After hosptitals and funeral, I should be back either tomorrow or Monday and able to post again.
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After hosptitals and funeral, I should be back either tomorrow or Monday and able to post again.
Aravinashal watches the group look over the book. There is not much left of the book, and it was only a primer, but I think you'll find some use of the spells that are left. Ashanah studies the book for a while and notes that several spells were burned away, but the book still contains: 1st: mudball, protection from chaos, ray of enfeeblement, shocking grasp, summon monster, web bolt, 2nd:Agressive Thundercloud, arcane lock, boiling blood, Whip of Spiders
The young girl accepts the sausage and places it on the bread with a smile, taking a large bite. Bowurk, pwisse ta meet u. She says around a mouthful of food. Her eyes widen a bit when she sees Bollwerk's features, but then looks a bit curiously at his livery, and the trappings of Iomedae's faith. Aravinashal turns his head towards the sounds of Heinrick and Ashnah's voice, and smiles a bit, Ah yes, I do remember you joining us, and young lady, you are part of the group, changed though it is, that is taking the fight to the Abyssal creatures that plague us. I simply wish to help. He pulls out a somewhat burned book from his travel pack, and lays it carefully down on the table. It is not much, and mostly ruined by the fire, but it should help you on your travels. Or at least help you if you have someone trained in the arcane arts. As for my eyes, Heinrick, there is nothing to cure. The backlash of the demon's sword caught me across the eyes, burning them away. Clerics have started what they could, and have sent for some powerful regenerative magics, but they may take time getting here.
gm rolls:
The blinded zombies all flail about and only one swing even comes in the general direction of Bill, but swings wildly, missing the fighter completely. The swaying of the ship and the erratic movements of the zombies, however, cause Bill to miss with his return swing. Ri'el's hair smashes into one of the zombies, which causes more brackish, black water to squish out of the thing. As he steps back from the zombies, Ri'el sees that he only has about 15' before his back presses against the far gunwales, and the zombies are inside his hair's effective reach. Garavaen's shot drills Pilk, but the bolt rattles through the skeletal chest, and Pilk pulls it out, the bolthead trailing a small gibbet of putrid flesh. Pilk's head creaks as he turns his attention to Garavaen and Pilk snaps the bolt in two. If the skull had much flesh left on it, you would almost swear it smiled.
Activity at the heart continues to bustle about as the group begins to relax. An elf with a white cloth tied around his head covering his eyes is led to where Irabeth still tarries over the map table. After a brief exchange, Irabeth nods and looks about and finally points to where Ashnah is resting. The boy that is helping the elf find his way about peels off from the table and approaches Ashnah. "Miss, my master requests your company. Some of your company rescued him from the cave in after the festival, despite his new handicap, and he wishes to reward you."
The girl grins broadly and accepts the rations. My da says that you're the heroes that are going to chase the bad things away. I don't like them, they chased us away from our house. You should punch em in the nose!"
The child fidgets a bit, looking around, and then pulls a small loaf of bread from under the dirty homespun. It smells fresh baked. She offers some to Lavinia Um..I'm looking for a place to eat this. It's a picnic"
As Lavinia settles under a table to watch, she becomes aware of another presence there. When she looks, she spots a small boy in simple homespun. He wipes a spot on his face, and looks around before whispering in a conspiratory whisper. Whatcha doin?
gm rolls:
Bill moves as far as he can towards Pilk, facing off a zombie atop one of the boarding planks. He swings at the zombie, but a swell throws off his aim and the blow goes wide. The zombies near Bill swing wildly with their cutlass', but only one manages to connect with the brawler. Davina calls on her magic to bless the group, bolstering their resolve in the face of the undead Ri'el slams his hair at the same zombie he hit earlier, two of the undead having moved inside the reach of his hair. The blow lands with a wet squelch as black, briny water is pushed out of the body. The zombie again tries to move forward. The other two zombies move up close to Ri'el. Ri'el manages to dodge one of the incoming blows, but the second clips his shoulder. Garavaen's shot punches into Pilk, and a black ichor oozes sluggishly from the wound. As the party views the deck of the ship, other crewmembers are facing off against other undead. The sounds of metal on metal, and other more alarming impacts are heard before the group has to pay attention again to the zombies close to them. *************Round 2 Summary*************
************Round 3****************
Pilk continues to ring his bell, which gives a sickening, mute, clank.
