Vyana drives her burning blade through the chest of the ghoul in front of her, slaying it! Siobhan misses with her attack, and Viv scores a hit to injure a second ghoul.
"Be afraid!" Glorkus shouts, pointing his wand at Vyana to fill her with fear! He then quickly raises a magical shield.
The five other goblin ghouls attack with teeth and claws! Helmut and Viv are injured!
Viviana isn't really what you would consider a hardened warrior. She's tough, sure, but a goblin ghoul slashing her with razor-sharp claws? It provokes one of the less poetic responses in recent memory
A cold pit centers itself inside Vyana's stomach and everything deep within her brain screams at her to RUN! But her will is just strong enough to keep her feet rooted to the ground as she stabs at another goblin.
Viviana's resolve hardens. Witnessing her friend's distress she says "Vy, let not your heart be troubled! Shelyn's light is with us! Fear is but a fleeting shadow under the noonday sun. Stand strong, for beauty and love shield us, and together, there is nothing we cannot overcome."
Ser Helmet clinches up his butt cheeks!
The goblin also will React to his friends movement away from contact!
Helmut enchants your weapons as Viviana calms Vyana down. Vyana just manages a solid strike, finishing off the ghoul Viv wounded earlier. Siobhan narrowly misses with her attacks.
The goblin ghouls attack the warriors, several lucky hits getting last Siobhan’s defenses!
Glorkus sustains his magic shield and casts another spell, conjuring a magical echo of his jaws! He flings them at Vyana, but she dodges the gnashing teeth, which return to Glorkus’s side.
"Stand fast, Von!" Vyana calls out as she stabs out at another goblin with a flaming blade.
Ser Helmut grabs another Scroll from somewhere and casts it at Siobhan!
Watching Vyana recover quickly from her words bolsters Viviana's confidence a little too much. She forgets she is only supposed to use the glaive as a backup weapon when magic isn't an option. She proudly twirls her glaive in her hand (she's been practicing to show off just like this) around and around and around and before swinging it towards a goblinghoul instead of doing the smart thing and using her magic.
She misses the goblin by a good two feet. So she swings again!
... and misses by good two feet once more. Frustrated, she grabs the glaive by the end and whirls in a circle with it at the goblin!
... and nearly loses her balance as she stumbles forward, completely missing for a third time. But man would it have hurt them if it hit!
Well I hope no one saw that ...
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"Viv! Stop dancing and blast the bloody things!" Vyana snaps as she dodges more claws and teeth.
Vy and Von team up to take down another ghoul. Both women avoid the remaining ghouls' attacks!
Glorkus sends the spiritual jaws to attack Vyana again, but they miss. Cursing, Glorkus casts another spell, commanding Vyana to "Fall!"
Bolstered by her companions presence, Vyana resists the compulsion and finishes off another goblin with a deadly flaming strike.
Ser Helmut (years of anguish rolling down his face) casts Shield, Steps (Strides?) to close with Glorkus!
You broke my heart, Frodo! You broke my heart!
The Thaumaturge sprinkles some sawdust into the air before taking a bite out of him!
Somewhat embarrassed for being called out for her ineptness with the glaive, she does what Vyana asks and blasts Gorkus when he casts a spell on her. "You leave her alone!"
Vyana takes out another of the lesser ghouls, clearing the way to Glorkus! Viv weakens the goblin ghoul with positive energy, Siobhan lands a blow, and Helmut rips huge chunks of rotten flesh from the ghoul's body!
The lesser ghouls leap to flank Vyana while Glorkus shrieks with rage! He sends his spiritual jaws at Helmut while before attacking him with his own claws!
"No!" Viviana's shrieks, watching her friends get ripped apart by Glorkus.
With a swift, practiced motion, Viviana launches her holy symbol across the battlefield, transforming mid-flight into three slices of gloriously colorful metal shards that streak towards Glorkus with unerring precision.
With the exception of a few maudlin moments in her young teen years, Vyana has never given more than a passing thought to her unknown elven father. But as the magical fingers of the ghoul venom tickle through her veins, she gives thanks to him when it fails to accomplish its intended purpose.
With a laugh she stabs at yet another goblin-ghoul.
Ser Helmut looks aghast at the goblin ghoul's audacity!
You recently get a manicure?
The giggling green goblin begins to rummage through his pockets...
Exploit Vulnerability
With a triumphant
Found it!
The Thaumaturge pulls out some radishes!
Bite me!
Ser Helmut will Step (Strides?) into Flank with Siobhan.
As Vyana dispatches another of the lesser ghouls, the rest of you focus on Glorkus. Viv impales him with a trio of darts, Helmut bites and rips with his teeth, and Siobhan brings her scimitar down in a finishing blow! Glorkus falls to the ground with a thud and lies still.
The final ghoul snarls and attacks Vyana again, landing a lucky critical hit! But Siobhan's intervention negates the damage!
However, the tide is definitely against the ghoul. In a matter of moments, the four of you converge on him and finish him off.
