You find no traps in the tunnel as you move forward, but you do note that the ceiling begins rapidly and unevenly sloping upward. By the time you reach an opening into the partially-worked rough-hewn room beyond, the cavernous ceiling can no longer be seen in the light of your spells. Only Andakos can make it out, some fifty feet above. It's made all the more jarring because the room is only about thirty-by-twenty, making it significantly taller than it is long. The chamber is spartan but clean, and its contents look expensive without being gaudy. A large four-post bed is partially set into the unfinished wall opposite the opening where you stand, a finely-crafted but unadorned writing desk stands against the left wall, and a polished full-length mirror leans against the wall a few feet to your left.
Oh, and a zombie stares at the bed with vacant eyes. Its head is mismatched to its body, a human female resting atop the near-naked frame of a withered, extremely old male human. The torso has several old, rot-infested wounds across its arms, chest and stomach.
It's hard to tell from here, but the wounds look conducive to spear and sword wounds. You're pretty sure this is the rest of Gaedren Lamm.
Suddenly the room plunges into darkness and a small, shrill voice screams, "Get out! Get out of Master's room! Get out of Master's home! I will kill you!"
ROUND 1
[color=green]
Andakos (23/23 hp)
Golloriel (33/33 hp)
Vreeg (0 dmg)
Zombie (0 dmg)
Caladaer (23/23 hp)
Berta (39/39 hp)
[/color]
Andakos groans when the darkness falls again. Why didn't they get something to help with this while they were taking the rest of the day off yesterday?
While he was berating himself, his tail was preparing for the fight. It drops a holy water from the haversack into his hand. Thanks, tail.
He moves forward a few steps and tosses the holy water at the zombie.
He looks around for the source of the darkness.
As he does these things, he is narrating. "Zombie by the bed, twenty feet into the room." When he gets closer to the zombie, he suddenly notices the derro... and the fact that it is currently in light. "Derro in the room to the east! If you enter the bedroom, you can see it!"
Golloriel knows her damned leg won't let her move fast enough in the complete darkness to see the derro. Instead, she carefully steps forward, grasps her holy symbol, and asks Sarenrae for her blessing in destroying the undead abomination.
The soft yellow-orange light of Golloriel's channel suddenly flashes bright and hot, like the desert sun, and it flows over the zombie in a scorching wave as its skin burns and sizzles, but whatever horrid will keeps this creature alive pushes back against the fire of the Dawnflower and resists the worst of it.
Andakos doesn't just see the derro flying high above--he sees six of him. The creatures cackle in unison. "Mighty Vreeg will kill you and make delightful minions out of you! Master will be so proud! Maybe he will kill my father for me, and let me make beautiful art from him!" He pauses thoughtfully as he rises slowly upward. "Also, you should maybe not call out your tactics." With a smirk, he waves a hand over himself and he vanishes in a second globe of darkness. Only Andakos can see him now as he calls, "Gaedren! Kill the intruders!"
The zombie shuffles up a step and swings at Andakos. The investigator sidesteps it easily, but he finds himself swallowing involuntarily as its meaty fist slams into the desk behind him and sends splinters flying. This thing is definitely more powerful than the average zombie. The mismatched head, apparently a middle-aged elven woman, lolls its milky eyes toward you as Zombie Gaedren recovers from its lunging strike. This close, the stench of weeks of decay roll off the old man's--and old woman's--corpse, threatening to make Andakos' breakfast come charging back up his esophagus.
ROUND 1
[color=green]
Andakos (23/23 hp)
Golloriel (33/33 hp)
Vreeg (0 dmg)
Zombie (5 dmg)
Caladaer (23/23 hp)
Berta (39/39 hp)
[/color]
Caladaer calls out to Berta, "Leave the space in front of me clear!" He begins an incantation, muttering under his breath with his eyes closed, his hands weaving a complex tapestry ahead of him.
|
Berta hustles into the room, doing her best not to trip over herself as she moves through the darkness.
