"It's very possible that we spooked him. Still should ascend up, even if he moved we at least would have a better vantage point on top of the the church. I'd ask you to take to the sky to help look but that could really give away that we spotted him, might bring trouble our way faster than we want." With that Nasar grabs hold of the rope and begins to attempt a climb up the church, unless someone stops him first.
The team starts to scale with Deract hopping up first and climbing like a mad man getting about 20 feet up the rope. Lily flaps her wings as she watches the team climb. Nasar goes second and then Genesis, then Marissa last. Nasar climbes 10 feet up.
The homeless man yells up to them but is now sounding a bit muffled due to their earplugs in. Hey you are gonna get hurt climbing like that!? You never heard of stairs before?!
Nasar looks down at him and before he can say something back, an idea pops into his head. He slides back down the rope and takes out 20 gp to hand over to the man. "Could you do me a favor, make sure you talk nice a loud about how we took another route up this building? Anything that isn't climbing up. Maybe pretend you "convinced us" to go another way."
He waits for an answer before going back up the rope.
Nasar does a lil jump over his friends to get down and runs over to the man. As he rummages through his pockets for loose change he nears the man. He extends his hand at the offer and once Nasar gets close enough to effectively hand the cash over the homeless man looks Nasar in the eyes. 2 pitch black pupils stare through Nasar as the homless mans crooked smile opens up revealing missing teeth. Oh I think it's a bit too late for that, but it was a nice try keheheheheeee! and after hearing the mans muffled speech Nasar feels a wash of grim energy flow over him.
Nasar can see the words trail around Nasar like pieces of string as they stiffen his body trying to attach to his arms and hands and the top of his head.
Ooze immediatly coats Nasar like some kind of armor and dissolves the strings that attempted to take Nasar over and Nasar can once again freely move.
Genesis can be heard yelling to Nasar, Nasar!! GET AWAY FROM HIM!!
"YEA COOL IT IS AN AUDITORY THING, EARPLUGS GOOD, HOMELESS PEOPLE BAD. IT DIDN'T WORK IM OK FOR NOW." Nasar grabs onto the rope and starts to climb like he has never really wanted to climb in his life.
stoopid f!+@ing annoying ass homeless f##!. threw me off my groove
As Nasar and his friends climb Deract can be heard from a solid 60 feet up. At least you didnt drop your coins!
Marissa yells up to him, DERACT SHUT UP AND CLIMB!
As the team climbs up a small audible jingle can be heard... almost like a bell hanging from a shopkeepers door was rung.
As they climb now a posse of commoners (5 in total) emerge from nearby houses and mindlessly race towards the rope. Some picking up rocks off the ground others lost on finding stuff to pickup.
The homeless man sits under his sheet watching the ordeal with a smile on his semi-toothless face. Pitch black eyes staring at the posse racing towards the party.
Lily looks down and frowns. Oh what the hell? Are these guys gonna start throwing crap at us!?
Nasar speaks as he continues to ascend up the rope, trying to not focus on the enemies below. "Just keep moving up, Lily can you do anything to make them hitting us harder? Alchemical or magical?"
The group continues upward (Nasar now at 30 feet high, Deract at 80 feet, Genesis at 50 feet, Marissa at 40 feet) Lily clings to the rope and draws out a sigil with her nail. The friendly neighboorhood Babau appears on the ground a few seconds after the first wave of debris is thrown at the party.
A stone about the size of a baseball cracks Nasar in the back as he climbs his way up.
Nasar grips on the rope tightly as the rock hits him and falls to the ground below. The Babau jumps out from the pentagram and begins delivering fists-of-fury to the denizens of Magnimar that are under this Shadows hold.
"I appreciate the vibe check but STOP IT." Spurred on with the bonk on the head, Nasar now gives it the good old "I'm taking a break and will probably end up being on break forever but not call it dropping out cause I'll maybe pick up online classes in the future cause my parents always wanted me to graduate from" college try.
Nasar manages to climb effortlessly up the rope. 1 villager runs to the rope and begins climbing up after them while the other 4 surround the babau amd start beating him up, overpowering the demon by sheer numbers. Deract now at the top waits patiently for his friends to arrive.
