"Wise plan, milord" Aily agrees, at least with the killing part. She rushes forward and attempts to stab the one Humerus is playing with.
--
Smoke runs into the room on his own, brushing past Humerus.
Humerus flinches.
Caraid frowns, the ghouls seem irritatingly intent on not getting close enough for him to be truly effective. So he aims at the currently unengaged ghoul and tries something new - Fireball!
Ceceka wastes no time taking in the scenery and rushes forward to deal with the magic-wielding ghouls.
One of the ghouls dodges some of Caraid's fireball while the other takes the full blast. The explosion does not damage the strange machine in any way. Telvir temporarily slows one of the ghouls.
Humerus moves in to try to grab one of the ghouls, but it dodges his attempts. Ceceka moves in and strikes the ghoul, which blocks some of the impact with its shield spell. Aily moves to flank the ghoul, stabbing it twice!
Slowed and badly wounded, the injured ghoul tries to bite Aily, who dodges away. The other ghoul steps away out of Ceceka's reach and casts a spell, attempting to dominate the warrior!
You can see a trio of ghouls appear at the edge of the hole in the ceiling above you. They grin as they peer down at the battle unfolding, jeering and shouting in delight!
Ceceka feels how someone is trying to take control of his anger, but is that truly such a bad thing? Anger is like a raging fire, it cares not for who steers it, only that it is fed. And all Ceceka cares for is to be fed.
Aily concentrates on ending her prey, unaware of the sudden but inevitable
betrayal that is coming.
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Unaware of the magic that's impacting his actions, Ceceka's rage is redirected to Aily. And there is so much rage.
Aily! That bastardly dhampir! What does she see in that pathetic Caraid? How can she submit herself to one worthless master after another?! She ought to be punished for her choices!
"What are you doing, blood boss?" Humerus asks, confused as Ceceka seems to be more confused than usual.
Noticing the ghouls above, he waves and gives a toothy grin (though to be fair, that's the only type of grin he can give), and continues his assault on the ghoul. Grabbing it, he slams the undead with his skeletal fist, and then chucks him aside.
"At least the surroundings are accomodating." Telvir channels an unusual amount of power, and glimmering bones materialize all through the room, skittering together until they mend themselves into a gigantic creature. The towering skeleton swings at the spellcasting ghoul.
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NE Huge Mindless Skeleton Undead
Source Bestiary pg. 299
Perception +16; darkvision
Skills Athletics +20, Intimidation +15
Str +7, Dex +2, Con +4, Int -5, Wis +2, Cha +2
AC 25; Fort +15, Ref +15, Will +13
HP 105 (negative healing); Immunities death effects, disease, mental, paralyzed, poison, unconscious; Resistances cold 5, electricity 5, fire 5, piercing 5, slashing 5, physical 3; weakness force/mental 5
Speed 30 feet
Melee [one-action] claw +18 [+14/+10] (agile, reach 10 feet), Damage 2d6+11 slashing
Broad Swipe [two-actions] The hulk makes two Strikes with its claw against two adjacent foes, both of whom are within its reach. The multiple attack penalty does not increase until after both attacks are resolved.
Massive Rush [two-actions] The hulk Strides and makes a claw Strike with a +4 circumstance bonus to damage. If the strike hits, the hulk automatically Shoves the target 10 feet.
Caraid curses softly, hurries up to Aily and infuses her with necromantic magic.
The dominated Ceceka slashes Aily with his polearm. Humerus and Aily team up to take out the wounded ghoul. Aily dances over to the other one and manages to stab it as well, but Telvir's summoned skeleton misses.
The remaining ghoul raises a magical shield and attacks Aily with teeth and claw.
Aily spares a glance of thanks and annoyance at Caraid, the annoyance of course for him being in the thick of the fight, even for her. But blood and violence awaits her.
Ceceka hacks into her at that moment, cutting deep into her flesh and worse cutting her delightfully decedent (in fabric choice only) uniform. She whirls, knife out to deal with his betrayal, which confuses her to no end. Mr. Stanton is who she had pegged to be the first to want to grab absolute power, not Ceceka.
The fury in his face made no sense, not here at least. Her distraction cost her getting bitten by the ghoul she was trying to end. The cold numbness coursing through her blood terrified her. The fear became Anger, and anger boiled back the poison.
Then she turned on the biter, stabbing in a flurry, while keeping an eye on her 'ally'
Telvir concentrates on his spell, commands Smoke to attack a ghoul, and shields himself.
