Ellie looks momentarily weary, defeated, as the bear squeezes through the doorway and catches up with them; but she straightens her back, standing up tall and raising her flail. "Gabbi, run. Grab the others and retreat behind the secret door." Her voice is calm. "I'll hold this thing off as long as I can." She quickly looks around, catching the dhampir's eye with a brief flicker of a smile. "But you should probably hurry because I don't think that will be very long."
With that, she strikes, aiming to knock the thing down and slow it up.
She then hits it as it falls, and then again as it lies prone. The power of Alessandra's spell still courses through her, making her stronger than she has ever been. If this is a last stand, it is worthy of the bards. It's just a shame that nobody will ever know about it, probably.
"Blonde, both you and my sister have this overwhelming need to play the martyr," Gabbi replies as she fires two arrows in rapid succession at the prone beast.
Allie curses viciously and pulls a potion from her belt, swallowing with a pained expression on her face.
Cuddles continues to bleed...
[dice=Inflict Serious Wounds]4d8+7
Cuddles continues to bleed...
"AHHHH!!!!"
Other than words of rage and thoughts of mutilation and annihilation, little else comes out of Elká as she unleashes her frustration upon the undead being standing between her and Ulrich.
Ulrich focuses on the crypt thing that Elka isn't fighting. Again he misses.
Kamosh says "Ulrich's in big trouble!" Now unsure what to do he looks back and forth, then yells "Tigers aren't worth death. Run Alessandra!" He flaps his wings and takes off towards his master.
Elka shreds the crypt thing apart with her vicious claws! Ulrich fails to grab hold of the other one again.
Across the temple, Gabby lands one hit on the bear. Elly wraps her flail's chain around the beast's leg and tugs with enough strength to trip it! She smashes it twice, and as it tries to stand up, her third strike shatters its skull, killing the mutated animal!
The remaining crypt thing rips into Ulrich again.
Meanwhile, the wights bring Allie down with another arcane salvo!
"Now I'll check on my sister," Gabbi says with a smirk at the blonde woman. "She went looking for her tiger."
With that, the woman tears out of the room heading in the direction Allie went. When she arrives at the room, her face goes rigid seeing both her twin and her twin's beloved pet lying prone.
"Blonde, both you and my sister have this overwhelming need to play the martyr," Gabbi replies.
Ellie looks slightly nonplussed as she shakes the gore off her flail. "I'm a bodyguard. That's my training: The life of my companions is worth more than my own." She recites the mantra almost without realising it, so deeply is it ingrained in her mind.
She hastily follows Gabbi as the dhampir changes direction, but the pale woman had a head start and she doesn't make it into the room.
Kamosh flaps over to Ulrich and takes control of the Chill Touch spell, then using it against the crypt thing.
Ulrich takes a step back to avoid death.
Angry and beyond reason, Elká doesn't waste a second after downing her foe. She rushes the next one and closes the distance with a worrying lack of self-preservation.
Once more, the crypt thing resists the chill touch. Elka leaps upon it, slicing it with her claws, as Ellie and Gabby rush to Allie's aid.
The crypt thing scores a good hit on Elka, while the wights greet Gabby with nine magic missiles to the chest!
As the eldritch missiles slam into her, Gabbi attempts to drag her sister out of the room. Once she clears the door, she presses her hands to Allie's still form, filling her with negative energy.
"Won't you just die already?!"
Ulrich casts Boneshaker on the crypt thing to force it South at its move speed, forcing it to take an attack from Elka.
Elka's initial attacks miss, but Ulrich's spell causes the crypt thing to stagger away and open itself up for another strike!
Allie comes too with a cough and a groan and clenches her fist, which wracks her with negative energy again. She looks up at her sister and asks a quiet question.
"Cuddles?"
Gabbi frowns at her sister. "I don't know. He's still down. I had to save you."
Ellie moves to the door and slams it shut, doing her best to hold it closed.
"We need to block this door, I don't think they'll stay in there just because they aren't invited. And then we need to run. We'll come back tomorrow"
She looks at Alessandra. "I'm sorry, Allie, I'm so sorry, but...I saw your tiger in there. He's not moving."
Tears trickle down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry."
Elka slashes the crypt thing as it stumbles away, tearing rents in its bones. Once it regains control of its body, the undead snarls and rushes back at the changeling to return the favor!
