin tries to break it, but the magician resists and crushes the hexed Rude Boy's skull! Dramm stabs Deekin, but Phineas and Anophth both miss. Tabog fails to grab the gremlin.
The Rude Boy lashes out at Anophth with his knife, but partially due the gremlins' supernatural influence, he doesn't hit. The gremlin Tabog tried to grab bites his fingers and giggles hysterically!
The badly wounded gang member continues to make a run for it! Seeing his companion felled in one strike, the other one fighting Imedren retreats and flees as well!
Imedren watched as the man left but he was more concerned with the moment his staff began to vibrate in his hands and also realized he felt dizzy or like the world had become slanted. He looked up and around near the trees, spotting a small figure in the trees, Imedren spotted the gremlin in the trees.
He stepped forward and struck at the gremlin.
"Gaahhh!"
Tabog shivers as the magic circulates through his body.
"Bastard!"'
I actually don't know if there are banes for that.
Anophth is completely ignorant of the effects of the gremlin, and still tries to eat the bandit in front of him.
Dramm is committed to securing Candace first, wary of trying to have her escape the clashing blades of the Rude Boy and Phineas. He stabs again.
"How is your fiance so damned useless?!" Dramm snaps in exasperation as Phineas misses another strike.
Tabog grabs for the gremlin, but the curse causes him to stumble and nearly fall. The gremlin chortles with glee. Anophth misses his target, but Dramm stabs Deekin again. Phineas stabs him as well--"Not so useless!"
Badly wounded, Deekin lashes out again but fails to hit Dramm. The thug near Anophth curses as the gremlin makes his knife fall to pieces! It bites Tabog again, cackling wickedly.
The other gremlin tries to break Imedren's weapon again, to no avail. It dodges the magician's strike.
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Dramm drives the knife home with a snort, determined to finally kill Deekin and put an end to the thorn in his side.
Deekin's eyes widen in surprise as Dramm stabs his knife into the Rude Boy's neck. He goes down with a gurgle.
Candace finally seems to snap out of her shock. "Phineas! Get me out of here!"
"Wow, okay, I can't do anything. I remember now that I distinctly hate fey creatures..."
Tabog attempts to grab at the Imp thing, his hands going a little wild and his movement becomes stiff and joint-less.
Total of 8
In anticipation of failing to make contact with the Gremlin, Bog retreats to where his other companions are.
"Anophth! Run this way! Come on boy!"
Anophth would even take offense at his statement of Fey, if he was of sound mind. Instead, he lunges at the bandit again, attempting to each him.
Imedren shakes his head, trying to clear it, and swings at the Gremlin again.
But the sensation of vertigo keeps him from accurately striking at the little monster. He then decides to leave the creature in the tree line, wondering if it would dare to chase him out into the open.
When the world righted itself he finally took a small sigh of relief as he noted the others seemed to have dealt with the majority of the Rude Boys.
"Be careful, there's some sort of faerie creature in the trees."
Dramm is the only one who finds success in his attacks this time around. Both Imedren and Tabog abandon their efforts to crush the gremlins and move towards the center of the clearing, while Anophth continues to savagely attack the last Rude Boy standing. Realizing the rest of his gang has fallen or fled, the thug breaks off from the big rat, muttering, "This ain't worth it," as he hustles to the treeline.
Phineas moves to embrace Candace. "Don't worry, my love. It's all over now. For the Brotherhood."
There is a sickening squelching noise as Phineas slices open Candace's belly with his sickle! She groans and staggers back, eyes wide in disbelief.
Then those eyes begin to burn red. Her body undergoes a startling transformation, growing larger and heavier, while a single black horn emerges from her head. "TOO SOON, YOU FOOL! THIS VESSEL COULD HAVE STILL PROVEN USEFUL! I WILL FEAST ON YOUR ENTRAILS!" Candace shrieks in a scratchy voice that shreds at your sanity.
She lashes out in a frenzy with nails sharpened to claws, tearing into Phineas and Dramm's force barrier mere seconds before it expires!