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Source Bestiary pg. 299
Perception +16; darkvision
Skills Athletics +20, Intimidation +15
Str +7, Dex +2, Con +4, Int -5, Wis +2, Cha +2
AC 25; Fort +15, Ref +15, Will +13
HP 105 (negative healing); Immunities death effects, disease, mental, paralyzed, poison, unconscious; Resistances cold 5, electricity 5, fire 5, piercing 5, slashing 5, physical 3; weakness force/mental 5
Speed 30 feet
Melee [one-action] claw +18 [+14/+10] (agile, reach 10 feet), Damage 2d6+11 slashing
Broad Swipe [two-actions] The hulk makes two Strikes with its claw against two adjacent foes, both of whom are within its reach. The multiple attack penalty does not increase until after both attacks are resolved.
Massive Rush [two-actions] The hulk Strides and makes a claw Strike with a +4 circumstance bonus to damage. If the strike hits, the hulk automatically Shoves the target 10 feet.
HP 175/175
AC 30 / 31 in Mountain Stance or 33 if use Mountain Stronghold
Resistance 2 to cold, electricity, fire, piercing, and slashing damage
Fort +20, Ref +20, Will +18 (+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: 3
Effects:
Humerus -- barely -- grabs hold of the remaining ghoul. Seeing its magical shield preventing him from hurting it, he throws the creature to the side.
Caraid focuses on the spellcasting ghoul - that is the main problem right now and his magic doesn't really deal with breaking mental effects.
The foul magic controlling Ceceka continues to steer the warrior's anger at his companions. It almost feels ... therapeutic.
Ceceka slices Aily twice, further wounding her. Smoke and Telvir's summoned undead both hit the ghoul, as does Caraid. Aily stabs the ghoul three times, then Humerus finishes it off with a grab and a whirling throw, its bones breaking as it clatters against the strange machine. With its death, Ceceka snaps back to his senses!
The trio of jeering ghouls on the catwalk above snarl and move to attack! They climb down the sides of the opening from above, then drop down onto the top of the cage and clamber down its sides to engage you, biting at Aily!
Telvir commands the zombie to swipe at the ghouls and tears at them with magic. Smoke independently bites one of the zombie.
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"Get out of there Aily!" Caraid calls, an unaccustomed note of steel in his voice. The moment his... maid obeys he lifts one hand and blasts the ghouls with a torrent of divine fire. If Ceceka has managed to get into the blast radius he doesn't bother to re-target. He can be healed later.
As the ghoul is gutted, Aily turns to face Ceceka, ready to turn her dagger on the warrior if he dares hack into her again. Spell or no. But that distracts her as the ghouls drop and rip.
Dimly she hears his voice, the steel she rarely hears, that thrumbs through her flesh... and then she hears nothing.
The darkness doesn't hold for more than a second. His magic knits the worst of her wounds together enough she can retreat back to his side.
Ceceka snaps out of it and looks around, somewhat dazed and confused now that the wonderful sensation of righteous anger is gone. What remains is mere anger, unfocused, unguided, and it needs to be directed at something.
He glances at Aily's still form and the one word that shines brightest in his mind is pitiful. Surely her lover will mend her torn flesh and broken bones. Ceceka need not worry. No, he needs to stay angry.
As Aily scurries to safety, Caraid calls down a flame strike, wounding the trio of ghouls. Telvir's spell has little effect, but his summoned ally does some damage. Ceceka scores a critical hit before shoving the ghoul away, setting Humerus up to grab and shatter that ghoul's skull!
The remaining ghouls split up, one attacking Ceceka and the other striking at Humerus.
Telvir's huge skeleton continues to swing away at the creatures and he launches a bolt of fire at one of them.
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NE Huge Mindless Skeleton Undead
Source Bestiary pg. 299
Perception +16; darkvision
Skills Athletics +20, Intimidation +15
Str +7, Dex +2, Con +4, Int -5, Wis +2, Cha +2
AC 25; Fort +15, Ref +15, Will +13
HP 105 (negative healing); Immunities death effects, disease, mental, paralyzed, poison, unconscious; Resistances cold 5, electricity 5, fire 5, piercing 5, slashing 5, physical 3; weakness force/mental 5
Speed 30 feet
Melee [one-action] claw +18 [+14/+10] (agile, reach 10 feet), Damage 2d6+11 slashing
Broad Swipe [two-actions] The hulk makes two Strikes with its claw against two adjacent foes, both of whom are within its reach. The multiple attack penalty does not increase until after both attacks are resolved.
Massive Rush [two-actions] The hulk Strides and makes a claw Strike with a +4 circumstance bonus to damage. If the strike hits, the hulk automatically Shoves the target 10 feet.
Now that the heavenly fire is done, Aily is back in the fight.
Caraid has contributed to ending the ghouls so now he focuses on what matters more - keeping Aily and his child alive. The concern for the child inside Aily gnaws at him, but as long as negative energy sustains the mother, then the child should be fine... He hopes.
There aren't any other options at this point anyway.