Ellie holds the door shut as Allie struggles to recover from the beating she took. Fortunately, it doesn't seem like the wights are going to try to push the door open--at least for now...
At the slamming of the door, Gabbi looks up in horror at the Lore Warden. She starts to protest, but her eyes close knowing that the woman's right. Doing so, the sounds of the ongoing combat across the room come to her. She rises from her sister's side and fires two quick shots towards Elká's foe.
"We need to find somewhere defensible," she says, reaching down to grasp Allie's shoulder. "Let's head back to the room the Crypt Things were in."
Allie follows her sister but seems to be almost in shock. She pulls the bead from her pouch and places a hand briefly on Ellie's shoulder but the motions are all entirely automatic.
The taste of failure causes Elká to reflect and adapt. The raging changeling takes a split second to take in her foe and, after changing her stance, strikes when the thing reaches out for her.
Gabby shoots the crypt thing twice, and then Elka studies her foe and finishes it off with a powerful slash to the neck. Its skull rolls off its body, which falls to the floor.
The temple is quiet again...
With her sister's hand held in hers, Gabriella leads the group back to the room where they encountered the crypt things in the first place. She helps Ellie move one of the cabinets up against the northern door.
She tends to Ellie's wounds with her Pharasmin gifts.
And then Ulrich's ...
And then Elká's
And finally her own.
Only then does she sit down against a wall and open her arms to comfort her sister.
Allie stands numbly for a while and then pulls a small broach from her bag and offers it to Ellie.
"I want you to kill them." She says, staring fiercely into the blondes eyes. "This will protect you, but I want them dead! Again!" There is a very hard glint in her eyes, for the first time her vampiric heritage is showing, and looking very intimidating.
After receiving some healing from Gabriella, and watching Alessandra proclaim justice, Ulrich ponders.
"Hmm this sounds like a solid plan, actually. Those spellcasters must be running low on spells by now, and with the brooch, Ellie should be more than capable of destroying them. Let's give Ellie as many boons as possible, and have her wreck havoc upon them. Is everyone interested in that? Then we can sleep somewhat safely."
A whisper. "I'm sorry for your loss of Cuddles, Alessandra. I do not recommend the following, but I think it is best that I mention it so you may make an informed decision. Quite recently, I have discovered the theory behind an arcane method to... somewhat... bring the dead back to life. I'm sure you can devise my meaning. I would need time and sleep to prepare the ritual, but I could perform it in your stead, should you wish it. What say you?"
"I don't know if that's a good idea," Gabbi says quietly. "If something goes wrong, I have almost no healing." When Allie looks at her, her eyes drop to the floor. "But if that's what you want to do, I'll do my best to help."
Ellie takes the brooch from the vengeful dhampir, nodding doubtfully. "OK, I can certainly do that, although..."
She tries to recall what she can about the creatures in the room - and in particular, other ways they might be able to hurt her apart from the spell they used.
Ellie knows that wights can drain the life force of those they harm with their slam attacks. Too many hits will leave even the mightiest warrior a dried-up and shriveled husk. As spellcasters, they likely have other tricks up their sleeves besides just magic missiles as well.
Seeing Ellie's reticence, Gabbi steps close to her sister.
"Vengence for Cuddles will be had, Love," she says quietly. "Let us use anger and grief as a weapon - not the other way around. The only resources they regain if we wait are more of those bolts of magic which that broach will protect Ellie from. While we can regain much more. A rest benefits us much more than it benefits them." Her hand reaches out to cup the side of Allie's face. "We rest. We strike. And then we grieve."
Unsure what to say, Elká stands to the side when the sisters discuss how to go about avenging Cuddles. If it were her friend, she'd be flying in right now, but yes, she knows she might have a bit of a temper and maybe some anger issues. "Maybe Gabriella is right. I know I'd be beyond reason too, but your sister speaks words of truth."
Faced with the unified consensus of the group Allie glowers for a few moments longer before all the fight drains out of her. Her posture slumps and she leans heavily on her sister's shoulder. Muffled sobs and the shaking of her shoulders make it clear that the next stage of grief has arrived.
You retreat through the secret passage back to Roslar's tomb. There, you are able to rest through the night without incident.