The gremlins shriek in terror and flee into the woods!
Imedren watches in shock as Phineas sliced Candace. "What are you doing?!"
But as Candace began to snarl and tranform his eyes widened.
Imedren's breath caught for a moment but he forced himself to breath through it. Something like this had always been a possibility, he'd known that his family had been dealing with dark practices and the fear of that had given him nightmares growing up.
He glanced around at the strange elven ruins, the dead bodies and gore, and now the horrifying creature which had been a beautiful women. This was indeed a nightmare. He wanted to run but he felt as though he couldn't leave either.
Anophth is completely oblivious to the newfound dangers and continues to go on his own personal quest of attacking everyone nearby.
Anophth charges TaBog and tries to bite him.
Fear does not take Dramm's mind as Candace transforms. Instead, his mousy face hardens from irritation to cold, single-minded hatred. He raises his long knife.
"Corruption. I'll carve you from the world. I will need the practice for later." A very slight tremor in his hand betrays his outward confidence.
The creature's claws make short work of the barrier, carving the spell to pieces. A mental check of his remaining magic makes Dramm acutely aware of the precarious position.
"Imedren, Tabog! I need you!" Though there is fear in his voice, Dramm does not back down.
Tabog continues his move to the group, first heading toward Dramm but as the beautiful woman exploded into a grotesque monstrosity he wavered for a moment and decided he'd rather stand closer to Imedren, the area seemed more welcoming.
"Nooo, no, no, no, this feels too familiar... Oh gods, we are going to die here!"
Bog takes up a strategic position by putting Imedren between himself and the newly formed demon and hurls a rock at its head.
Anophth charges at the fleeing Rude Boy. He leaps upon the man's rat and bears him to the ground, jaws closing around his neck and tearing out his jugular vein! He gurgles and thrashes as his lifeblood pours into the rocky soil.
Imedren tries to hex the demonic Candace, to no avail. Dramm, however, drives his knife right into Candace's heart. Her eyes widen and return to their normal green hue as her body returns to normal. This is no demon staring at Dramm, but a young girl. Her gaze loses its focus as she falls to the ground.
But then, her belly begins to swell outward, bulging obscenely as if she were experiencing an incredibly swift pregnancy. With a horrible tearing noise, it bursts open, and a blood-slick demon the size of a halfling emerges!
With a howl, it lashes out at those around it. Dramm takes a glancing blow from its sharp claws. Phineas stares in joyous rapture at the fiend he helped birth into the world. "It's glorious..." he whispers--right before the demon grabs his head with both hands and gruesomely tears it from his body! Phineas's decapitated corpse falls backward, blood spraying everywhere.
Tabog hustles to Imedren's side, launching a sling bullet that fails to find its mark.
Imedren was somehow unfazed by what he'd just witnessed. Perhaps after watching as Candace transformed the reality somehow just hit him as what he should have been expecting, or perhaps he was more shocked that Phineas had been part of some sort of demonic worshiping cult.
"What?! He was a cultist... then does that mean we were set up?!"
Regardless, Imedren held out his hand to the small demon and hit it with a Pain spell.
It is only after the Candace changes back into her human form that doubt creeps across Dramm's face. He seems shaken by the change, and for a moment he steps back. The doubt turns to overwhelming terror when her belly twists and bursts, releasing the horrible creature inside. Dramm is frozen to the spot and barely registers the creature as it tears Phineas's head from his shoulders. A single terrified word manages to creep out as his gaze is locked on Candace's ruined form.
"E-Ez?"
The claw that tears into Dramm's side finally brings him back to reality. He shouts in pain. Casting about wildly, he grabs Candace's necklace from her broken body . Then he turns with a panicked shout.
"R-run! RUN! Get back to the boat!" He begins to sprint as quickly as he can towards the boats.
Anophth-rat's changed mind seems to continue to protect him from the horrors that have appeared. All he sees is another tasty creature to eat, and he does so with gusto.
Seeing Anophth making his charge, Dramm changes direction to try and scoop up the rat!
