The badly-wounded warhound, now with an arrow sticking out of its shoulder, flags. Nonetheless, pushes itself to its feet and hacks up some more drool before biting Griss severely.
Crafty's turn.
Initiative:
Nagaikaze (82/106, Mountain Stance, -1 to Cha-based checks)
Purple Undead Nathatel (mirror image)
Griss (66/120, Frightened 1)
Anjo (92/92)
Orange Warhound (-96, bloodied, Frightened 1)
Crafty (19/41, 1d6 persistent acid, prone, Wounded 1)
>-Flame (37/42)
Grey Serraleth (-9, grabbed by aqueous orb)
BakBat (62/62)
Visions of critically injuring Griss dance through the warhound's skull, and so does Nagaikaze's fist.
It never came to pass after all.
Just as he's about to hit it, though, the beast looks Nagaikaze in the eye and almost seems to laugh at the futility of fighting back against demons.
It isn't futile--it seems to be working fairly well--but the sound of it still cuts through him.
Crafty's turn.
Initiative:
Nagaikaze (82/106, Mountain Stance, -1 to Cha-based checks, Frightened 2)
Purple Undead Nathatel (mirror image)
Griss (110/120, Frightened 1)
Anjo (92/92)
Crafty (19/41, 1d6 persistent acid, prone, Wounded 1)
>-Flame (37/42)
Grey Serraleth (-9, grabbed by aqueous orb)
BakBat (62/62)
Crafty stands and heals himself. At least the acid seems to have finished burning.
Serraleth struggles to escape the orb of water. Furiously she advances on BakBat. "Pathetic little creature!" she sputters as she bites him. Her teeth are vicious enough even without accounting for the fiendish power that flows through them.
BakBat and Nagaikaze's turns.
Initiative:
Nagaikaze (82/106, Mountain Stance, -1 to Cha-based checks, Frightened 2)
Purple Undead Nathatel (mirror image)
Griss (110/120, Frightened 1)
Anjo (92/92)
Crafty (39/41, Wounded 1)
>-Flame (37/42)
Grey Serraleth (-9)
BakBat (12/62)
|
Nagaikaze shudders and thinks that Nature is quite unpleasant when corrupted by Abyssal forces. Demonic corruption is yet another thing he must check for when inspecting meat...
A curious part of his mind briefly wonders how it would effect the taste, before he pushes that back into the taboo section of his mind along with the part of that book he'd read that included how to prepare Kayal.
Hoping that he'll soon be joined by a flanking partner, Nagaikaze hurries to face Sarah and provide an alternate target to the retreating mages. He hopes it doesn't hurt too much.
"Hello again Sarah. If you are trying to impress me you are doing it wrong. The strong should protect the weak."
BakBat rolls the orb of water back over Serraleth.
As she's once more caught in the trap, he casts a blast of light directly into her face.
Were her feet on the ground it would have missed, but restrained by the conjured water she's too slow to dodge!
The holy energy mixed into the light especially burns her.
Their hands moving in awkward, unnatural ways, the skeletal remains of Nathatel claw at Griss with one hand and cast a spell with the other. Lightning lances southward from where he stands.
Griss, Anjo, and Crafty's turns.
Initiative:
Nagaikaze (82/106, Mountain Stance, -1 to Cha-based checks, Frightened 1, DC 22 basic Ref vs 8 electricity)
Purple Undead Nathatel (mirror image)
Griss (102/120, Frightened 1)
Anjo (92/92)
Crafty (39/41, Wounded 1)
>-Flame (37/42)
Grey Serraleth (-56, Grabbed by aqueous orb)
BakBat (12/62, DC 22 basic Ref vs 18 electricity)
Anjo isn't able to think of any other useful hints about this type of a demon. Unless one counts "restrain it with water to make it easier to shoot," as his first arrow likely would have missed without it. As it is, Serraleth is starting to look rather worse for the wear.
Griss and Crafty's turns.
Initiative:
Nagaikaze (82/106, Mountain Stance, -1 to Cha-based checks, Frightened 1, DC 22 basic Ref vs 8 electricity)
Purple Undead Nathatel (mirror image)
Griss (102/120, Frightened 1)
Anjo (92/92)
Crafty (39/41, Wounded 1)
>-Flame (37/42)
Grey Serraleth (-83, bloodied, Grabbed by aqueous orb)
BakBat (3/62)
|
Venture-Captain Viore Ciobanu stands at the altar where, not long ago, Serraleth stood performing her foul magic, a look of determined concentration on his face. Eando Kline gently hands him the amber pendant lent to the Pathfinders at the beginning of their journey, which Ciobanu stares at for a long moment before speaking. “To think, after all these years, I would be standing here surrounded by Pathfinders on a mission for the queen. There’s hardly a moment in the last decade I would have believed this to be possible.” He regards the item for another long moment, then looks up once more. “Well, I suppose we ought to begin.”
Ciobanu wipes the altar clean, laying the amber at the center of the inscribed circle on its surface. Saying a prayer to Yuelral in Elven, he picks up the stone and holds it up once more. A beam of sunlight pierces the clouds outside, streaming in through a high window and striking the amber, which casts a golden glow throughout the temple. As if in response, the altar seems to illuminate from below in red, blue, and green, the lights combining to bathe the whole temple in a beautiful, shimmering cascade of light. The corruption so evident a moment ago throughout the temple seems to melt away from the light, and by the time the sun passes once more behind a cloud and the light fades, no sign of it remains. In Ciobanu’s hands, the amber stone has taken on a murky, opaque appearance.
