Kenton moves in (movement will provoke from the Duchess) and continues the battle.
Kenton's attack lands cleanly, sinking into the bespoke duchess.
ROUND 5:
Ianthe (29/37, Fatigued): Go
Kenton (43/50): Hit
Corran (25/28): Go
Xavien (57/58: Go
Aurelia (8/32): Go
Duchess Lotheed: TBD
Carr (Religion to ID): TBD
-----------------------------
Location: Palace of Birdsong
Frame: Destroyed
Xavien follows suit, using his swing to shield Aurelia somewhat.
Ianthe feels her bond with Corran, deep in her bones...
Xavien's attack is easily parried.
Kenton's attack lands cleanly, sinking into the bespoke duchess.
Ianthe suddenly feels as though she ran an endurance race. Her breath is hard to catch.
for
MISS
The three missiles slam into the frame destroying it! The "duchess" roars in fury, "You stupid fools! You damn fools!" She, however, isn't destroyed along with it. Ianthe immediately hits her with her own missiles.
She stabs twice at Aurelia
for
for
Her fury affects her attack
The little freakish thing tries to bite Ianthe:
for while the touch is not terrible, Ianthe can feel it trying to drain her of... something...
ROUND 5:
Ianthe (29/37, Fatigued): REROLL at +2? + Go
Kenton (43/50): Hit
Corran (25/28): Go
Xavien (57/58: Miss
Aurelia (8/32): Go
Duchess Lotheed: TBD
Carr (Religion to ID): TBD
-----------------------------
Location: Palace of Birdsong
Frame: Destroyed
Ianthe knows her brother is counting on her. She can't give up!
Ianthe is wracked with embarrassment and hides her face in her hands, turning away from Corran, frantically thinking of how to make up for her failure.
The twins both go glassy-eyed for a moment.
ROUND 5:
Ianthe (29/37, Fatigued): Dazed
Kenton (43/50): Hit
Corran (25/28): Dazed
Xavien (57/58: Miss
Aurelia (8/32): Go
Duchess Lotheed: TBD
Carr (Religion to ID): TBD
-----------------------------
Location: Palace of Birdsong
Frame: Destroyed
Aurelia takes a careful step back, retrieves a potion, and downs the contents in a single quick chug.
"She's a construct! No need to be gentle with it!"
Aurelia works on her own wounds. Desperate, the duchess takes a hige risk and deftly repositions herself to force Ianthe to fight on two fronts:
for
the gives a smile at the blood as the freakish thing on the other side tries again to attack her, but this time with simply a touch:
suddenly Ianthe's voice simply vanishes. She's unable to speak!
ROUND 6:
Ianthe (11/37, Fatigued): WILL + Go
Kenton (43/50): Go
Corran (25/28): Go
Xavien (57/58: Go
Aurelia (16/32): Go
Duchess Lotheed: TBD
Carr (Religion to ID): TBD
-----------------------------
Location: Palace of Birdsong
Frame: Destroyed
Ianthe cries out in pain, only to hear nothing escape but her breath.
Panicked, she scrambles away.
Corran blinks the daze away and his heart aches as the two most important women in his life are in pain!
He pulls it together and starts up the Oratory again... (Inspire Courage)
If he can put himself betwixt foes and Ianthe, he does so.
Kenton curses under his breath, but he can't do anything about Lady Clement right now, instead focusing on the living painting.
Silently, Ianthe moves away, though there's no path that the Duchess can't follow him on:
THREAT
for
Bleedingly badly, she withdraws.
Corran begins his own song of courage, standing guard over his sister.
Kenton, flustered, misses despite the song.
ROUND 6:
Ianthe (2/37, Fatigued, silenced): Withdraw
Kenton (43/50): Miss
Corran (25/28): Vis Fratri[b]
Xavien (57/58: Go
Aurelia (16/32): Go
Duchess Lotheed: TBD
Carr (Religion to ID): TBD
-----------------------------
Location: Palace of Birdsong
Inspire Courage
Frame: Destroyed
Concerned with how things are going, Aurelia draws magic from within herself. Her hands move and twist in arcane gestures, and after a couple seconds a sliver of white magic appears like a vertical slash in the space between the duchess and the strange bird-like creature. Stepping out from that sliver sloughs a mound of earth and stone... that forms up into a vaguely humanoid shape.
The small earth elemental raises a fist and swings it at the bird-thing.
The fist cracks into the small creature's skull to solid effect!
Silently, Ianthe moves away, though there's no path that the Duchess can't follow him on:
THREAT
for
Bleedingly badly, she withdraws.
Corran begins his own song of courage, standing guard over his sister.
Kenton, flustered, misses despite the song.
ROUND 6:
Ianthe (2/37, Fatigued, silenced): Withdraw
Kenton (43/50): Miss
Corran (25/28): Vis Fratri
Xavien (57/58: Go
Aurelia (16/32): Summon and hit
Duchess Lotheed: TBD
Carr (Religion to ID): TBD
-----------------------------
Location: Palace of Birdsong
Inspire Courage
Frame: Destroyed
Xavien steps over and strikes again at the Duchess.
Xavien can't connect, and with each passing moment the battle drains the party's resources - and Bartleby is still on the lamb.
She tries to move to a much better position:
From there she stabs at Xavien:
for
Carr, less equipped to fight a summoned helper than a spellcaster, does what it can:
THREAT
for
ROUND 7:
Ianthe (2/37, Fatigued, silenced): Go
Kenton (43/50): Go
Corran (25/28): Go
Xavien (57/58: Go
Aurelia (16/32): Go
Duchess Lotheed: TBD
Carr (Religion to ID): TBD
-----------------------------
Location: Palace of Birdsong
Inspire Courage
Frame: Destroyed
Corran thinks back on the lore he knows, hoping to find a weakness in the undead thing.
