Feena's luck with her new dagger continues when she not only strikes the fleeing cultist as he moves away, she strikes him again after he's moved on. Gerdish lands another solid hit, but Vlad comes up short in his attempt to finish him off.
The cultist in the north drinks a potion and disappears from sight and the other one who is barely clinging to life withdraws, moving behind the undead creature.
"They are going invisible. Stick close together!" Damian cautions as one of the cultists disappears from sight.
Then it's the same routine - a quick touch to offset the drain on his life force as Vlad and Feena heal a little bit more, then another arrow speeding towards the purple ghoul, the wrath of Sarenrae behind it.
"Good call, Damian, but Vlad is out there!"
Can't defend Vlad from where I am.
Coral takes a deep breath and moves up to attack the undead inquisitor. She is fighting cautiously, unsure what she is up against.
She prepares to defend Vlad.
Marya roars after the one going invisible and the other running behind its master. "Craven f&$$s!" She rushes up to the wall, leaving a spot for Feena. "We'll protect you, Feena. Square up!" She then channels again.
Feena held her hand up and the dagger came sailing back into it as she saw her chance. Feena quickly moved up behind Vlad and then cast a spell. From her hands burst a spray of flames that washed over the ghoul and the cowering thug behind her.
Okay, Coral will just move next to Vlad and ready to attack the next foe within reach (using the rolls above).
I want to stay adjacent to allies for Shake it Off, but don't want to get in a position to be flanked. Does mean I can't use Bodyguard to help Vlad against the undead, however.
The ghoul resists most of Feena's blast, dodging away at the last moment.
Shortly thereafter, she is surrounded by a light which seems to heal some of her wounds. She swings her scythe at Vlad, connecting only once thanks to Marya's inspiration. . She steps back a few feet into the street, away from the group.
Gerdish moves over to protect Feena, and then points at the ghoul. He licks his lips oddly, grinning, ”you, you’re mine, monster.” He menaces her with his shovel, and studies her movements.
Vlad hits the cultist, but it's not enough to bring it down.
The other one near the ghoul drinks a potion, disappearing from sight.
The cultist furrows his brow when Gerdish licks his lips at him. "Oh? What are you doing, I wonder? Hmm? You call [i]me[/i the monster? Well then! Help turn me into it!"
He then slashes twice at Vlad before backing up and motion Vlad forward , holding out his arms wide. "Come! Help me be reborn into THE MONSTER! YES!"
Damian could not comprehend these cultists, so he tries to not let the bizarre behaviour distract him as he looses another arrow at the ghoul woman.
Vlad is taking a beating... but if I get in front of him, can I dodge the Grim Reaper there? Maybe I should at least stop him from getting flanked.
Coral tries to help out Vlad by finishing off Teal. She steps up and stabs with her short sword.
Marya moves up closer to the rest of the group to keep pace. She is slower than the rest, so better to not lag behind. She throws out one last channel, excluding the two remaining enemies from the blast of holy energy.
Damian lands a critical shot on the undead creature who staggers back a few steps from the wound. She heals a tiny fraction of the damage back, but by in large Damian is quickly whittling away at her. Though she wishes she could step up and lop his head off with her scythe, she focuses her aggression on Vlad instead.
Stepping up to him, she uses an ability to make her wicked slash even more powerful against the barbarian, dealing tremendous amount of damage as she slashes him twice
Gerdish steps up to the ghoul, and grimaces, swinging his shovel in a powerful arc.
With a splat, the shovel connects with the ghoul, and Gerdish grins menacingly as the ichor splats onto him. His hair is a little mussed and he is breathing heavily.
Feena felt that thins were beginning to go their way now and decided to try something she'd had little use for until now. Feena chanted and gestured and when she was finished a pulse of positive energy burst from between Vlad and Gerdish catching the ghoul in the edge of it.
Vlad and Gerdish both land their hits, Vlad just narrowly missing a critical strike. The ghoul is able to resist Feena's spell and screams at Vlad and Gerdish in pain "You deeds must be punished with DEATH! I shall defile you and then feast on your corpse!"
"Pallid Princess take me!" a voice cries out from an unknown location to the west of Gerdish. Seconds later dashing feet can be heard as the cultist that had turned invisible moves in behind Vlad and stabs him in the back.