Nasar takes out his blades and cuts the rope like he's using a big pair of scissors at the top end of the rope. "If all it takes is speech to cause any of us to turn, combat should stay as a last resort for now."
The villager tailing Nasar a solid 20 feet below when Nasar reaches the top plummets as Nasar cuts the rope. Losing 5 feet of rope tied to the top of the belfry no thud is heard due to the earplugs but Nasar knows... he knows what he's done. Lily stares at Nasar wide eyed as she was the only witness as everyone looks around the belfry.
With everyone up at the top they quickly survey the surrounding area. The door is no longer bolted closed but instead is swung open leading down some stairs.
Long breaths can be heard echoing through the bell in the belfry in the middle of them all.
Nasar looks around the spot they have climbed to, seeing if there are any of the possessed people hanging around the rooftop. Keeping the weapons out at this point, one jump scare is enough to get the blood pumping and the swords temporarily out.
"That could've been better...but at least no one got got. Any sight of the guy?"
Deract looks around and points to the door. Should we go down that way? He might've hightailed it down there to get away from us coming up.
Marissa and Genesis also look down the steps. A spiral fashion cuts off the bottom from sight.
"Seems like that would be his only way off the roof is going inside. Feels like we are a tac team clearing out a building...I brought just the thing for this." Nasar take the last spot in line going through the door, he sheathes his blades and takes out one of his last two iron spikes + hammer, looking for a nice spot to nail it to pin the door shut. Nasar almost looks a little giddy with this move "This'll make it harder for him to escape if he somehow slips past us again. Well, slow him down at least for us to catch up to him. I wish I had more and I could really seal off his routes of escape. I've always wanted an excuse to pin a door like this!"
The group funnels in and Nasar plows the hammer into the doors close hook into the stone wall effectively jamming the door from being open save a strength check to pull the spike out or break the door.
They begin taking a few steps downward and after a few seconds hear the belfry chime. The bronze bell that stood hanging gongs loudly echoing through the chamber it can only be asumed the gong can be heard way far by the boom of it with earplugs in.
Lilys eyes widen. Oh no... this is bad bad bad oh no!
"Great...he was in the damn bell...and I just pinned the door...and now I hate everything. Marissa are you able strong enough to either remove the spike or door. Either would suit our needs today. We can help or hold off whatever comes our way."
Lily frantically looks around before grapping a hold of the spike piece thats jutting out. This should work. And she teleports with the spike in hand. She appears at the back of the gang and looks at her hand to fond the spike taken with her. OH THANK GOODNESS GO GO GO!!!
The group bum rushes the door and opens it to see a man standing across the belfry (20 feet away) looking out at Magnimar. A few miles away a building can be seen lighting on fire. Another shows people flooding out like a swarm of locust. The town square below starts to riot with people.
The figure stands tall a caramel colored emaciated husk of a man. Thin tight braids fall from his head down to his lower back and tattoos line his body which only is clothed with torn leather shorts and a thin string belt. He looks to the city and raises his hands in praise, his voice can be related to Ozzy Osbourne he begins. "Yessss YESSSSSS, you all have been oppressed but now it is the ones who oppress that will be stomped on! If you feel so sick and tired of your lack of acknowledgement to the gods and society then it is time to rise up and START A RIOTTTTTTT!!!! and with that his hands drip of shadows falling onto the floor creating like figures that jump off the roof and fly away to join the chaos below.
Nasar initially speaks in a tone that can only be equated to a vocalized eye roll. ”Oh boy an anarchist...my favorite Finally get to meet the person behind all this. How about we put a name to your face before we get too lost in the weeds.”
The man turns around with his hands still dripping of shadow juice. He smiles a smug smile with a nice set of teeth. Oh a voice? You must be the group I've heard so much about, Masar right? Hehe, seems my shadow didn't have to tear through the city to find you. It brought you right to me, he swats his braids behind his head. I am known as the Voodoo Man, the 9th iteration of my shadows set. I am the one who will serve humanity a fresh new take on life and communion. One soul at a time...
