Leta takes 8 damage.
"Yeowch!" Leta shouts, glad she reinforced her contitution with Bear's Endurance before entering the fray.
Bashuk's latest blast just about turns the offending ghoul to cinders, ensuring that it does not get another chance to attack Leta.
Unable to see much through her compatriots on one side and the web on the other, Nadiya takes the time to pull out two flasks of alchemist's fire, one in each hand.
Fall back! NOW! The Countess' voice is forceful.
Miruna staggers under the ghoul's strike, her confidence draining from her face just as surely as the blood from her wound.
Kain stands guard and listens for what's unfolding beyond the web.
On the far end of the web, you can hear the trapped ghoul scamper away as the spiritual scythe summoned by the undead priest helps cut him free. The last of the ghouls on the east fall back, accepting that their route to attack the party has been blocked. You aren't sure whether they know a way to circle around or if they are simply abandoning this battle entirely, but they have left their ghoulish fellows on their own for now.
Kain nods, before turning to Nadiya.
I leave this side to you. I'm moving to aid the others.
He says, as he runs around to the west side of the battle.
Can someone clear a path for me!?
Leta will attack (and miss, evidently) the creature nearest her again.
(sword, +1 strength, +1 magic, +2 Inspire, shocking)
Miruna's blade strikes out in a counterattack, but the pain of her injury spoils her aim. She briefly considers falling back, but stands her ground with gritted teeth.
Leta's blade is parried by the armored ghoul, but this motion leaves him open to Miruna's strike, further wounding the beefy undead brute.
The armored ghoul unleashes a full assault upon Miruna with both his greataxe and his teeth, but she manages to fend off every strike.
The other ghoul throws aside his crossbow and lunges for Leta. Unfortunately, this foe is more successful and makes contact with tooth and claw.
Bashuk takes a half-step back at the armored ghoul's flurry of attacks, alarmed and impressed that Miruna was able to fend off the brutal strikes. With a hiss, the kineticist draws her fires into a painfully bright pinpoint of light hovering at the tip of her finger. Lunging forward, she aims the searing white dot at the ghouls chest. It suddenly spears forward into an arrow-straight beam four feet long--enough to punch all the way through the ghouls torso, then out again as the half-orc turns her hand to drag the beam through her foe's torso and out the side.
"Go, Mishka," Nadiya orders Mishka upon hearing what seemed like confident blasts and sword clangs turning to snarls and cries of pain. The cat dashes between Kain's legs to get closer to the others, but can't get close enough and deliver the healing spell this round.
To help the others herself, she'd have to get down the hall and thus in the way of the fall-back that Valeska had called for, so Nadiya grits her teeth and moves closer to the west wall, figuring the web will still slow any approaches to the east for now.
Bashuk, fall back. You can use your fire at range, I cannot do the same with my spear! Kain calls out, and readied an action to charge once she is out of his path.
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Bashuk's flaming blade crashes against the armored ghoul, and the undead practically cooks within its armor. The fire creeps under his breastplate and seizes upon his chest and limbs. The greataxe drops from his grip a few moments before the ghoul himself crumples to the ground in a smoldering heap.
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With a grateful look toward Bashuk, and as much strength as she can muster, Miruna hooks her free arm underneath Leta's and bodily hauls the woman back and out of the ghoul's reach.
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Miruna quickly rescues Leta and pulls her out of harms way, lest the remaining ghoul or any others try to pounce upon her for an opportunistic meal.
Bashuk steps forward to fill the space they vacated and guard their withdrawal, menacing the remaining ghoul with the coronas of flame wreathed around her fists. This seems to be enough to make the remaining undead reconsider his situation, and he turns to flee down the hallway and escape down a stairwell on the far end of the floor.
Carefully scanning the narrow hall as she backs up, in case the ghouls decide to have another go, Bashuk slowly backs into the chapel room following Miruna and Leta.
"Four ghouls destroyed, the fifth fled," she reports, pressing a flask into Leta's hands as the paralysis starts to wear off. She eyes the mostly-intact webbing and shrugs. "I take it the Baron survived? That's too bad."
As soon as Leta's paralysis wears off, she chugs of her inflict moderate wounds potion.
That leaves her down only 2.
Mishka rubs against Miruna's legs, delivering healing.
Nadiya will follow up with her healing hex.
She looks over her patient. "Your wounds still look a little rough. Do you want another spell or can you take it from here?
"The baron and his cohort fled. They may be seeking to get to us another way. I'll leave up the web until it disintegrates naturally so they can't immediately circle back and come up from behind. We will have to proceed with caution..."