"We have to run, Anophth! Run!"
Once scared the crew, twice? Shame on you!
The emotions that played across Tabog's face were varied and dramatic; relief, concern, anger, fear, fury.
As Dramm turned his tail, grabbed at the giant rat and fled, a part of Bog wanted to join him. Imedren needed his help though, he could let his companions down. Even though he was magically disabled he needed to do something.
Imedren's spell falters against the demon's will. Anophth charges in and lunges at the fiend, but it sidesteps his attack. Tabog, though, scores a solid blow!
Snarling in pain, shadows engulf the demon as it teleports in front of the rogue! It bites his leg, leaving a deep, bleeding wound!!
Dramm tries to snatch up Anophth, but the rat avoids his grasp. He snatches Candace's necklace from her corpse!
Dramm falters as Anophth charges in and eludes his grasp. Despair and indecision takes his face as the rat rushes towards the creature.
Dramm shudders in fear, gripping his head with his bloody hands. Unwilling to leave his Goblin friend, but also unable to conquer his fear, he stands frozen. His eyes are wild and he holds his ears as he begs an unseen force.
"Stop buzzing, please stop buzzing. I did everything right. The words were right. Quiet! QUIET!"
Tabog's shout of pain as the creature bites manages to restore some sense of fight or flight in Dramm. A raspy scream comes forth as he rushes the creature with his knife in a wild attempt to overwhelm the creature.
Watching as the demon seemed to fold in on itself and then appear biting into Dramm who seemed to become mentally unstable.
"Stop being so dodgy you little monster!" Imedren growled at the demonic creature. As his magics seemed to have almost no effect, he instead swung at it with all his might.
Imedren delivers a powerful smash to the demon's head! It staggers a few steps but remains on its feet!
Dramm's panicked charge doesn't help, as his wild swing slices only the air.
Anophth-rat moves forward to bite the tasty demon.
Tabog stares at the demon as it suddenly appeared before him and gave him a right good chomping.
"............"
He yells into the face of his foe as he pulls his knife from his belt and slices up at it, in one smooth motion.
As Tabog misses, the demon flies into a frenzy again! It claws at Imedren, badly wounding him, then it whips its head backs and impales Tabog with its horn! Tabog falls!
Tabog looks over at Imedren and notices everything trailing as he turns his head, his friend looks so angry. He notices the fire in his eyes, the reflection of the world he could see within was laid to waste and engulfed in flames. The only thing missing was the souls of the innocent, they had been shown the way to safety, unscathed.
He then turns to Dramm but this fraction of a second seemed to take an eternity. Everything was moving in slow motion and it was difficult to focus.
The poor boy was emanating so much fear you could feel it in your own spine but, if you looked close enough you could see the calculations that behind the fear were calculations being ran. Despite the intense strain his mind was evaluating every move made in his field of view.
Out of the corner of his eye he could see the pouncing fur-less rat, the mind of his Goblin friend sitting within; having no mouth but desperately needing to scream.
Ooh, ow. I see now that I've been stabbed, by a demon horn no less; bastards, all of them... I hate being right.
Tabog slumps off of the demon's horn and falls to the ground, unconscious but still breathing.
Grrr... Argh... Anophth-rat says as he bites at the demon.
Imedren shouted in rage as the demon struck him. He wanted the thing to die so bad! He threw out a hand attempting to reach and kill the little demon.
"Aaagh! Die!"
Even as he reached out for it his rent wound from his chest split further, blood seeped out of his wounds faster as he grabbed the little demon.
Anophth tears at the demon, ripping away chunks of flesh. Imedren casts his spell, and though the monster seems to resist it somewhat, the destructive power is just enough to finish it off! With a final shriek, it is consumed by flickering shadows and disappears back into the Void!
Anophth-rat continues to bite into the delicious demon hide.
Dramm drops to the ground next to Tabog, pulling the dagger from his belt.
