Aily dodges a hunk of stone being bashed off of a statue as she moves to the next statue. She has completely lost which one was which. "Statues are not generally polite, Humerus" she informs her underling.
[ooc]reaction if a statue attacks ally[/dice]
"HA!" Triumphantly, Ceceka kicks the fallen statue before turning his murderous attention to one of the two statues that are currently pummeling Humerus into a bony pulp.
With a furious barrage of critical hits, you quickly shatter the two remaining statues into rubble!
"See, boss, I told you I didn't need to worry about them," Humerus says, picking up a rib bone and trying to reattach it -- a process made more difficult by the effort of looking down to see exactly where it goes. It would have been easier if it were a lower rib, but no such luck.
After Caraid finishes helping him, he turns back to the manor. "Should we try going in again now?"
Telvir waves a cloud of stone dust out of his face. "Excellent work. No doubt there will be other guardians." The elf peers through the gloom at the strange mansion.
Caraid makes a note to pick up more bone glue when he next can - Humerus gets through a remarkable amount.
"Of course there will be." He agrees. "Let's hope we can find Taviah and deal with this problem. Again."
Aily does not comment on the other servant's state. He serves his purpose of being a Big target, focusing enemies attention away from that which is important.
She quickly checks her weapon for damage then slips it back in the sheath. Then steps forward to check the door for any OTHER traps.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The front doors open into a great hall has seen better days. To the south, half-demolished brick walls and piles of rubble demarcate what was probably once a kitchen. Mildewed tapestries hang on the walls, and two granite statues of mastiffs face into the room. Piles of rock suggest there may have once been other statues. An unsteady staircase ascends to the upper level. Two curtains of shimmering shadows, one to the west and one to the east, ripple faintly like flimsy veils. You can barely make out doors on the other side of each curtain. Despite their appearance, these shadow curtains prove to be quite strong, unable to be bypassed by mundane means.
"Our way is blocked. Let's carefully ascend the stairs and search for a way to bypass these curtains. Perhaps there is a passage for servants in the back of the house."
Humerus looks around, impressed. "Wow, this place is really nice, boss. It's got great bones! We should fix it up and then we could live here!"
"You'd be welcome to do so I'm sure." Caraid replies, keeping a wary eye on the statues. Personally he'll take the manor he already has, especially now the Annoyance won't be bothering him any more.
"Be careful." He tells Aily, resting one warm hand on her shoulder for a moment and infusing her with magic.
Aily's cool flesh warms at the touch, and she nods "Always" she says. Then to Mr. Stanton's strategy she adds "If not, we can have Humerus make a passage through the floor." she knows he likes being useful.
Ceceka warily eyes the stone mastiffs and then the seemingly indestructible shadow curtains. "We ought to burn this place. Geb left it to rot for a reason."
The stairs lead up to a grand hall that is split by impenetrable curtains of shadow, one behind the other. Large landscapes adorn the walls, but the paintings are so dark it’s impossible to see what they represent.
Doors to the east and west lie outside of the curtains, and Aily is able to access them. The east door leads to a receiving room. The paint and wallpaper in this room is all peeling in long strips that hang to the floor. Shadows cluster in a roughly humanoid shape near the door. A tall, aristocratic man in elegant clothing says, “Welcome to Gristlehall,” gives an elaborate bow, and falls apart into shadows again. There is little else of interest in this room.
The west door opens into an armory. This wide room has several old shields hanging on the wall and two suits of armor standing with lances in hand. A stone cylinder displays a shadowy scimitar in its center.
"Interesting. Is the item contaminated by the shadow or the source of it?" Once Ally has made sure of the relative safety of the room, the elf will inspect the blade.
As you approach the stone cylinder, it suddenly unfolds numerous limbs, each one grasping a force projection in the shape of the scimitar inside its central chamber! At the same time, the suits of armor level their lances and step forward. The visors on the helmets raise to reveal skeletal faces with burning red light in empty eye sockets!
All of the foes approach Ceceka, who is standing at the front of the party. The fighter takes several brutal hits!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Hey, lady boss, I thought the servants were supposed to stick around and talk and be useful. That one just disappeared. That's super not helpful, right?" Humerus says.
But then the skeleton is distracted as another fight breaks out.
"Boy, boss, you sure seem to get in a lot of fights. Oh, hey, they're skeletons like me? Guys, why are we fighting? Guys? Guys!"