She almost slips on the rug but catches herself, striding swiftly into the room. She closes her eyes--not that it makes a difference here--and whispers a prayer to Desna. The goddess's favor ripples out over the party, granting Her boon.
The blessing of Desna falls upon the party, but will it be enough to take down Vreeg?
ROUND 2
[color=green]
Andakos (23/23 hp, blessed)
Golloriel (33/33 hp, blessed)
Vreeg (0 dmg, 5 images)
Zombie (5 dmg)
Caladaer (23/23 hp, blessed)
Berta (39/39 hp, blessed)
[/color]
Andakos steps back to be next to Berta. "I'm drawing it toward you."
His tail drops the holy acid into his hand. He takes a half second to admire his handiwork and hope it's not about to be smashed uselessly on the ground, then tosses at the überzombie.
Golloriel hears Andakos's voice; he's right in front of her! She reaches out blindly with her hand until she touches his back. "May Sarenrae's light protect you."
Even the enhanced defenses of the stronger zombie--one might call it "advanced," if they were feeling generous--are of little aid against the might of science. The holy acid explodes across the zombie and it disintegrates silently under the combined divine and acidic damage, melting into a viscous pool of rotten, liquefied meat.
Vreeg hisses angrily at the death of his minion, then flies forward through the narrow tunnel into the room, some thirty feet over your heads (though only Andakos sees it). He utters an invocation and points his finger at Andakos' face.
Andakos' heart skips a beat as the darkness tunnels in around the edges of his black-and-white vision, and everything vanishes into inky darkness, before he fights through it and the tunnel vision recedes.
Vreeg kicks the air in frustration, seeing his enemy has resisted his power.
ROUND 2
[color=green]
Andakos (23/23 hp, blessed)
Golloriel (33/33 hp, blessed)
Vreeg (0 dmg, 5 images, flying)
Zombie (15 dmg, dead)
Caladaer (23/23 hp, blessed)
Berta (39/39 hp, blessed)
[/color]
Lillian feels Caladaer's empathic command to attack his enemies and turns to peer into the darkness. She sees Vreeg flying above the mostly-blind party and taunting them and emits an angry bzzzzzt. She flies up to meet Vreeg in the air and slams him with her electrified arms.
Caladaer reaches up to his shoulder and touches Thúlae, whose eyes begin glowing like burning embers. "Burn him," Cal whispers, and Thúlae takes off into the darkness. He catches Vreeg's gaze and wills the derro to ignite.
Lillian the lightning elemental darts up toward the derro and swings at him, but her thundery fist bounces off his arcane protections. However, one of the images disappears with a faint pop.
Vreeg sneers until he bursts into flames, shrieking as his wild shock of white hair erupts.
Vreeg looks suddenly less enthused about his chances in this fight now that he's on fire.
ROUND 3
[color=green]
Andakos (23/23 hp, blessed)
Golloriel (33/33 hp, blessed)
Vreeg (3 dmg, 4 images, flying)
Zombie (15 dmg, dead)
Caladaer (23/23 hp, blessed)
Berta (39/39 hp, blessed)
[/color]
Andakos moves to the western end of the room and drinks his enlarge person extract.
Golloriel isn't sure what to do. She is standing in utter darkness. The disorientation of not being able to see her own hand in front of her face but to clearly see her father ten feet behind her is becoming almost too much to bear.
Maybe Captain Brokenev is right; maybe she isn't cut out for paladinhood. If a little bit of darkness is enough to cripple her, what will she do against much greater evils?
Lacking for anything else to do, but too stubborn to leave the darkness for the safety of the light, she touches her holy symbol to her chest and casts resistance.
Vreeg frantically flails for a moment, lit on fire as he is, then stares daggers at the bird. The sudden arrival of an elemental seems to vex Vreeg for a moment, but he reaches down to his robe, yanks off a patch, and drops it down to the ground below. Suddenly the massive, pustule-laden corpse of an ogre erupts from the patch directly in front of Berta. It shudders and lashes out in confusion, swinging a meaty fist at Andakos. The fist glances off his armor, but even in his enlarged state, a deflected blow nearly knocked him on his ass. This thing packs a wallop.