"No no no no. No more. Please don't take any one else." His knife traces lines into the air above Tabog, creating a diagram. Dramm pushes a hand through the diagram to Tabog's chest, and a warm energy quickly spreads from his fingertips.
As the spell takes hold, Dramm's face breaks into a kind of desperate relief, as if the action saved himself as much as his silver haired friend. Tabog's breathing steadies, and Dramm collapses to the ground to hold his head, still rambling in his breakdown about spells and flies. He is at least quieter now.
Gorging on demonic flesh seems to satiate Anophth. The feral rat becomes quiescent, curling up for a nice nap to sleep off his meal.
When you have a chance to search around, you find the campsite is stocked with enough food and water for nine people to live for a week. The gang members also have 20 yards of rope, and a total of 12 silver shillings, 26 copper pennies, and 31 bits between them, as well as one healing potion on Kelvin's body.
Both Candace and Phineas have tattoos of a horned skull on the inside of their forearms.
Imedren leaned heavily on his staff as he looked warily around at the carnage they were surrounded by having taken a moment to settle himself down.
"I can't tell if this was a setup or not on Dreen's part." He said as much to Dramm and Tabog as to himself. He made sure to give Anophth a wide berth as he had no idea what to expect from the Goblin/ transforming rat. "Both Candace and Phineas were part of the cult. Phineas must have let those other cloaked men know where the ambush was going to take place. But we can't ask either of them now. There's still at least 3 Rude Boys left now but I think with everything that was happening they're going to be on the run. They were probably just scapegoats."
Imedren paced the tent area and then stepped up to the strange elven ruins of the place.
"Speaking of them, I wonder why they chose to come here to such a dangerous spot?" he said questioningly.
Despite the ominous nature of the elven monolith, Imedren does not sense any magic in the area.
Frowning in contemplation, Imedren wondered what the significance of the ruins could have been as he inspected it momentarily.
After a few moments he turned back to his companions. "Tabog, can you walk? We need to hurry back to our boat. I think we'll need to get back and see if the one we tied up is still there or he's escaped. I think I'll let him go as the money is likely no good now that Dreen's daughter and even Phineas are dead."
Dramm has settled into a distant, muttering daze. Imedren's mention of returning to the boat stirs him. He is fearful and keeps looking about as if expecting the small abomination to appear again from the shadows. At first his stumblings seem aimless, but it soon becomes apparent that he is attempting to gather up what's left of Candace.
"Yes, we should go. We can't stay here, but we have to check the pieces. Need to check the pieces so we can carry him out of here. We can't leave him broken like this." Any attempts to touch Dramm cause him to flinch and shrink away. Despite not being in his right mind, he appears to be willing to follow Imedren and the others as long as they don't keep him from his muttering or attempt to pull the body from his arms.
You make your way to the boat and begin rowing back across the Dark Water to Crossings. As you round the south end of the island, you note that one of the two boats that were moored there earlier is missing. It's likely the surviving Rude Boys took the opportunity to flee while they still could.
When you return to the docks, the gang member you left tied up is no longer there. It's unclear whether the Brown Cloaks or the other Rude Boys found him first.
It's still a few hours before dawn. You could seek out Master Dreen now to break the bad news to him, or wait until the morning, when the light of the sun will transform Anophth back into a goblin.
It was difficult work, seeing to the bodies they'd made a mess of. Dragging them back, especially since Dramm didn't want to put down Candace. Imedren worried about the man but was growing more concerned about their predicament.
After they returned to the port, Imedren looked around for the missing Rude Boy. Not finding him he grimaced.
"I really can't tell how this is going to go, but we need to report this ourselves. Dramm you're with me. At this point the best case scenario is everything seems to work out. Dreen isn't part of the cult, he mourns the loss of is daughter but also thanks us for doing this task. But in case that doesn't happen... Tabog, you need to go home. Take Anophth with you. Get Nutmeg and tell him to pack some things. Then if there's time, go to my house and get Uruuna and tell her to do the same.
If everything goes well, Dramm and I should be back within an hour. If more than two hours go by and we haven't come back, go into hiding."