Nasar can see from the side of the buidling people flooding out the church gathering around the perimeter. Footsteps can be heard from the steps below.
Marissa angrily retorts, And this i your idea of communion!? Taking people by force to serve one cause? Destruction?
The Voodoo Man raises a hand, But in destruction a new better world can be created you naive girl! Won't you see my perspective, or do I have to show you by force?
Nasar scratches his chin ”Yea i never really understood the whole “burn it all down and rebuild it better” mentality. Now are you going to continue running or can we get to the action?”
The Voodoo Man looks off the belfry and smiles. Yes let us commence the test of your wills... he leans to fall off the building. See you at the battlefield. Dont let the crowd trample you on the way out. He winks as he falls backward off the edge.
The footsteps from downstairs grow louder as yelling and hollering can be made out. Deract and the gang move away from the door out into the 20 x 20 belfry area. Marissa draws her sword and Genesis' staff lights up with a purple glow, Marissa speaks. Looks like he set us up to be softemed up before he has to face up. As much as I don't want to take innocent lives these lives are no longer mine to protect.
Nasar twirls his blades and readies himself before giving one last line prior to combat. ”Once we clear this wave, we’ll make chase after him and take him down like the rest. Business as usual.”
Deract smiles as he preps his tail mortar, Hope these fellas dressed 'buisness' casual then heh. to which every female gives him a deadpan look before readied themselves.
Marissa stands left of the door 10 feet away to leave space in the middle. Lily stands in the back near the right corner of the belfry and Deract stands at the rear left corner. Deract stands opposite of Marissa 10 feet to the right. His mortar sighted for the front of the door.
As the rumbling gets louder a mob of people burst through the door to be immediatly met with a barrage of dark energy bolts leaving the area in front of the door in a dark cloudy mess. Deract warns, Careful! My energy can suffocate you if you get caught in there!
Lily chucks a firebomb in the mist and a body sets alight and screaming can be heard. Genesis casts Sheild on herself. Marissa stays put as to not go in the cloud, waiting for someone to pop out.
Nasar takes out one of his tear gas sticks and gives it a chuck through the door as a nasty surprise for anyone daring to try and come through and attack them.
After throwing the stick, Nasar gets back in his fighting stance and readies himself for the upcoming fight.
A body drops to the ground of an older woman, body sucked of its energy from being in that cloud as the darkness quickly disperses leaving behind Nasars smoke stick inside the door hall.
A burly woodsman with eyes pitch black comes out with his felling axe and rushes Nasar, tears streaming from his eyes from passing through the smoke. He takes a swinging chop at Nasar like if it were another day on the job.
The axe slashes across Nasars stomach as his gut spills some blood. Nasar can tell by the ferocity of that swing if he would've been anymore unlucky hed be spilling more than blood on the ground...
2 woman rush up the stair and one grabs her eyes in pain and as they both dash towards Lily and Genesis one falls over due to running while blinded. Deract takes a second to dip inbetween the burly mans legs to give Nasar a flank.
To which the man steps on Deracts tail launching him back next to Nasar.
Another 2 older men one with a staff the other with a large sack of rocks and a sling run up and attempt to surround Marissa. She brandishes her sword and prepares to attack.
Nasar tries to shake off the pain while watching Deract get bonked back into place. Whilst wincing in pain, "That's not a bad plan, but it's more my style anyways." Nasar attempts to tumbleweed through the big lad's legs to establish the flank himself.
After the move, he goes for a nice slice into the ax-wielder.
Nasar quickly repositions and retaliates against the axeman. He effortlessly knifes the man and in return the axe comes flying again.
The axeman almost fumbles his weapon as he goes to attack. Deract slashes at the mans back with his claws leaving gashes down his shirt.
A woman runs out from the smokestick cloud and stands still rubbing her eyes as she is blinded by the toxic smoke. Another man rushes past her and dashes over to Lily and Genesis. The one lady that fell gets up and moves over to them as well.
Marissa slashes at one of the enemies and is bonked by another.