Realizing these skeletons clearly weren't born with the brains Humerus is lucky enough to no longer have in his skull, he moves in to attack.
HP 160/160
AC 28 / 29 in Mountain Stance or 31 if use Mountain Stronghold
Resistance 2 to cold, electricity, fire, piercing, and slashing damage
Fort +18, Ref +18, Will +14 (+1 vs. disease and poison; +2 circumstance bonus to Fortitude DC vs. Grapple and Swallow Whole; +2 circumstance bonus vs. being Shoved or Tripped while in Mountain Stance, +1 vs. fear)
Hero points: 2
Effects:
With Ceceka taking a battering Caraid stays at the back of the group and whispers words of magic to close his wounds.
The brutal efficiency of the attack makes Aily consider for a moment abandoning this quest for validation that she is on. It would hurt having to start over again so soon after her last failure, that winged mistake. And then there was Him. She makes a sound, low and irritable, then draws her dagger.
Their reach makes her pause, not liking the odds she would have to take to slip in close enough to stab. Thankfully a building so full of shadows was perfect for a maid who is so aligned to them.
Telvir gestures with his left hand and the onyx gem set in his gauntlet glows with power. A few barked words in necril call forth a withered corpse to serve at his command.
for and
for and
Smoke moves in on one of the statues.
Bruised and battered, but kept in the fight through Caraid's magic, Ceceka strikes back. This horrid hall won't be the place where he dies! "To Hell with you! To Hell with this place! I'll burn this place down, even if it's the last thing I do!"
"Boss, if you burn it down, we're not going to be able to live here," Humerus points out. "And I think the bright boss seemed interested."
Ceceka shoves the sword-wielding construct back. He then critically hits one of the skeletons and follows up by shoving it away from him! Humerus grabs the other skeleton and Aily stabs it, but her dagger doesn't seem very effective against the bony undead. Telvir's summoned undead hits the grappled skeleton. Cariad heals Ceceka.
The construct steps back up and attacks Ceceka again, keeping its guard raised. The skeleton Ceceka shoved also steps up and attacks him. The one Humerus is grabbing claws at Humerus instead.
"Bones" Aily says with grim disdain. Not looking at Humerus at her simple declarion. She shifts her attention to the construct, hoping her weapon might make a stronger impact.
---
HP 128/160
AC 28 / 29 in Mountain Stance or 31 if use Mountain Stronghold
Resistance 2 to cold, electricity, fire, piercing, and slashing damage
Fort +18, Ref +18, Will +14 (+1 vs. disease and poison; +2 circumstance bonus to Fortitude DC vs. Grapple and Swallow Whole; +2 circumstance bonus vs. being Shoved or Tripped while in Mountain Stance, +1 vs. fear)
Hero points: 2
Effects:
Humerus brutally batters the skeleton clawing at him, then tosses it aside as he keeps his feet set.
Telvir's minions continue to strike at the enemies, and he throws a shield of forcing in front of himself.
for and
for and
for
for
Ceceka wildly swings at their foes, knowing that if they don't down at least one of them in the next couple of seconds, the tide of battle might very well turn against them. Fast.
Caraid watches with concern - Ceceka is mightily resilient but he's also taking considerable punishment. On the other hand his own magic is a distinctly finite resource...
He pauses, then raises a hand and fires a beam of sunlight towards one of the skeletons.
Ceceka strikes wildly at all around him but comes up short! Humerus batters the skeleton in his grasp before hurling it away. Caraid blasts the skeleton with searing light as it flies through the air, annihilating it before it hits the ground! Its armor and weapons clatter to the floor.
Aily and Smoke futilely attack the construct, but Telvir's withered minion scores a good hit. The construct responds with a flurry of strikes, but somehow only manages to hit once!
The surviving skeleton continues to keep Ceceka occupied, lashing out with its lance.
HP 128/160
AC 28 / 29 in Mountain Stance or 31 if use Mountain Stronghold
Resistance 2 to cold, electricity, fire, piercing, and slashing damage
Fort +18, Ref +18, Will +14 (+1 vs. disease and poison; +2 circumstance bonus to Fortitude DC vs. Grapple and Swallow Whole; +2 circumstance bonus vs. being Shoved or Tripped while in Mountain Stance, +1 vs. fear)
Hero points: 2
Effects:
"Hold on, boss, I'm coming!" Humerus calls out, moving behind the skeleton fighting Ceceka, fists raised.