The Bell Ringer continues to ring the bell from the aft castle of his ship. The bell rings with a sickening dull, moist, clank.
kn local dc20:
The bell ringer is Capt. Whalebone Pilk, the captain of the ill fated Deathknell. The legend says that Pilk set chase with the Deathknell into the teeth of a disaster, ringing the ships bell even as the ship was dragged to the bottom. init: Bell Ringer Bill, Davina, Zombie 5(blinded), 1 (blinded), 6 (blinded), Ri'el, Zombie 3, Garavaen, Zombie 4, 2
Ri'el's hair slams into the zombie with a wet squashing sound, and the undead thing continues to make its move forward.
Init: Bell Ringer, Bill, Davina, Zombie 5(blinded), 1 (blinded), 6 (blinded), Ri'el, Zombie 3, Garavaen, Zombie 4, 2
Irabeth chuckles a bit at Heinrick's comment, "I don't think we'll be ready much before then either. We gave them a surprise to be sure, but we still took a bit of a beating ourselves. Her countenance turns a bit grim, And we're still badly outnumbered. Once they figure out what's going on, they'll come in numbers, and assuredly reinforce the garrison. When Heinrick heals the soldier, the man looks up at him with thanks, and then asks, [b]"Do you think we can really win this? I mean, your group can destroy that stone, right? I've got my family here, and if you think you can do this I'll have them stay. If not, we need to leave."
Returning to the Heart, the mood is tense, but upbeat. Several of the Eagles tend to wounds themselves while the clerics tend to the more severely wounded. As you enter, you're greeted with everything from claps on the shoulders, from the soldiers that are still up and about, to nods and even some salutes from the soldiers that too beat up or too tired to rise. Irabeth, standing over the table that's become the war map, sees you enter and greets you with a toothy grin. She shows several small wounds, and some bruises, but, like the others seems generally upbeat. "How went the foray into the Garrison? We gave those abyssals all they could handle today. I doubt you'll see any kind of reinforcements tomorrow."
This happens with just about all my games around this time. The holidays take up a lot of time and effort. We'll get through it.
Remembering the conversation before leaving, Irabeth had stated that they didn't think the Garrison could be taken in one attack. Her Eagles were going to make guerilla type attacks to try and stall any kind of reinforcements, but they too were going to retreat to the "Heart" after any such attacks.
Heinrick makes a final stab at the demon and the cold iron creates a wound that doesn't close. The demon looks down as the blade slides out of its gut curiously, before it drops to the ground dead. Victory!
gm rolls:
Lavinia's shot spits sparks as it flies into the demon's eye deep enough that the pointed end of the arrow sticks out of back of the thing's skull. Bollwerk, seeing the demon facing him dropping turns his attention to the demon to his side, slashing down on the demon and scoring a deep cut on the creature's side. The demon wheels in rage at Bollwerk, but its claws screech angrily, but harmlessly off the Paladin's breastplate, leaving marks which scar the armor. Init Round 4: Ashnah, Demon 1, Lavinia, demon 2, Heinrick
gm rolls:
The first demon cackles with glee as it gulps down the piece of flesh it tore from Bollwerk. Liking what it tasted it comes back for more. Claws lash out and score long deep slashes along Bollwerk's arm. Init round 4: Ashnah, Demon 1, Lavinia, Demon 2, Bolwerk, Heinrick
The demon pulls away a chunk of flesh from Bollwerk's leg, but the paladin manages to twist with the bite, limiting ugliness of the wound.
Bill's blow lands with a satisfying, if sickening, squishy thump accompanied by the crack of rib bones. The foul creature stops its movement and lets out moan that's accompanied with fetid breath from whatever was left in the thing's lungs that Bill just dislodged. The other two zombies continue to shuffle inside the reach of Ri'el's hair, attempting to slash the shaman with their rusted cutlasses.
