vs. sickened
vs. fever
Hero Point:
vs. paralyzed
(Eh, I'll save the Hero Point. How long does it take to recover?)
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Squall urges, "Djala! Flank it!" as he rushes past her. He continues around one side of the stack of gears to close with and attack the undead thing hiding there. ◆ Stride ◆ Twin Takedown (if hits with both, add damage before applying resistance/weakness):
◆ Strike: ;
With Azarim (still in hammer form) in one hand and his cold iron sword in the other, Squall sprints forward to help defend Marguerite. ◆ Stride
Seeing his companions preparing to attack the festrogs at range, Squall switches weapons to his bow. When the attack begins: ◆ Strike vs. Red: ; (deadly d10, range 60 ft., reload 0) ◆ Strike vs. Red: ; ◆ Interact to swap weapon back to Azarim
"Sounds like we need to try to pin them down in that alcove before they can get out to spring any traps on us?" Squall whispers to his companions. He draws his other sword, quietly moves up next to Djala, and studies one of the creatures.
Squall fails to stifle some curses in Tengu when the swills start spitting hot oil at him, but recovers his composure quickly when they prove to be lousy shots. Once they're dispatched, he tells Tik what Azarim shared about harvesting useful substances from the remains, but it's clear that he finds the creatures far too revolting to help with that process. Instead, he volunteers to go down first once again, and quickly swims to the dry tunnel to keep watch as the others come down one by one. He does his best to keep his complaints about being filthy to himself, but his body language speaks volumes as he tries to shake and wipe gunk off of his feathers and gear.
::That's disgusting,:: Squall replies to Azarim's "interesting fact." The tengu silently motions to those above to pull him up, then pulls out his bow and an arrow, and continues to study the squirming swills. When he's about halfway up, he signals his companions to stop, then shoots an arrow at Green to see how the undead will react.
;
Squall signals to Djala to stop lowering him just before he reaches the water, and replies quietly to Drake, "Water of unknown depth, with three things I can't see clearly moving in it. And weird eyeballs all over the walls."
Squall keeps watch while Drake and Tik work on rigging an elevator. Once they're nearly finished, the tengu quietly suggests, "I think either Djala or I should go down first, just in case something down there notices and we need to cover someone's descent." He peers dubiously at the hole below them. "At least I don't need a free hand to fight, if it comes to that," he adds, tapping his sharp beak. Perception:
Squall emits a long, low whistle when he's finally able to look at the full extent of the carnage instead of just focusing on mowing down the undead closest to him. The tengu cleans his weapons carefully, sheathing his cold iron blade when he's finished, but politely keeps Azarim drawn as the group discusses their plans. Judging the direction the escaped undead must have headed, he says, "Looks like they're going to the same place we intend to. I agree with Tik, we can hunt them down tomorrow." When Azarim changes into a pick, Squall nods. "Yes, let's make this place presentable again, before anyone else from town has to see the horrors. And it never hurts to curry a little favor with the Lady of Graves, does it?" After the gruesome task is finally complete, Squall declares that he is eager to make a prayer or two to Cayden Cailean, then sleep as long as his aching body will allow him to.
Squall studies the new horde before taking a couple swings at its zombies. Not wanting to be surrounded anymore then Azarim wants him to be, the tengu retreats just past Djala. "Are we having fun yet?" he calls to her in a somewhat fey tone. ◆ Hunt Prey on Green horde ◆ Twin Takedown (if both hit, add damage together before applying resistance/weakness):
◆ Stride
◆ Twin Takedown (if both hit, add damage together before applying resistance/weakness):
◆ Strike: ; ◆ Strike: ;
As Squall settles into an effective rhythm with his scything blades, he begins vocalizing a strange avian song that is...surprisingly catchy, despite lacking any of their acquaintance Galesong's training or magic whatsoever.
I've been watching The Last of Us (recently finished S1 and started S2), and I gotta say, I am so, SO glad that the ones in this encounter are not nearly as fast or deadly as the ones in that series!