Nasar seeing the flank pay off and can now enact his slice 'n' dice attack: >:3
"Time to revoke your moving privileges"
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As the axeman whiffs his attack he recieves a steady stream of cuts and slashes and soon drops the the ground as his axe ka-clangs against the ground.
Deract looks at Nasar I'll help Lil with her 3 you go tag team with Marissa! and gives a nod of acknowledgement before dipping to the corner of the belfry to give Genesis and Lily some flanks.
One woman stands behind Marissa and bonks her once more as the 2 men stand in front of the doorway continuing to assault her.
Nasar takes that big 15 foot step behind goon number 1. "Uh-Oh Marissa, looks like you are in a fine pickle. But do not worry as death approaches." He readies his kukri to scratch the lad's back real good.
The man who was attacked does not relent against Marissa as he attempts to grab her.
She shakes loose and swings her sword at him slashing his arms. The man next to him attempts to deck Nasar with a barrage of punches.
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Nasar manages to dodge a blow before taking a stiff one to the gut. The mans hand almost like silk flies from his gut up Nasar's center and attempts to grab Nasar's kukri as he swings for another blow. Nasar manages to keep his grip on his weapon while also keeping his hands up to deflect the final hook.
A giant thunderbolt crashes across the belfry emanating from Genesis and almost a second after a SECOND one comes flying from her as if the spell had been casted twice. Her assailants are knocked out as she and Lily exchange looks of surprise.
Nasar glances back at the thundering crack of lightning
"Did-did I hear two‽." He shakes off the confusion. Questions for later He then readies himself again and cha-cha slides to the continues his flurry into the guy who ignored the first slice.
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The man drops after the 3rd slash and the dude that tried to disarm Masar takes a step back next to Marissa as his lady partner steps up to the other side of Marissa and tries to shank her. The man and woman then attempt to bash Marissa over the head.
Marissa's eyes go a cold grey as she turns to the man that just whiffed off her armor. She drops her sword trailing with a sick left hook that-
misses along with her follow up jab. Her sword clangs onto the ground.
Lily and the others finish dispatching the rest of their assailants and prepare to mob the woman near Nasar.
MNasar seeing the crew going after the chick takes the chance to do a-
pretty awesome/absolutely eye catching cartwheel behind the punchy guy so he can get some yummy Nasar Brand Flanks Cereal.
NMasar manages to drop the man as the group comes through with an acid bolt, negative energy bolts, and a flask of whatever Lily makes. The mini nuke explodes tearing up the last assailant on the rooftop. Leaving a large crowd undertow on the streets still causing mayhem.
Everyone takes a second to regain themselves and Deract takes a second to suck the soul out the lady they just ganged up on. Marissa stares at him and raises a fist to punch him but instead points at him and looks at Lily. Kick him in his stupid little face!
To which Lily happily obliges sending Deract to the floor holding his talisman and new soul gem. Marissa walks over and snatches the talisman from him. I'm holding onto this. Deract scrambles to jump onto her back to try and get it back but is met with a swinging stone arm flinging him away from her. Her shadow shows himself towering close behind her. I said I'm holding onto this
Genesis looks blankly at the 2 before looking at Nasar and giving a thumbs up and smiling. So whats the plan!
Nasar will remember that
"Calm down you 2 before I turn this belfry around and put you in timeout."
He looks towards Genesis and smiles behind his face coverings, "We probably should look over the madness and see if we can find him. Unless you have some sort of magic that could make finding him easier? If double lightning is in your wheelhouse then some sort of scrying sounds somewhat lower on the totem poll of difficulty."
Genesis searches her pack for her silver mirror, If we can find a lock of that long hair of his on the ground we would have a way easier time finding him off one of my scry spells. Deract your closest to the ground see if you cant spot one.
To which he finds a lock of fallen hair on the edge of the belfry where the shadow user leaped off.
Genesis begins her focus and prompts everyone to look into the mirror before her. A 3rd person view comes into effect of the Voodoo Man sprinting past various puppet people and he stops in front of a store before darting inside. A very familiar sign is on the front Nasar picks up on right away. Ask me about my parasaurolophus!