After the last goblin drops, Viviana quickly sees each of her companion's wounds, starting with Vyana ](Siobhan could always touch herself if she was in terrible shape, after all. And the goblin probably was licking his own wounds).
"Let me see that. Hold still or it won't bandage properly. Hush." she says, wrapping up Vyana's wound after tending to it. She moves on in order to the goblin and then her sister.
"Who wants to carry this nifty wand?" she asks.
"As much as I appreciate you sticking with your tenet-approved weaponry," Vyana replies with a smirk, "How about you swing that wand instead?"
In a quieter voice as she checks the bandage that Viviana applied, she adds, "and ... thanks."
Viviana looks down at her glaive resting at her feet and then over to the ugly wand. She frowns and wrinkles her nose. "Eww. It is not very pretty. It has a skull on it. Why do I want to have a skull wand?" She nudges it with her toe as if it has cooties.
Looking back at her glaive, she seems unaware that she used her weapon about as effectively as a duck would have. She says proudly "Did you see the fear I inflicted him those ghouls when Shelyn was guiding me through those maneuvers? They had never seen anything like it! Why, I think I saw one quivering!" Which was more likely to be one of them laughing, but hey, his body was shaking!
Ser Helmut pulls out a clean handkerchief politely dapping at his mouth.
Tastes like chicken. Well, dead chicken eaten by dead goblins. But still chicken.
The Thaumaturge picks up the Wand. He points it at the dead-er goblin ghouls.
You realize, Viviana, that this beautifully crafted Wand does literally strike Fear into someone. Just saying. If they are Frightened, then your glaive skills look better.
The Goblin grins.
Standing still to receive his medicine, Ser Helmut politely offers her the Wand.
Zen reluctantly picks up the wand with two fingers, holding it away from her with a sour look on her face as she considers Helmut's suggestion. "Fine, fine, I'll it."
Once you are ready, you investigate the adjoining chamber that Glorkus emerged from. A large flat-topped boulder protrudes from the floor in the southwest corner of this roughly circular room, its sides smeared with symbols drawn in blood, and its top supporting a large bundle wrapped in a filthy shroud. Three exits lead from the chamber, but unlike those to the northeast and south, the one to the northwest has been barricaded mostly shut with timbers and slabs of driftwood.
The wrapped bundle sitting atop the impromptu altar contains Nualia’s disarticulated skeleton, readily identifiable by its left arm: the bones are black and the hand appears as a large talon. The goblins weren’t particularly gentle when they hauled her skeleton from the coffin, but the remains are whole.
Zen reluctantly picks up the wand with two fingers, holding it away from her with a sour look on her face as she considers Helmut's suggestion. "Fine, fine, I'll it."
Vyana pauses as if thinking.
"Who was it? Who was it, Von, that told us that if we couldn't see the beauty in something then we weren't looking at it with the right eyes?" She seems to give the matter some great thought. "Oh, I can't think of it right now, but I'm sure it will come to me. Right, Viv?"
She gives the girl a wink.
---
"This is what we came for, right?" Vyana questions as she watches the other un-barricaded exit from the chamber. "We should go back now."
Viviana grumbles "I wasn't talking about skull wands of fear." She sighs, "Point taken. I will now be the princess of fear."
She turns to look at the symbol but can't quite place it. "Not sure what that is for, but it's probably not good."
She looks to the bones and says "Let's collect them for Father. We should definitely go back..." before looking to the other paths "... after we see what's this way. C'mon!" she says excitedly, bounding towards the barricaded entrance.
As Viv eagerly starts dismantling the barricade, a frenzied whisper comes from the other side of it. ”Shh! Stop! Stop! You’ll angry up the fire monster!” the voice says in Goblin.
Viviana doesn't speak goblin, but the sound of a goblin talking to her is enough to cause her to stop. She sets down the piece she just pulled off and slowly turns away with tip-toed steps and wide eyes. After five steps, she bursts into a full-on run back to the group.
"Someone on the other side barricade just said something to me. It was in a different tongue, but it was whispered and sounded urgent."
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"Helmy?" Von asks, gesturing for the goblin to step forward. She's already bitten back a comment about 'the right kind of wand' - her sister probably wouldn't get the joke and Vy... might not either. Jokes are no fun when you're the only one laughing. Rebeckah would have laughed but Von has sworn not to think about that any more - it isn't worth the pain.
So instead she gets a sensible folded sack out and starts packing Nualia's remains away inside it as respectfully as she can.
The symbols look vaguely familiar but she isn't overly interested in the details of goblin religious practise.
Ser Helmut walks up to peer at the strange symbols.
...blah, blah, runes associated with the demon lord Kabriri, Lord of Ghouls....blah...
The goblin shrugs.
A bit on the proverbial nose.
Turning at the attempts of deconstruction, Ser Helmut raises a non-existent eyebrow.
Voices in the dark places. Interesting.
The Thaumaturge walks over and knocks twice, three times and then sings a verse from a goblin nursery rhymes in Goblin.