"If I were him, I'd be setting up an ambush at the exit if possible. Should we backtrack to hunt him down, or push deeper into the catacombs? The Baron might be trying to lure us away from something deeper within that he doesn't want us to find, but that's just a guess."
Once we are in as good a shape as can be expected, we need to keep moving... either exploring or pulling back.
Either way, I'm sure they are waiting to ambush us, perhaps with reinforcements.
After a slight pause and glance over to where most of the fighting occurred, Distasteful as the topic may be... shall we see what can be made useful from those fallen?
"I've half a mind to want to pour oil through the entire catacombs, leave, and chuck in some alchemist's fire. Sadly I've not enough oil... " Nadiya frowns. Mishka jumps back into her basket and bumps her head against Nadiya's nearest hand.
"Mmm... they came up from behind and ahead... so there must be some way the passages intersect south of here. I'd say we head west then south and see if we can find the Baron and head him off."
Valeska hears Nadiya's words and silently nods.
Satisfied with how triage is progressing, she cautiously steps into the tunnel the others just retreated from... as she holds up a sunrod.
Miruna gives Nadiya a look of pure gratitude, but shakes her head. "No need to push yourself on my account, Nadiya. I can take care of the rest myself."
True to her words, she unpacks a small arsenal of vials, bandages, and tinctures from a bandolier strapped across her torso, applying them to what remains of her injuries.
Already feeling better, she rubs at a sore spot on her neck that remains. "We don't even know for sure where the exit is. I think we ought to find that out and come back when we're rested and ready for a real fight."
"We don't know enough to make informed decisions. If we push on, we might learn enough that next steps become clearer."
Nadiya nods at Bashuk. "My sense is that we are not low on resources just yet, and the more time we give them to plan, as they obviously know we are here, at a worse disadvantage we will be."
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An unearthly quiet haunts the unhallowed chapel once the sounds of battle die down.
Three of the ghouls wear tattered, filthy clothing. Apart from their teeth and claws, they carry some notched knives and little else.
The slain ghoul with the crossbow carries a few interesting items in addition to his weapon.
Of course, it is the armored ghoul that you felled who possesses the most compelling treasures - particularly the thick belt with blackened steel fittings worn with his armor.
MWK Light Crossbow w/ 12 bolts
Leather Armor
Potion of Inflict Moderate Wounds
Tanglefoot Bag
Scroll of Inflict Serious Wounds
MWK Breastplate
MWK Composite Shortbow (+4 Str) w/ 14 arrows
MWK Greataxe
Belt of Giant Strength +2
283gp
As the gear is identified and either claimed or stowed away, Bashuk posts up by the narrower hall to keep watch, dimming her flames so as not to give herself away from more distant watchers.
"Who's on point, Countess?"
Leta, with yourself and Kain giving her some distance... but, not too far behind. If we encounter other tight places, pull back so that we can all help.
Nadiya, please let me know when you have some available healing... I've a friend I'd like to call upon. No urgency.
Possessing both low light and darkvision, Leta can see why she'd be a good choice to go first, but...the Countess didn't know that. Did she?
Well, she had her ways of getting out of trouble, provided she didn't get paralyzed again. Drawing her bow, she kept an arrow nocked and moved toward the front.
Miruna cocks an inquisitive eyebrow at the Countess. "I could probably do in a pinch...who's your 'friend'?"
Sasha... He's a dear if a bit over protective. I'm what some would call a Summoner, of the First World. She shrugs.
Miruna blinks in surprise, then shrugs. "Summon him, then. I'm assuming he's hurt? I'll see what I can do."
Let's to it a bit later, I may need other assistance while down here. And, I thank you, Miruna.
"Ready when you are, Countess."
Nadiya answers Valeska, "I have a simple charm that I can use as often as I want, though it will only work once a day on a given individual. As I am practiced in the healing arts I can also rework any of the spell preparations I have made for the day into a healing spell, and I still have several spells prepared today--although some we may need for other purposes while we are here. Between Miruna and me, we should be able to assist whomever you need."
Meanwhile, she folds the scroll into her haversack so she can perform the ritual later to imbue its magic into Mishka so she might cast the spell, and falls toward the middle-back of the casting order. She arranges her dancing lights to illuminate the front and back of the party, indicating to the scouts on point they should let her know if she should pull them back for the purposes of stealth.
And she follows the party as they head through the western hall and then southward to see where the other pack of ghouls may have gone.
Thank you, Nadiya... I appreciate the assurance. Onwards then. She nods to Leta.