The team stands in confusion at what store that might be and where in town it is. Nasar recognizes it and the surrounding area being around 5 minutes away north of the church.
Nasar, once he realizes that what he sees is the pet shop, gathers his surroundings so they can move on north.
”That’s the-uhhh the pet place. Its only a couple minutes away from here. I can take us there. Good work Genesis.”
Deract looks off the belfry, Uhh how are we gonna traverse the streets with the flood of puppets currently tearing up the cobblestone roads. If we go down there were bound to get chewed up by the wave of his cronies.
Marissa looks around and her shadow picks up her arm to point at a side of the church that connects to some other houses by a few wood beams, a group of heathens stand on the roof rippi g out shingles and bricks mindlessly. We can get on the rooftops there. I only see a few people across tearing apart that chimney, we dispatch them and keep moving. she looks at Nasar, Sound good?
Nasar doesn't take long to think it over "Roof hopping is right up my ally. As long as no one goes falling off into the hoard it should be a great time. Plus we can save some work for whoever has to replace those shingles. Working that in the heat is no joke." Nasar starts working over to the path over the buildings "Be a shame if anything happened to that basalisk...I do want to purchase it still."
The team heads down and out the window attached to the wood beams and they all effortlessly make it across to the houses. The posse stands 4 houses away and one of them gets up and groans before moving towards the group. The other 3 get up and follow suit trudging over.
Genesis starts conjuring a Deep Slumber spell Let em get close lets see if i cant knock at least 2 of em out.
Everyone else readies to attack while posse moves closer. Once they get close enough she looses her sleep spell. 2 bubbles escape her hands, then 2 more! They float over to the trudging bodies and pop next to their heads.
3 of them drop to the ground releasing the bricks and refuse they had in their hands. The last one still moves closer.
Nasar lets out a small laugh when the bubbles pop by the enemies. "Aww bubbles, that was precious. And then there was one left, sounds easy enough. Shouldn't take us that long eh?" He readies his blades and let's the enemy wander into the killzone that is his party.
The group gets into a small triangle and lily stands front and center and flaunts her body, Come here big boy time to take your medicine. the man steps up and she steps back to let him wander into the flank frenzy that is the group. 50cc's of painnn baby and with that Marissa, Deract, and Lily all throw hands at this man dropping him in a split second.
Lily looks at the other 3 then. Uhhh there only gonna be out for a few minutes. Should we toss em down to the street?
"We could, but there's a chance that could alert the ones in the street that we are on the roofs still and could lure them up here. We can just finish them off while they sleep so we don't have to worry about them anymore." Nasar goes to coup de grace them unless he is me with resistance from the party.
Marissa lifts a hand reluctantly at everyones unnecessarily morally contradictory suggestions, Maybe a nonlethal approach could be better Nasar? Can you use the hilt to just knock them unconcious for the time being?
Nasar shrugs ”Yea i guess that’s work. Can’t say i’ve never tried to knock out someone who was already sleeping so hopefully i don’t wake the lad up.” Nasar firmly holds his Kukri and brings it non-lethally down apon his cranium.
Nasar wonders to himself, man i could specialize in non-lethal sneak attacks but killing people is just so easy that it seems dumb to go in a completely different direction at this point.
Nasar slams his kukri blade flat onto the body and... it stays still. Lily looks at the body, I guess that worked. and with that she funnels a body down a chimney.
Marissa gawks at the sight, LILY??
Lily turns around as the body tumbles down the brick laden chimney, What?? You expect me to do that? No? Ok then!
And with that Deract points his tail at the other body and preps a tail bolt of pure negative energy. The body goes cold. Deract looks around nervously. Deracts pretty sure he just killed the civilian. He walks over to the team to continue on. They arrive at the frok tof the pet shop after a few moments. The door seems to have a break in the glass by the door knob.
”Seems like we are late to the party...you know the drill. Stay on your toes. Who knows how many of those possessed are lurking around inside. I swear if this guy is hiding and we miss him again...” Nasar waits for the crew to be ready before they enter the building.