Bollwerk strikes with his longsword, the blade biting, but just missing a vulnerable spot. Heinrick seems to be having with the corrupt nature of the beast, finding his vision sliding from the thing's hide. His blow strikes the wood of the building, and he winces at the damage.
Init round 4: Ashnah, Demon 1, Lavinia, Demon 2, Bolwerk, Heinrick
Ri'el's hair lashes out and slams into one of the zombies with a dull thud, which doesn't seem to deter the creature, its days of being bruised are long over. The other zombies continue to swarm aboard, moving around Bill towards Ri'el, leaving soggy footprints on the deck, . The zombies lash out with rusty cutlasses at the Shaman.
gm rolls:
Lavinia fires against the demon harassing Heinrick, and as the arrow looses it glows and spits sparks as it flies towards the beast, eager to bite into its flesh. The arrow slams into the demon which has to brace itself so it's not driven backwards. The demon lashes out at Heinrick with its claws, one of which finds purchase in his arm. The first demon opens its rat like maw and latches onto Bollwerk's thigh, leaving a torn chunk of flesh.
Init round 3: Ashnah, Demon 1, Lavinia, Demon 2, Bolwerk, Heinrick
Heinrick calls on Iomedae's aid and heals some of the wounds he has, but the scar from the bite remains open and ugly.
Init round 3: Ashnah, Demon 1, Lavinia, Demon 2, Bolwerk, Heinrick
Zombies start to shamble over the planks onto the Bounty, and Davina throws out a veil of golden dust which spreads over the undead. All of them are covered in the dust and 3 of them stop in confusion. Bill moves up to strike one of the zombies, who suddenly stops as he is blinded by Davina's spell. The sudden stop causes Bill's blow to come up short. The zombies clamber over the boards, swarming up at Bill, but in their blinded state, they can't connect with the bobbing and weaving fighter.
Init: Bell Ringer, Bill, Davina, Zombie 5(blinded), 1 (blinded), 6 (blinded), Ri'el, Zombie 3, Garavaen, Zombie 4, 2
Init: Ashnah, Demon 1, Lavinia, Demon 2, Bolwerk, Heinrick Ashnah waits for an opening to apply her skills, and the 1st Demon uses its claws to try to flay open the Tiefling Paladin.
Neither attack penetrates the Paladin's armor. Lavinia moves to a flank and fires an arrow that strikes true, but doesn't seem to do as much damage as she would have expected. The second demon slashes at Heinrick with its claws
One of the claws manages to find a gap in the armor, and slashes a deep furrow in Heinrick's leg. Bollwerk's attack manages to only find hard scale, and doesn't connect solidly. Stats: Demon 1: 12 damage
Ashnah: 17/17
The ships come together with a loud thump, and boarding planks are levered across the gap. Bill waits as he sees zombies readying to come across. Garavaen's Faerie Fire illuminates the bell ringer. Init: Bell Ringer, Bill, Davina, Zombie 5, 1, 6, Ri'el, Zombie 3, Garavaen, Zombie 4, 2
Round 1 recap: Ashnah calls on her arcane artistry to fire a couple of magical darts at one of the demons, and the two darts unerringly strike the creature, to it's howling displeasure. Lavinia fired a shot that struck the demon square causing the creature to growl in pain, the shot did not seem to do as much damage as Lavinia thought it should have however, as the demon pulled the arrow out of its hide. Frustrated, that it can't get past the two armored adventurers, the demon lashes out at Bollwerk but only manages to mar his armor. Bollwerk in turn slashes back at the demon, but the wiry creature manages to slip away from the blow. The second demon rushes Heinrick, and the cleric reacts, slamming the point of his spear into the creature. As the blade exits, Heinrick is surprised to see that it did not do as much damage as expected. The demon manages to latch onto Heinrick's forearm, leaving a nasty bite, the wound leaving an unnaturally ugly wound.
Round 2: Init: Ashnah, Demon 1, Lavinia, Demon 2, Bolwerk, Heinrick @Lavinia: If you'd like to change your ammo after seeing the lack of damage, let me know, and I'll add that to round 2.