The cultist on the other side of Coral tries to take advantage of the flanking, but simply cannot pull it off and misses the halfling twice.
Coral tries to finish off Teal.
The halfling jabs up and scores a nasty hit to the neck with her short sword.
If that finally drops Teal, then Coral will 5' step northwest and prepare to defend Vlad as best as she can. She dreads facing this undead, and isn't sure she can deflect the scythe or distract the monster, but thinks to herself I can't fail him too...
Marya returns to inspiring with her sword, the last of her channels gone for the day.
The ghoul's threats and the sudden reappearance of one of the cultists unnerve Damian, but he does his best to focus on ending his target, trusting in his link to Vlad to keep the warrior alive.
Coral drops the cultist near her and both Vlad and Damian lands attacks on their targets. Though neither target drops, both look like they are destined to fall with another blow.
Since Vlad has stepped away and Gerdish was in front of her AND he had struck her, she snarls at him loudly, her face contorting in anger . Winding her sharp weapon back, she unleashing the fury of her scythe upon him and nearly cuts the shoveler in two
Vlad drops the last cultist, leaving only the ghoul barely remaining.
Feena saw Gerdish drop and felt a wash of fear flow through her. She knew she was about to fail again and lose yet another person she should have been able to save. Fortunately Feena saw the last cultist fall and shifted slightly for a better angle. She couldn't get everyone but she could come darn close to it. She chanted, gestured, and a wash of healing flames spread from her hands into her friends to help heal their wounds.
Gerdish flops to the ground with a grunt, and is prone, but wakes up as the healing flame passes over him. He grins at the ghoul, and says, "oh yes" and executes his studied strike on her form, as deadly a hit as he can do.
Gerdish seems to aim carefully, even when on the ground, and then pull back the sharp point of his fine shovel, thrusting forward with such force and prevision that the surprised creature barely has a moment to gurgle a scream as the top part of her head is severed from the bottom, the point of the shovel inserted into her mouth. The strike neatly removes the top of her head from the bottom, and the surprised top half of the face slides down the shovel, leaving a trail of ichor, before falling with a splat near Gerdish. The remainder of the corpse falls in another direction, the tongue and lower jaw twitching as the foul magic animating the creature runs its course. The slime and ichor is almost covering Gerdish at this point, though it's not obvious that he's noticed.
The man is breathing heavily, after having exerted himself. He stands up, leaning on the shovel slightly unsteadily, and grins his odd grin at the others, nodding in thanks to Feena.
The opens her mouth and growls loudly before her head is separated from her body. With the cultist and ghoul defeated, the battle comes to an end.
Coral moves over to Vlad and uses what little gift of healing she has.
Marya plants her sword in the ground, making sure that it goes through the ghoul's mouth first.
"Say, any of you mind if I take this ghoul a@!&!$*'s armor? Looks better than mine."
Damian adds his healing to Marya's and Coral's, hoping to get Vlad back on his feet.
Feena was relieved to see the ghoul fall but cried out in horror when Vlad fell as well. Fortunately he wasn't beyond saving and they quickly had him back up. "I hop that was the last of them because I don't think we can handle much more right now."
"I definitely think we should rest for the night, all. I'm basically spent. I think we all are. I don't think we can handle another battle right now." Her face falls as she thinks back to Lola. "We can plan on bringing Lola with us to the graveyard tomorrow. I saved a consecration for tonight."
"That armor is pretty nasty, Marya. I hope you plan to wash it thoroughly."
Coral fidgets. She is unharmed, and doesn't feel fatigued.
Their magic... it runs out so quickly. We have to leave Lola unburied?
Coral will go along with the group.
Marya throws up a thumps-up to Coral. "You bet I will, Coral. Getting killed is even nastier, though. I'd rather take the hit to my pride than take a hit to the sternum, though. My job is to keep you all alive, and I can do that just as well in former case, but might not be able to in the latter."
Gerdish wipes himself off slightly, and nods at the others, ”eh, we can continue if you folks are up for it. Got most of my magic still.” The man clutches his holy symbol and mutters something, and the divine magic heals him. ”can heal a bit, too, ifn you folks need it.”
After getting healed, he puttered around, helping everyone strip the bodies and checking the quality of the coin. He says little during this process.
Damian does not look very happy at the idea of spending another night in this place. "I have most of my magic left, and healing."