Gabriella spends a good portion of their resting time in the corner of the dark chamber, holding her sister in her arms. Soft murmurs and sobbing are the only sounds that come from the pair until Alessandra finally drifts off to a fitful sleep. Gabbi continues to rock the woman and stroke her hair long after Allie quiets.
Partway through the night, she gently slips from her twin's embrace and makes her way to where Ellie rests. She wakes the woman with a gentle touch and with a silent gesture indicates for the tall woman to take her place in her sister's arms.
She spends the rest of the night watching the tunnel back to the ruined temple with her hand on her bow.
Unknown to sleeping Ulrich, Kamosh has suddenly turned into an egg... it is twitching, ready to hatch
-----------------------------
Come 'morning', Kamosh breaks out of his egg. The most recognizable difference is that he's wearing a mask made of bone, but he also has four wings rather than two. He sings a haunting melody, grabbing the attention of all who hear him.
"I've been reborn." Says the haunting Kamosh, but only in a language that Ulrich can understand. "I've been sent by the Lady of Graves to monitor you, Ulrich. Now that you know how to animate the dead, what will you choose to do? Will you rebel against necromancers of this world and destroy forbidden knowledge? Or will you become one of them, and draw the Lady's wrath? That remains to be seen, but judgement awaits all, eventually."
Elká knows of no other way to deal with sorrow than to drown it in an ocean of alcohol. And knowing that alcohol brings it with a whole cask of problems of its own, she opts to leave the mourning dhampir alone. She does, however, do something she never does - she shoots Desna a prayer, asking the Lady of the Stars to please show Cuddles the quickest way to Pharasma so that the Lady of Graves, in turn, can return the cat's spirit to Allie.
Ulrich falls asleep quite quickly. His dreams are filled with undead horrors that both terrify and fascinate him.
-----------------------
Come 'morning', Ulrich replies to Kamosh in this strange tongue.
"Mark my words, I will bring far more good into this world than evil. The more I study the darkness, the more I can bring it to light. When the Lady judges my soul, she will see that I have done only what is needed for the greatest good and nothing more."
He pauses for a moment, then says "I am sad to know you have changed, Kamosh. I feel a disconnect in our link."
Ulrich explains to the group that Kamosh has turned into a psychopomp, as a sign of Pharasma's favour. He no longer speaks Common, but Ulrich will find a way to teach him.
Then he settles down and begins preparing his spells, which will not contain animate dead.
------------------------------
Spells Prepared
------------------------------
0th (at will) Detect Magic, Disrupt Undead, Read Magic, Resistance
1st chill touch, dancing lantern, enlarge person, repair undead, shield, vanish
2nd blood transcription, boneshaker, eagle's splendor, false life, see invisibility
3rd dispel magic, haste x2, halt undead
4th boneshatter x3
Allie gives Ulrich a look that mingles rage and despair in equal doses, but when she speaks she is, more or less, her usual self. "Thank Ulrich but Cuddles... he's special because he's alive and I..." Her lip trembles alarmingly and she breaks off the conversation as her eyes begin to well up. She retains just enough presence of mind to provide magic for the group's injuries but almost as soon as they return to the tomb she heads for the darkest corner she can find and only Gabriella dares follow her.
During the night she tenses noticeably when Gabbi slips away, but the tension eases again when she gets a new, warmer body to hold instead. Otherwise she sleeps the sleep of the dead, so still that it almost seems she has died.
The next morning Kamosh's transformation gets little more than a glance from Allie. The whole things seems too close to her own loss for the dhampir to observe for more than a short time.
"Now we kill them." She says once the group is ready and its clear that dissent at this point is not welcome.
Ellie tactfully leaves the twins to their private grief, but on being woken up by Gabbi she is glad to be able to offer something helpful.
On waking, she spends time practicing with her flail, working out the knots from her muscles while her brain works on the enemies they will be encountering. "OK, those things are wights. Even if this trinket protects me from the spells they cast, they can drain life with their attacks. I don't suppose anyone has a spell that protects against that?"
"Not yet." Allie replies. "Soon though. I'm not going to let creatures like that hurt us again!"
Gabbi gives her sister a nod and readies herself for their return to the temple.
"If they're wights, perhaps Allie and I should engage two of them directly. Their ability to drain life is effectively useless against us and if we're right there in their face, they'll be hard pressed to cast spells."