The next day passes without much trouble. Indeed an eerie calm sits about the ship, and the ocean, almost as if in anticipation of something. The day passes to the bloody hour, and dinner is served up to a subdued, and quiet crew. The rattle of dice and the shuffling of cards seems preternaturally loud in the comparative silence. Soon, clouds start to fill the evening sky as a nor'easter starts to blow in. The high winds start to whip the sails and shortly after, hurricane lanterns are lit to help pierce the gloom. The ship rises up one side and slides down the other as the waves hit, and sporadic rain falls in sheets on the deck. Thunder follows a lightning flash, and then *clank, clank*... The muted bell sounds over the water. Peering into the distance a red ship's lantern shines in the darkness, as the dark, rotting hulk of the Deathknell looms in the night. Besmara's Bounty runs with the wind, and the red light grows more distant till it winks out entirely. A raucous cheer comes from the crew as the pursuer seems to have fallen away, but that cheer is shortlived as the red ship's lantern suddenly appears directly in front of the ship, coming down the slope of a storm swelled wave. The Deathknell slams into the side of Besmara's Bounty, and the whistle and clank of several grapnels sounds over the cracking of wood. Looking onto the deck of the Deathknell, the "sailors" of the ship are undead with rotten, bloated bodies, and slime covered greenish skin. The remnants of sailors gear adheres to their body, and the stench from these creatures is overwhelming. At the helm of the Deathknell stands another undead figure, dressed in rotting captain's clothing, hand on the ship's bell, continuously ringing it with the mute clanking sound.
Bill, great observation! We'll pull along with him being the cap'n in his quarters for now until we hear back from him. In the meantime, everyone keep positive thoughts going for him and his family.
Lavinia moves to get a better shot and fires between Bollwerk and Heinrick to strike the demon in the chest. The demon lets out a small explosion of breath and growls back in return. The second demon rushes forward with a screech, and tries to take a bite out of Heinrick.
The rat like maw clamps down on Heinrick's shoulder, and while it doesn't do much actual damage, it leaves a ghastly, ugly wound.
Bollwerk slashes at the demon facing him but misses the wily rat like creature. Init: Ashnah, Demon 1, Lavinia, Demon 2, Bolwerk, Heinrick
The ship continues to meander through the fog, in eerie silence.
Ahsnah fires off a couple of quick darts of force that strike the demon, eliciting a shriek of pain and rage. It rushes forward after the mage, but finds its way blocked by Bolwerk, and strikes out at the Paladin.
Both claw marks strike off of Bollwerks armor, leaving furrowed scars in the metal. Init: Ashnah, Demon 1, Lavinia, Demon 2, Bolwerk, Heinrick
Heinrick swiftly opens the door opening to a large room with large windows that would normally let in enough light to illuminate the interior. Displays of what were once no doubt treasures lie in shattered ruins, the fragile contents of the museum displays strewn about the entirety of the place. Even the shelves on the walls torn down and shattered in places. At first glance you see two suits of armor lying in the middle of the room, quickly realizing, due to the red stain pooling near them that these are not merely suits of armor, but the decapitated remains of knights who once protected the priceless displays. DC 15 Kn History or Religion:
The items strewn about the room are relics and memorabilia from the First Crusade The source of the odd conversation comes from two rat like beings. Each has a clawed hand shoved into the head of what you assume is one of the two dead knights, and are using the heads like puppets. Seeing you enter the room, the two demons shake their macabre puppets to the ground and rush to attack. Init: Ashnah, Demon 1, Lavinia, Demon 2, Bolwerk, Heinrick
In contrast to the raucous merriment from just a few minutes ago, a pall of fear, and the silence that goes with it falls over the crew. The silence allows the uncertainty in Davina's voice to ring louder than it would have, and while it doesn't seem to undermine the crew's resolve, it doesn't quite bolster it either. The ship travels slowly in the unnatural silence of the fog, and a few times you think you hear that odd clank of the bell, but fog plays tricks on distance, so you have no reference for how far....or how close...the ghost ship Deathknell may be.
So it looks like we may have lost Davina and Astein, which leaves only Garavaen, Bill and Ri'el left. Nominally, we'd need one more to keep things going. Does anyone have a friend or someone that they'd like to see join the game. We really need to get back to being regular on this, and waiting for those that are not posting is costing us time and momentum.