Squall continues to methodically slice apart undead. ◆ Twin Takedown (if both hit, add damage together before applying resistance/weakness):
◆ Strike: ; ◆ Strike: ;
Squall saves his breath to focus his full attention on butchering abominations. ◆ Twin Takedown (if both hit, add damage before applying resistance/weakness)
◆ Strike: ; ◆ Strike: ;
Squall studies the emerging undead, and recalls what Azarim said earlier about the best way to attack the first zombie horde. He wills the sentient weapon to become a shortsword, and swaps his mace for his cold iron sword. ◆ Hunt Prey on red troop
"Better you and me than anyone else here," Squall replies to Djala. They heft Azarim with some obvious satisfaction. "But eliminating threats faster certainly helps reduce our pain."
success vs. 1
Squall takes a quick swing with Azarim at the festrog attacking Djalamora, then shifts his full attention to the one that charged him. ◆ Strike vs. Green: ; ◆ Hunt Prey vs. Orange ◆ Twin Takedown vs. Orange:
"Let's avoid that then, shall we?" Squall replies to Azarim, willing the sword to become a light mace instead. They quick draw another mace and swing it in one fluid motion, then attack again with both weapons at once. ◆ Shift Weapon ◆ Quick Draw to draw light mace and Strike (mace gains Azarim's fundamental runes due to doubling rings):
◆ Twin Takedown (if both Strikes hit, add damage before applying resistance/weakness):
Squall watches the undead clawing its way out of the ground for just a moment, then murmurs, "You said something about slashing weapons?" He then starts climbing the fence, because he can do significantly more damage up close. ◆ Hunt Prey on Red
Squall cleans the gruesome remains from his blades, then sheathes the shortsword he drew to help dispatch the last few zombies. "I want to check out the perimeter first, see if anything sees off outside the fence. They seemed to be trying to break out on the north side. I'm curious why." The tengu suits his actions to his words, and carefully scouts along the fence to the north of the graveyard. He keeps Azarim in hand, in case of any more dangers, and to allow the sword to offer any insights she may have along the way.
"There were twice as many when we started," Squall tells Azarim, as he studies the horde more closely. The tengu fires one more arrow, curses under his breath, then switches from their bow for the talkative rapier. ◆ Hunt Prey on the zombie horde
Squall moves as the team spreads out, then methodically shots more arrows at the approaching horde. ◆ Stride
Squawk sheathes Azarim with a mental apology, and pulls out his seldom-used (but newly enchanted) shortbow as the group works their way around the perimeter. Once the zombies notice them, the tengu begins firing arrows into the horde. ◆ Strike: ; (deadly d10, range 60 ft., reload 0)
Squall tells Azarim, It won't help much, they're seventy, eighty feet away, but he complies, raising the sword higher. To the group, he says, "I agree with Drake and Djala. Let's keep that fence between us as long as possible, and whittle them down with our slings, arrows, bombs, and spells."
Squall looks concerned by Verrin's news, but lets the others handle trying to calm down the gravedigger enough to tell his story. The tengu knows little about undead, but he has found his recent encounters with them unnerving, to say the least. After a moment of weighing the pros and cons of getting involved, Squall nods to himself, and says. "If there are undead that close to town, that's an even more urgent threat than Merlokrep. And we're probably the people best equipped to check it out."
Squall agrees wholeheartedly with Azarim about being back in the sun and open air. He spends part of the journey back to town telling Azarim about what he and his companions have accomplished since first setting out together from Falcon's Hollow.
The cash reward for rescuing Colbrin adds another 6 gp per PC, for 58 gp total (unless we sell even more stuff). That, minus 50 gp for doubling rings and 3.5 gp to move the +1 rune from his cold iron sword to his bow, leaves Squall with 4.9 gp left over. If either of the +1's remains unclaimed, he'll take that instead and keep his cold iron sword enchanted. If that 4.9 would make the difference for anything another PC wants to buy, he's happy to donate it. (He will be wielding the literally priceless intelligent weapon, after all.)