He strides forward to meet the painted lady in battle...
, on Hit
Corran has no idea about what the thing is, but he sees a line so he takes it, nearly taking the duchess's head!
ROUND 7:
Ianthe (2/37, Fatigued, silenced): Go
Kenton (43/50): Go
Corran (25/28): Hit
Xavien (57/58: Go
Aurelia (16/32): Go
Duchess Lotheed: TBD
Carr (Religion to ID): TBD
-----------------------------
Location: Palace of Birdsong
Inspire Courage
Frame: Destroyed
Kenton focuses on the Duchess, trying to end this particular fight. He dares not spare a glance for the summoned helper.
Aurelia's summoned ally continues to attack the small creature, looking to break it apart with a stony fist.
The noblewoman holds her sword aloft, taking a defensive fencing position that she learned as a youth.
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Kenton's stab goes right into her heart, or rather, where her heart should be. The duchess immediately melts into paint. The pool then flies towards the ruined frame. Rather than reform though, it looks more like the work of the Andoran painter, Pollock, son of Jack.
Aurelia's elemental strikes the thing again, cracking its skull a bit.
Corran has no idea about what the thing is, but he sees a line so he takes it, nearly taking the duchess's head!
ROUND 7:
Ianthe (2/37, Fatigued, silenced): Go
Kenton (43/50): Kill
Corran (25/28): Hit
Xavien (57/58: Go
Aurelia (16/32): Hit
Duchess Lotheed: TBD
Carr (Religion to ID): TBD
-----------------------------
Location: Palace of Birdsong
Inspire Courage
Frame: Destroyed
"Ha-hah!" Xavien laughs aloud, grinning in triumph at the ruined painting. He still hears the sobs, though. "Oh, right. This thing."
Happy to let the elemental take the brunt for now, Xavien reaches for his chakram and hucks it into the melee.
All he manages to accomplish is to brutally scar the wallpaper.
Ianthe sends a trio of magic missiles at the little beast.
[dice=3d4+3[/dice]
Ianthe ducks behind whatever furniture is nearby.
Ianthe stays completely defensive, silent in the fight.
Pinned by the elemental, the freakish thing attacks:
for
ROUND 8:
Ianthe (2/37, Fatigued, silenced): Go
Kenton (43/50): Go
Corran (25/28): Go
Xavien (57/58: Go
Aurelia (16/32): Go
-Elemental (?/?): Go
Carr (Religion to ID): TBD
-----------------------------
Location: Palace of Birdsong
Inspire Courage
Frame: Destroyed
Xavien tries again with the chakram, this time with better aim.
Corran ends the performance, but it will linger for a couple of rounds.
He uses his minor crown of blasting to send a Searing Light at the undead creature.
Ranged Touch. Ranged Touch still take the -4 for firing into combat, yes?
on a hit, because the creature is undead, I believe.
Aurelia stays on the defensive, just in case another threat manifests near her. She lets her summoned elemental do its thing.
the elemental misses, but the creature takes a solid hit from Xavien's chakram.
Corran uses his crown to send a spell into the melee, but he's unaccustomed to firing into such chaos. His foe is also quick, and the spell misses.
ROUND 8:
Ianthe (2/37, Fatigued, silenced): Go
Kenton (43/50): Go
Corran (25/28): Miss
Xavien (57/58: Hit
Aurelia (16/32): Defense
-Elemental (?/?): Miss
Carr (Religion to ID): TBD
-----------------------------
Location: Palace of Birdsong
Inspire Courage
Frame: Destroyed
Kenton drops his rapier and in nearly the same motion has Dignity's Barb in his hands , loads a bolt and fires it at the strange creature.
Kenton can't hit the thing either!
Ianthe maintains her cower.
Aurelia's elemental continues to protect the party, but they can't get a solid enough hit to end it.
for
ROUND 9:
Ianthe (2/37, Fatigued, silenced): Go
[b]Kenton (43/50): Go
Corran (25/28): Go
Xavien (57/58: Go
Aurelia (16/32): Go
-Elemental (?/?): Go
Carr (Religion to ID): TBD
-----------------------------
Location: Palace of Birdsong
Inspire Courage
Frame: Destroyed
It's only a matter of time before the party overcomes that... thing.
After many ill-aimed throws, Xavien's chakram finally crashes through the thing's skull at the same time as Kenton's bolt pierces its body. After a bit of labored breathing, Xavien hucks the chakram at the ruined portrait frame one more time for good measure.
"Well! That was unpleasant. Was this the Duchess I danced with weeks ago, or is she even more sequestered? I wonder."
As Xavien pontificates aloud, he catches a small plaque on the Duchess’s frame which reads, “My Veleto, in loving memory. P.” There is nothing of value in this room beyond the paintings.
"Unpleasant is an understatement, I think. Whoever created the duchess as a construct... is a powerful individual. We need to make sure we don't run afowl of them."
She takes a moment to search for any signs of magic, casting a spell that'll let her detect the presence of magic.
"Mmm." Xavien squints at the plate. "The wizard Panivar, I expect, whose means of ingress we must destroy."
Kenton retrieves his dropped blade and joins Corran in investigating what fate has been bestowed upon Lady Clement.
Corran rushes to his sister and looks over her injuries.
She should get her voice back in an hour. The fatigue requires rest.
I choose to take 20 as my Loremaster action for the day.
"Ianthe--you will get your voice back, but you'll need a short rest. Maybe an hour. The fatigue you feel... You'll need to sleep it off. Nothing Permanent."
"Friends, do we have time to let my sister recover or should we quest on? If we can spare the time, I say we hold up here. She won't be any use against Bartleby or anyone else if she can't speak her spells."