After another quiet moment, he hands the stone back to Eando Kline, who quickly secures it in a small wooden box. “Thank you, agents. You have done the people of Kyonin a great service today. Serraleth’s intentions were not good, and who knows what her scheme would have done to empower the schemes of the Tanglebriar should she have succeeded. More immediately, you have saved the people of this town from a horrible fate, and for that you should be commended twice over. I won’t soon forget what you have done this day, and hopefully neither will Iadara.”
“For now, agents,” Fola Barun says, joining Viore on the dais, “we can enjoy our victory! I understand the people of Folien are preparing a celebration as we speak! Rest, relax, and be comforted in the knowledge that you have done well. You deserve it!”
Flame moves and bites at Nathanael.
Flame tears through one of the skeleton's images. Three of him remain.
Griss's turn.
Initiative:
Nagaikaze (82/106, Mountain Stance, -1 to Cha-based checks, Frightened 1, DC 22 basic Ref vs 8 electricity)
Purple Undead Nathatel (2 mirror images)
Griss (102/120, Frightened 1)
Anjo (92/92)
Crafty (39/41, Wounded 1)
>-Flame (37/42)
Grey Serraleth (-83, bloodied, Grabbed by aqueous orb)
BakBat (33/62)
Griss's flail sweeps away one of the images, then hits something solid, cracking Nathatel's skull. Finally, it sweeps through the final image, revealing the real Nathatel completely. His cracked skull is leaking slightly.
Serraleth swims for the edge of the water orb once again. Nagaikaze manages to hit her as she turns away from him, and she gurgles a stream of enraged bubbles in response. Nonetheless, she splashes out of the orb and viciously bites its caster. Her mouth dripping with goblin blood, she somersaults over Nagaikaze's shoulder and darts towards the corpse of one of the fallen warhounds.
BakBat and Nagaikaze's turns.
Initiative:
Nagaikaze (78/106, Mountain Stance, -1 to Cha-based checks, Frightened 1)
Purple Undead Nathatel (-44, bloodied)
Griss (102/120)
Anjo (92/92)
Crafty (39/41, Wounded 1)
>-Flame (37/42)
Grey Serraleth (-96, bloodied, Grabbed by aqueous orb)
BakBat (6/62)
|
|
"Oi!"
Feeling snubbed, Nagaikaze chases after Serraleth. He isn't sure why she wants to reach a Warhound, but it's unlikely to be for anything pleasant.
"There is no need to be afraid of challenging thoughts. For instance, just a few moments ago you were strong...and should have been using that power with responsibility...But now you are seeming weak! But does that now mean that the strong should be protecting you?"
for
for
Serraleth ducks under the first swing, but the second connects with her chin and sends her stumbling. She curses the Pathfinders, starting to shriek and oath of vengeance--which is cut off as BakBat vaporizes her.
The corrupting magic in this place seems to freeze, and then begins to retract away as Serraleth is unable to sustain it. This includes, it would seem, the animating magic empowering Nathatel's remains, he seems to weaken as dark energy is drained away from him.
Still, crumbling and smoldering, the skeleton is not yet broken. With a hissing shriek, it hurls lightning and thunder at BakBat. With a CRACK the ball of energy bursts into a very small storm. It's a little too much for the injured goblin.
Everyone's turns.
Initiative:
Nagaikaze (78/106, Mountain Stance, -1 to Cha-based checks, Frightened 1)
BakBat (0/62, Dying 1, Prone)
Purple Undead Nathatel (-52, bloodied)
Griss (102/120)
Anjo (92/92)
Crafty (39/41, Wounded 1)
>-Flame (37/42)
Anjo's arrow enters Nathatel's eye socket and removes the skull from the rest of the skeleton. The skull shatters as it strikes the wall, and the rest of the bones collapse into a heap.
Without order, Flame continues to do what it do best, bite!
Flame bites at the bones, which do not react.
All is well!
|
|
Venture-Captain Viore Ciobanu stands at the altar where, not long ago, Serraleth stood performing her foul magic, a look of determined concentration on his face. Eando Kline gently hands him the amber pendant lent to the Pathfinders at the beginning of their journey, which Ciobanu stares at for a long moment before speaking. “To think, after all these years, I would be standing here surrounded by Pathfinders on a mission for the queen. There’s hardly a moment in the last decade I would have believed this to be possible.” He regards the item for another long moment, then looks up once more. “Well, I suppose we ought to begin.”
Ciobanu wipes the altar clean, laying the amber at the center of the inscribed circle on its surface. Saying a prayer to Yuelral in Elven, he picks up the stone and holds it up once more. A beam of sunlight pierces the clouds outside, streaming in through a high window and striking the amber, which casts a golden glow throughout the temple. As if in response, the altar seems to illuminate from below in red, blue, and green, the lights combining to bathe the whole temple in a beautiful, shimmering cascade of light. The corruption so evident a moment ago throughout the temple seems to melt away from the light, and by the time the sun passes once more behind a cloud and the light fades, no sign of it remains. In Ciobanu’s hands, the amber stone has taken on a murky, opaque appearance.
After another quiet moment, he hands the stone back to Eando Kline, who quickly secures it in a small wooden box. “Thank you, agents. You have done the people of Kyonin a great service today. Serraleth’s intentions were not good, and who knows what her scheme would have done to empower the schemes of the Tanglebriar should she have succeeded. More immediately, you have saved the people of this town from a horrible fate, and for that you should be commended twice over. I won’t soon forget what you have done this day, and...