Squall seems the logical choice to wield Azarim, being the one of our two front-liners who uses one-handed weapons. That would give him a striking weapon, so claiming the other striking rune is less critical, especially if he acquires doubling rings back in town. Once he has the rings, he may move the +1 from his cold iron shortsword to his bow. (IIRC, it costs 10% of a rune's price to transfer it to a new weapon?) Do we want to sell the onyx dog, or give it to Galesong to play with? (While a tracking dog could be helpful to Squall, commanding a minion would take away actions from his usual combat routine. And it's pretty squishy--only 8 HP.)
Squall readily admits that he is not a particularly religious person, but working with Djalamora has given him a deeper appreciation for those who are. And he does feel very strongly about ridding this place of the corrupting influence of Droskar's cult. The tengu sets about methodically destroying the soul chain with Azarim's help, and seems eager to keep working with the rapier when she reverts to her preferred shape afterward.
Squall's page has been updated to 4th level (except for any treasure still to be divided up). His new feats are Disrupt Prey and Quick Jump.
"I gladly and emphatically renounce Droskar!" Squall says readily. "How do we destroy the soul chain? Is physical force enough, or do we need to do meet some special condition to break it? And can the trapped souls be released safely, so that they can finally move on to the Boneyard?"
((Thought of one other thing Squall would try.)) Squall picks up the magic sword, and after making some avian noises of surprise and annoyance, puts it down again. He informs the others about what the voice shouted in his head, and then steels himself to pick it up once more. "I'm not one of Droskar's spiritual slaves," he insists when the voice starts berating him again. "We ran into one of those, and we slew him, at great risk to ourselves. We should work together to clear this place of its corruption. How can we prove to you that we're not your enemies?"
I'd appreciate the other striking rune for Squall's main sword, if that's OK with the group. And possibly one of the +1 potency runes for a second weapon, since he usually fights with two weapons. (Ideally, he'd love to get doubling rings at some point, as that's the most cost-effective solution for a two-weapon fighter, but that's 50 gp that he doesn't have right now.) I will try to get his page updated tonight. I had no free time to speak of yesterday.
Squall agrees that returning Colbrin to town so that he can recover in safety is the top priority. He wants to return as soon as possible to hunt down Merlokrep before the kobold king can cause more trouble, but is willing to put up with a brief delay if the party feels they need to make more preparations first. ((i.e, sleep, heal, refresh spells & such, and any critical shopping they can do quickly.))
Squall is uncertain whether he and his companions can prevent Jekkajak from being summarily murdered by the outraged guards, but she's begged for her life, so he does his best to interfere. He sheathes one of his blades, and rushes forward to try to pull one of the kobolds away from the throne. ◆ Interact to stow shortsword
Squall squawks as he's tripped, but quickly scrambles to his feet. Seeing his prey conscious again, he attempts to remedy that. ◆ Stand ◆ Twin Takedown vs. Blue:
◆ Hunt Prey on Green
Blue has proven to be the biggest threat within Squall's reach, so he focuses on that kobold and attempts to take it out. ◆ Hunt Prey on Blue ◆ Twin Takedown vs. Blue:
◆ Strike vs. Blue: ;
Squall sheathes his sword and starts piling rocks.
Squall keeps a sword in hand to fend off any kobolds or slurks who get too close, but rather more ineffectually than he could hope for.
Squall is aware that most of his companions are not as athletic as he and Djala are, so he searches the area to look for a safe path around the dead end.
Squall forces his way through by slicing at any kobold who gets too close.
During his an adolescent years, Squall explored many a cave while hunting and wandering in the mountains around his clan's home. He tries to call upon those experiences to navigate these tunnels.
It only takes a step or two for Squall to catch up to the kobold enough stab at it in a flurry of steel. ◆ Step ◆ Twin Takedown vs. Blue Kobold:
◆ Strike: ;
Squall whistles tauntingly when the glob of slime misses him this time, and continues his assault. ◆ Twin Takedown vs. Green:
◆ Strike: ; ◆ Strike: ;
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