Vreeg then flies back into the room he just came from , keeping high.
ROUND 3
[color=green]
Andakos (23/23 hp, blessed)
Golloriel (33/33 hp, blessed)
Vreeg (5 dmg, 4 images, flying)
Ogre Zombie (0 dmg)
Zombie (15 dmg, dead)
Caladaer (23/23 hp, blessed)
Berta (39/39 hp, blessed)
[/color]
Lillian chases Vreeg, keeping the pressure on.
Caladaer has an idea. He isn't sure if it will work, but it could make a huge difference. He steps into the darkness and sends his arcane senses forward, looking for the aura of the darkness spell.
Lillian swings out at Vreeg and clips another image as the necromancer shoots away from her. She follows him in, but this time the elemental misses entirely, not even popping an image.
Berta somehow manages to swing blindly and land a solid hit on her target, though the impact is significantly wetter than she'd hoped for.
ROUND 3
[color=green]
Andakos (23/23 hp, blessed)
Golloriel (33/33 hp, blessed)
Vreeg (3 dmg, 3 images, flying)
Ogre Zombie (16 dmg)
Zombie (15 dmg, dead)
Caladaer (23/23 hp, blessed)
Berta (39/39 hp, blessed)
[/color]
Thúlae lands on Andakos's shoulder and stares at the zombie. He tries to raise an eyebrow but then remembers he doesn't have eyebrows.
Andakos curses under his breath; going large was the only way he could reach the flying derro, but now the zombie is in the way and too close for him to attack with his spear. His tail snags his last holy water out of the haversack and he hucks it at the zombie's big ugly head.
The zombie stares blankly back at the hawk, then turns away unaffected by his gaze. It turns its head to face Andakos, only to be met with a vial of holy water straight to the face. It is less than pleased.
Andakos calls out for Golloriel to attack with her spear directly in front of her, so she does so, hoping she won't hit Berta by mistake.
Golloriel's spear finds its home and strikes the zombie, but glances off its necromantically hardened flesh.
Vreeg decides he's done with being on fire and floats in place, rolling about and smacking his clothing. It does nothing. However, so far, neither has the fire; it's all over his head and arms, but he doesn't appear to have taken damage yet.
Seeing as this is a necromancer, it's most likely temporary hit points from a false life spell.
The ogre zombie, still reeling from the scorching, acid-like properties of the holy water, swings at Andakos and connects a meaty fist with his chest.
ROUND 4
[color=green]
Andakos (8/23 hp, blessed)
Golloriel (33/33 hp, blessed)
Vreeg (0 dmg, 3 images, flying)
Ogre Zombie (22 dmg)
Zombie (15 dmg, dead)
Caladaer (23/23 hp, blessed)
Berta (39/39 hp, blessed)
[/color]
Lillian continues to harry Vreeg.
Cal continues to concentrate on the darkness aura, intent on discovering its source so he can (tell someone else to) cover it.
Thúlae feels the magic beginning to fade and looks really hard at the zombie. He stays safely perched on Andakos's giant shoulder.
Lillian pops yet another image.
The good news: despite Berta's clumsy swing, her earth-breaker makes contact with the ogre zombie's chest and basically disintegrates it.
The bad news: Thulae failed to set it on fire first.
The worse news: when Berta hits, its torso explodes in a shower of rot, ichor, and pus, splattering everyone nearby.
Golloriel just took a big ol' load of zombie pus right in the mouth. She coughs hard, and breathes some of it in, making her cough harder, then gag and spit out the vile liquid. That cannot be good...
ROUND 5
[color=green]
Andakos (8/23 hp, blessed)
Golloriel (33/33 hp, blessed, feelin real gross)
Vreeg (0 dmg, 2 images, flying)
Ogre Zombie (39 dmg, dead)
Zombie (15 dmg, dead)
Caladaer (23/23 hp, blessed)
Berta (39/39 hp, blessed)
[/color]
Andakos steps gingerly amid the corpses and gore, then squeezes his way through the narrow corridor. Once in the eastern room, he calls out, "He's in here!"