The owner of the voice quickly warms up to Helmut, softly singing the nursery rhyme's second verse. However, he remains nervous as he speaks to the thaumaturge in a fearful whisper.
"I am Zoduk. We came to these catacombs on our chieftain's orders to look for a powerful weapon. We met with some other ghouls who already lived down here, and they gave us permission to expand the tunnels to find the weapon. But when we dug this way and broke into some old fancy rooms, we made the fire monster angry! It made a big boom, and the three other ghouls with me were killed! I was badly burned but barely survived. By the time I came to, Glorkus and the rest of the team had boarded off the exit, trapping me here. I suspect they dug another tunnel around this room, but I'm not sure.
"Can you get me out of here? Quietly, though! I don't want to get exploded!"
Ser Helmut nods. The goblin shuffles from his right foot to his left foot. He seems to peer intently at his nails. He begins to wobble. A quick snort escapes his nose.
Zoduk....powerful weapon...expand the tunnels...old fancy rooms...fire monster angry! It made a big boom, and the three other ghouls with me were killed!
The Thaumaturge turns to his friends.
Sounds safe to let him out to me.
Ser Helmut takes out his specialty tools!
Helmut deftly opens a precise gap in the barricade big enough for Zoduk to squeeze through. You can see that Zoduk is another goblin ghoul, but his body is horribly burned. "Phew! Thank you! I want nothing else to do with these nasty tunnels! Can I go home now?"
Viviana wishes she had spent more time studying languages. She watches the exchange between Helmy and the other goblin, not understanding what's happening.
She whispers "Are we attacking now? Should I show him my new wand?" She practices waving the wand through the air several times, mock-casting its spell.
Ser Helmut giggles.
Are you gonna try to eat us? If not then she can keep her Wand in her...pocket.
Ser Helmut translates.
As Helmut translates, Vyana reaches out and places a gentle hand on Viviana's hand that holds the magical device.
"You can put that away now, Oh Lady of Skulls," she says with a grin as she directs the wand and the hand holding it towards the ground. "You can play with your wand later."
Turning to their resident expert on all things goblin, she asks, "Can he tell us anything else about the 'Fire Monster'?"
Zoduk shakes his head. ”I won’t eat you. I’m grateful for the rescue. I’ve only glimpsed the fire monster through the crack in the wall, but I hear it roaring and stomping around sometimes. It’s like a goatman with burning red eyes!”
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"Girls, you do a detailed examination of the wand later." Siobhan says, masterfully keeping a straight face. The 'fire monster' makes her frown though.
"Well that doesn't sound good. Stay behind me when we get in there."
She gestures for the ghoul to leave and then settles down for a few minutes quiet prayer before standing once more.
"Right, we'd best deal with this now, just in case."
Ser Helmut waves good-bye to the kind of nice coolest goblin ghouls and prepares to be see a guy about a fire monster...
Anyone bees bringing da marshmallow?
Viviana looks between Vyana and Siobhan, it seems everyone was a comedian today. "Fine, fine. I'm just trying to a little roleplaying and get into the mood." she says with a smirk, putting the wand away for later.
When the party moves in, she casts bless. "Stay nearby, Shelyn will guide your way."
The crack in the wall is too narrow to pass through, so you follow the tunnel to the north. The low-ceilinged, wood-braced tunnel comes to an end at a stone wall through which a four-foot-diameter hole has been burrowed. The rectangular room beyond is lit by flickering flames at the center of seven-pointed star carvings on the east and west walls, while to the south, a pile of stone and rubble lies on the floor in front of a wooden door and under an open trapdoor in the ceiling. Goblin arms and legs protrude from the rubble.
Viv is about to cast a spell when she takes note of the manual labor that will be required. She turns to Siobhan and says "Good thing we brought the muscle!"
Vyana frowns.
"Okay. So we're no longer in natural or goblin tunnels. This is something older," she says, carefully examining the exposed portions of the door and the remains of the rock-fall. "We need to proceed with caution as I doubt there was only one trap and I have no intent to end up like ... them."
Pushing up her sleeves and setting her weapons and bag aside, she assists Siobhan in clearing the rubble.
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Siobhan simply nods at her sister, hands off her shield and sets to work. Gauntlets are a pain for a lot of things, but they do make basic manual labour a lot easier.
Working with Vy again is kinda nice she admits. There's a little of the old sense of purpose, the easy camaraderie that they'd always had. She pulled out a big rock and Vy was there to take it. When a beam shifted she braced and Vy pulled. It didn't need words, they just did. It was nice.
If there hadn't been a 'fire demon' on the other side it might have been companionable. If Viv hadn't been watching it might have been intimate. If there weren't three wasted years between them it might have been...
It was nice.
The goblin easily passes through the nicely sized tunnels. The Thaumaturge even expounding upon it's fine condition and consistent pathways.
Ignoring the rubble (and yucky physical exercises), Ser Helmut begins Investigating the seven-pointed star carvings on the east and west walls,