Her blade hacks and stabs the construct but finding her balance is difficult. Her frustration grows, wondering if there is a better way to fight these creatures.
Having done his part in the battle Caraid reaches out with his magic and pulls Ceceka's wounds from the man's body onto his own. Then he closes in and shoves a needle into the man's arm, flooding him with a numbing agent.
"Hey, boss, try hitting the bones, instead of the spaces between the bones!" Humerus helpfully suggests.
Telvir commands Smoke to attack the remaining skeleton, and the dog is only to happy to comply, slavering over the crispy bones! The summoned undead continues to attack the construct.
for and
for and
for
for
Humerus flinches as the vicious bone-crunching beast gets close.
Backed by Caraid, Ceceka stays in the fight and continues to launch one savage attack after another at their foes.
Caraid forms a life link with Ceceka, healing him as the fighter lashes out with his polearm. He batters one of the skeletons, shoving it away from him. Smoke and Humerus move to flank the skeleton, finishing it off!
Meanwhile, the summoned undead and Aily focus on the construct, scoring several good hits. The construct retaliates, destroying the withered before whirling on Aily. The rogue narrowly avoids the construct's projected blades!
With his summoned creature torn apart, Telvir attempts to hinder the construct while Smoke attacks it.
for
for
HP 128/160
AC 28 / 29 in Mountain Stance or 31 if use Mountain Stronghold
Resistance 2 to cold, electricity, fire, piercing, and slashing damage
Fort +18, Ref +18, Will +14 (+1 vs. disease and poison; +2 circumstance bonus to Fortitude DC vs. Grapple and Swallow Whole; +2 circumstance bonus vs. being Shoved or Tripped while in Mountain Stance, +1 vs. fear)
Hero points: 2
Effects:
With the first skeleton destroyed -- "Sorry, boss!" Humerus apologizes to it -- he moves to help Aily.
The blades were so close that Aily lost the end of a lock of hair that had unwisely pulled free. With a rather annoyed frown, the elven dhamphir stabs her blade into one of its joints and then rips it free.
With one skeleton down, Ceceka focuses his efforts on downing the other.
Both skeletons have been destroyed, so everybody focuses their attacks on the swordkeeper construct. The tough thing can take a beating, but at last, it finally falls, the force projections vanishing as it topples over with a resounding crash! You are able to unlock its central case and retrieve the weapon within -- a gloaming arc.
"The defenses in this place are formidable," Telvir mutters. "But they won't be enough to save that hag from destruction."
"They weren't so tough, boss," Humerus says. "But it really helps if you don't try to stab us, lady boss. We don't have flesh, you see, so there's not so much to stab around all the space between our bones."
He looks around, picking up several of the shattered skeleton pieces and discarding them until he finds some he likes as replacements for his own battered pieces.
Aily makes a sound like a scoff at the advice Humerus gives, like she is offended skeletons do not have the flesh to stab. But she makes no other comment, as she waits for whoever needs it to be healed.
Ceceka inspects the blade and nods approvingly. "A formidable weapon, but not one I would use. If none of us will use it, the blade would be a mighty gift, one that can win us much influence and favor."
He then lets Aily see to his injuries.
Caraid sets to work on Ceceka, pulling out salve, needle, thread and painkiller. It might be an open secret now that he can (and does) regularly flout the law to keep Ceceka alive, but when there's no time crunch he won't. Besides, the last thing he wants is to confirm it to Humerus who will promptly tell the worst person at the worst possible time without realising that it's a problem.
"Which direction have we come from the entrance?" He asks as he works, frowning as he receives the answer. "Something to do with the statues perhaps. That construct seems like one that could crush hopes and dreams, or whatever the silly phrases were."
"Hey, guys, I was thinking, and do you remember when we came in and we had to fight, and I wasn't too worried, because only one of them cared about bones, and I don't have a heart, or blood, or ... oh wait, I guess I should have been worried about two of them, because wisdom. Maybe that was something important? Since they didn't really care?"
He looks around and picks up some of the discarded bones and brings it to the north door. He waves it around and then crushes it.
"Oh, wait! It said east! Sorry, boss!"
He goes there and tries the same thing, poking the shadow with the bone before trying various other ways to get the shadows to part.
"In a place like this, perhaps opening the way requires offerings. Some of these scattered bones could be sacrificed to the so-called 'guardian of the east' outside." Smoke obligingly fetches a likely-looking femur and noisily chews on it.