Golloriel is in the middle of a coughing fit, trying to rid herself of the filth she just ingested, when she hears Andakos. She steels herself, reaches out to the wall to her right, and begins walking slowly along it, shuffling her feet so she doesn't step ... in anything.
Vreeg ignores the elemental and Andakos, pulling another patch off the robe. "That was fun! Let's do it again! Eeehahaha!!"
The patch wafts down to the ground and immediately morphs into another ogre zombie in front of Andakos, which bellows in confusion, swinging out at the closest thing it can--Andakos. The huge, pustuled fist slams the tiefling in the mouth. Something important cracks, and the black-and-white world just goes... black.
Vreeg cackles again as Andakos falls with a dull, loud thud.
ROUND 5
[color=green]
Andakos (-6/23 hp, blessed, unconscious and dying)
Golloriel (33/33 hp, blessed, feelin real gross)
Vreeg (0 dmg, 2 images, flying)
Ogre Zombie (0 dmg)
Ogre Zombie (39 dmg, dead)
Zombie (15 dmg, dead)
Caladaer (23/23 hp, blessed)
Berta (39/39 hp, blessed)
[/color]
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Andakos sees the fist come flying at his face. Feels the impact. And for a moment, the world goes dark.
He sees his hands, much smaller than he remembers, before his face, pushing a door open in his home. He has no memory of this... It has to be from a time before memory, very young indeed, judging by the size of his tiny hands. They are not yet angry red, but a violent shade of pink, with small, red, scaly splotches. The door opens a crack, and he can hear his parents' voices.
"You know we can't keep him," he hears his father say. "They will come for him. He... will come for him. Your grandfather."
"He is no family of mine," his mother whispers fiercely. "Of any of us. He is a monster, and I'll not let him near our boy."
"Please, Alecta! If he finds you, then we're both dead and he'll take the boy anyway!"
Andakos barely understands words yet, and isn't sure what's going on, but they sound upset, so he pauses in his approach. He has rarely seen them upset.
"We are not abandoning our child, Thaddeus. I am disgusted you would even consider it."
"I... I know it seems cruel. But Alecta, he's not... normal. His life will be hard even with us there. And if your--if he finds him--we're dead. I'll not have a threat over this house. Particularly not over you."
"We. Are. Not. Abandoning him." The tone is fierce and final.
"Fine, then we're going to have to take up the Arkonas on their offer."
"Thaddeus, no. I don't trust Glorio. There is something... off, about him."
"Really, Alecta. Glorio has been nothing but kind to us. Besides, we have no other options. If we're to protect this family from... outside threats, sacrifices must be made. You're just going to have to learn to get used to Glorio, because House Arkona is the only house in Korvosa strong enough to protect us."
A long, pregnant pause. "Fine..."
Little Andakos turns to see a figure standing next to him. He recognizes this lady, but can't picture from where. It finally dawns on him: Zellara Zenderholm, who he will meet decades from now. She smiles down at him. "It is not your time, Andakos. Come with me." She leans down and reaches out a hand to him, but as she bends over, her head slides off her shoulders and drops to the floor with a dull thud, bloating and rotting as it rolls. A cloud of flies burst from her swollen lips and rush at Andakos' face.
***
He snaps to reality as the deadly fist of the zombie swings at him, and with a yelp, deflects the blow away from his face. He's alive!!!
Lillian does what she does first best: goes to Slamtown.
-----
Caladaer can feel his focus narrowing to a small area near the center of the first room. He strides forward confidently but cautiously , removing his pack from his back as he goes. Once over the tiny aura, he drops his pack directly on top of it.
Thúlae feels the magic fade from his eyes and suddenly finds himself in utter darkness.
Well, this is unfortunate.
Then he sees the light go on in the other room and Caladaer standing triumphantly over his pack . Thúlae launches off of Andakos's shoulder and flies to Cal.