Continuing to listen, Lavinia hears sounds of something shattering, like a mirror or something similar, followed by more odd high pitched conversation, and lower pitched snickering.
Listening at the door, now that Lavinia has pointed it out, you still hear an odd, high pitched conversation going on, interspersed with what sounds like snickering.
Lavinia: You hear oddly high pitched voices seeming to have an animated conversation in an odd flowing language.
Putting sail to wind, the Bounty cuts through the water for the rest of the day. Many of the crew silent and determined, especially looking at the deep divot on the deck of the ship as a reminder of the close shave they had slipping by the Dominator. Even with the relative reserve, the crew seems in good spirits, and as the day wears on, the camaraderie of the crew starts the shine through, and several sea shanties start to break out, with Conchobar leading the singing with a surprisingly powerful voice. As the bloody hour comes about, tales of how the Dominator was foundered start being told, with only...minor...embellishments. The ship reefs the sails as a thick fog starts to roll in cutting visibility to only a few yards, and navigation to merely guesswork. From the gloom comes an odd, muffled...clank....clank...clank of a rusted ship's bell nearby, echoing oddly in the fog. The crew's merriment becomes muted both in its intensity, and because of the fog. It seems that everyone is holding their breath when the cry comes out Port Bow!!! Suddenly the hulk of a ship looms in the fog off the port bow, its hull a rotten collection of greyish planks, stained black with age. Before the mists swallow the ship once more, the ship's name came momentarily into view on its worm-eaten bow -- Deathknell Kn 10 Local:
You recall tales of a ghostship captained by Whalebone Pilk, who sails the Fever Sea in search of sailors to feed his ever-hungry crew, and fuel his ghostly ship. KN Local 15: You also recall that legend says the Deathknell will stalk its prey for 2 nights before dragging them down into a watery hell on the third night.
Listening to the north door, Lavinia hears nothing of note. As the three others clear the shrine, it becomes apparent that this was a shrine for visiting worshipers, particularly Paladins to kneel and offer their prayers.
The group moves to the room to the east, and it takes a moment for the devout of Iomedae to recognize that this was once a shrine to the Goddess. The symbol on the wall above the altar shows where a longsword once hung over a stylized gold sunburst. The empty bracket is flanked by strange runes carved into the wall, that almost hurt the eyes to look at. Dried blood and feces have been spread over the sunburst and the small kneeling bench that sits on the floor in front of the altar.
With the bodies moved into the empty room, the rest of the Garrison awaits...
As the rush of the battle subsides, things grow quiet within the Garrison again. At least for now, it seems as though there has been no alarm raised.
What really sucked was that it was entirely the software vendor's issue. After the fact they told us a bunch of things were wrong with the installer, their method etc. I still got the blame...
all, I need to apologize for not posting for the last while, and this bit of full disclosure will hopefully give you a feeling of where I'm at. About 4 months ago, we had an update of a critical software, that was my project, go horribly bad, and it got me put on a performance review. 90% of the time this leads to the termination of the person on it. So for the last 4 months, I've been working with my nose to the grindstone, most of the time putting in 50+ hour workweeks, which left me not doing much of anything else. Fortunately, that 4 months is up, and I find myself in the 10% that kept their job. You should see an uptick in my regularity at this point now that that pressure and stress is eliminated. The review had been lessened and put back in place a few times (more because of HR issues than my performance), which is why I'd given optimistic posts here about things lightening up, but then fell back to being irregular. The actual sign off on that PR came yesterday, with my manager actually letting me shred a paper copy of it ;). Thanks again for the patience, I know it's been a bit of a struggle for you all as well. Pat
Lavinia's arrow flies true striking the tiefling in the throat, moments before Heinrich's spear plunges through its chest. The creature looks down in dumbfounded silence as the spear stops the beating of its heart. Its eyes roll back in its head and it slides lifelessly off of the spear. Bollwerk brings his blade down in a heavy strike that slices through armor, flesh, and bone, nearly decapitating the tiefling facing him. The tiefling drops clutching desperately at its neck trying to stem the flow of blood. The efforts are in vain, and it joins its companions in death. **********Victory!************
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