Andakos' life (or at least a scene of it) flashed before his eyes right before the narrow escape of the century. But he's still face to face with yet another ogre zombie, while a crazed half-burned derro flies overhead raining undead monsters down onto you.
As if on cue, Lillian gives Cal a crisp salute where he stands in the other room (he can't see it of course) and winks out, returning home. At least she popped one more image on her way out.
ROUND 6
[color=green]
Andakos (8/23 hp, blessed)
Golloriel (33/33 hp, blessed, feelin real gross)
Vreeg (0 dmg, 1 image, flying)
Ogre Zombie (0 dmg)
Ogre Zombie (39 dmg, dead)
Zombie (15 dmg, dead)
Caladaer (23/23 hp, blessed)
Berta (39/39 hp, blessed, fatigued 3 rounds)
[/color]
Andakos is at a distinct disadvantage while enlarged and right next to this huge zombie. He needs to stay enlarged so he can reach Vreeg, though, so his only move is to ignore the zombie and try to take down Vreeg. Right now, he's the only one who can.
"Somebody kill this zombie!"
He takes advantage of his extended reach to jab at Vreeg.
Golloriel is cursing herself for forgetting to tie her life force to her companions' before entering the crypt. She can tell by the slowly growing puddle of blood at Andakos's feet that things are becoming dire. She pushes the worry at whatever she has contracted to the back of her mind and desperately considers the best way to help right now. She could link Andakos to her now, but it takes a while and it won't help him immediately. And she doesn't think she can kill the zombie quickly.
Her best option is to try to keep Andakos alive for now. She moves underneath the edge of the sphere of darkness, clasps her holy symbol, and beseeches Sarenrae again to heal her friend.
Dark, translucent blood of some unidentifiable shade spills down over Andakos' face. Vreeg shrieks at the wound in his side. He seems uncertain how to deal with this obnoxious, giant tiefling that refuses to get smashed into unconsciousness, so he floats down and reaches out to touch the investigator with his wand. Whatever he was planning to do fizzles out as he tries to concentrate, and he shrieks in rage. Unfortunately for you, he's also now well within the range of your longspear.
The zombie swings out at Andakos but the investigator ducks the blow easily.
ROUND 6
[color=green]
Andakos (8/23 hp, blessed)
Golloriel (33/33 hp, blessed, feelin real gross)
Vreeg (10 dmg, 1 image, flying)
Ogre Zombie (0 dmg)
Ogre Zombie (39 dmg, dead)
Zombie (15 dmg, dead)
Caladaer (23/23 hp, blessed)
Berta (39/39 hp, blessed, fatigued 3 rounds)
[/color]
Shit!
Just as Caladaer was about to flick the magic missile wand into his hand to fire at the zombie, the damn derro descended and darkened the room again.
Then he has an idea. He knows the zombie was directly in front of Andakos. Maybe he can help make it harder for the zombie to kill the tiefling.
Cal feels a burst of speed overtake him to allow himself to get into position . He moves quickly past Golloriel .
Then he concentrates on his memory of the room and does a quick calculation in his head. He wants to keep Andakos out of the effect since he neglected to tell the rest of the party about this spell and doesn't have a codeword to tell them to close their eyes. Note to self. To be extra safe, he aims for what he estimates is fifteen feet beyond the tiefling, and he aims high to get the zombie's head in the effect. Then he mutters an incantation and a burst of golden dust that he can't see appears in the air.
It's impossible to say whether or not it worked. The derro yelps, but whether that's from the spell startling him or from sudden blindness, Cal can't say. To Andakos, he doesn't seem to be blinded. The zombie doesn't even look like it noticed a spell was cast on it.
The situation remains dark.
ROUND 7
[color=green]
Andakos (13/23 hp, blessed)
Golloriel (33/33 hp, blessed, feelin real gross)
Vreeg (10 dmg, 1 image, flying)
Ogre Zombie (0 dmg)
Ogre Zombie (39 dmg, dead)
Zombie (15 dmg, dead)
Caladaer (23/23 hp, blessed)
Berta (39/39 hp, blessed, fatigued 2 rounds)
[/color]