Samantha will feel a shot of fear go through her and takes an involuntary step back. She will draw her short sword and take a defensive stance, gritting her teeth.
Lars had left the tavern and had wandered through the mists for what felt like an eternity. When he saw the party he almost ran to them, for come what may he was glad to see faces he recognized.
He stopped short as he saw the face in the window. His greeting died in his throat as he slowly started reaching a shaky hand for his sword.
Atsushia quickly reacts to the threat, and sends a sling bullet through the glass window, striking one of the grisly humanoids. It hisses in annoyance, a long tongue flailing about jagged teeth, juxtaposing the formal black and white outfit of a butler.
The trio then starts to run forward, hunched over and almost pulling their way forward with their arms as much as their legs. The first leaps through the window, spraying glass shards on the candlelit lawn, before landing in front of Morthak. Familiar talons rake out as another closes in.
Ribbons of flesh and cloth tear away.
Morthak and the rest of the party is up...
Gripped by fear and surprise, Lars swung his blade at the ghoul which was so savagely mauling his companion.
Despite his fear, the blade still hit home. It might well have been a clean kill, but he was far too shaken for such finesse. Rather, he merely swung with what skill his training and muscle memory could provide.
Morthak gurgles and collapses with a grunt.
I put the fear rules on the campaign tab for reference. Frightened is actually worse than that, but we'll roll with it for now since you guys can use the crit. Let's go with shaken for the rest of the combat for everyone that failed at this point.
Morthak, no need for the will save :P Technically, yes for the paralysis. At least it'll give you another die roll to do while waiting :)
I moved Lars to stand over Morthak, but moved Morthak's token back a square to make it easier to see things.
Venting his anger and despair at the ghoul, Lars' blade severs it's torso from the rest of its body. The foul creature flails about violently, torso and arms spasming, intent on maliciousness right to the end.
His heart beating from fear rather than exertion, Lars looked down at Morthak and said "Are you alright?" Looking back at the darkness he thought to himself I do not want to be alone out there. Safety in numbers...
Atsushia, Sam, you guys are up...
Atsushia moves to get a clearer view of the ghouls, and unleashes another bullet from her sling.
The stones do little damage, but at least she feels helpful
Samantha swallows her fear and starts her battle song.
Atsushia unleashes a stone with halfling precision, striking with a thud. Unfortunately, the sound is barely noticeable above the slithering hisses and talon scrapes from the night predators.
Sam, falling back to the familiar to suppress her fears, starts to chant a battle ballad.
The female of the group wearing a billowing white unleashes a frenzy of attacks at Lars.
Red
While the other moves towards the isolated Atsushia, tongue slobbering over the stiff high collars.
Green
Round 2
Party Up!
Samantha, of course, lets the song's rage flow through her as she maintains her song. She runs a hand along her sword's flat, imbuing it with a little extra power as she steps over to the one on Lars and tries to drive her magical blade through it's skull.
Aiiiiiiieeeee...
screams the little woman when the fetid maw bites her and draw blood.
She seems to be still able to move, fortunatly
"Uuuuhhhhh..."
Morthak manages to let out a low moan.
Feeling respite from her fear, Sam pierces the skull of the female servant attacking Lars, a dark ichor spraying on her ethereal white dress before she slumps to the ground. Despite this, Lars' body is overwhelmed by a freezing pins and needle sensation that courses from the claw wound, preventing him from moving.
Freezing up, Lars fell to the ground. Horror filled him as he fell. I have a mouth, but I cannot scream.
Atsushia moves near Sam, needing protection
and switches to her small dagger
If we are to die right here and now, it was a pleasure to meet you, Samantha
As Lars sunk to his knees, and as his body seized up, he could hear Samantha’s words. As he focused on them, warmth came back to his body, and right before he hit the ground he caught himself. Still shaking, he gripped his blade and staggered towards their foe.
Inspired by her song, his blade swung true...
Through force of will or fear of death, Lars regains control and cleaves the last servant-thing down in desperation.
Combat Over
Panting more in fear than exertion, Lars stared at the bloody bodies. He had brawled with drunks. He had kicked in doors of drug dens. He had even once helped chase down a murderer. But this? Nothing in his life had prepared him for this.
”What...what are those things? And what do we do?” the usual confidence was gone from his voice, replaced with dread.
"Ghouls." Sam replies. "I think. Well dressed ones."
She takes a breath to center herself. "Let me heal Morthak if I can. I think he's still breathing. Search their pockets for keys."
She will kneel and attemp to heal him.
"Wake up, friend. We aren't done yet." she says.
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Though Morthak is no longer bleeding, he does not respond.
"He's alive, but I need to use the last of my magic." she says.
"I think we need to find a place and rest." she says. "I have no more magic left to heal him and Morthak's going to be unconscious for a while."
Lars nods. "That is a good idea." He tried to keep the relief from his voice as he said it. Quickly, he picked up the halfling. "I got him. Let's get out of here."
Who would use ghouls as trained household staff? Unless they were servant and became ghouls later? Neither option is reassuring...We should rest in a safe place and heal Morthak
but is there a safe place here?
"Back to the tavern then? I think as long as we keep quiet about where we were and who we were with, we should be all right, at least until we've rested up." Samantha offers. "If we have any coin left, we can probably bribe the staff to remain quiet about our presence."
Atsushia opens the door to the inn as Sam and Lars carry the injured halfling inside. A few patrons turn towards the door after a few seconds.
"Atansyon! Ou byen? What happened to you guys? asks one of the barmaids as freezes mid-floor, holding several platters and seeing the heavily weathered group.
Samantha will walk up to her and press fifteen gold pieces into her hand before speaking.
"Got caught out after dark." she says tiredly. "If anyone asks, no matter who, we aren't here. Okay?"
Samantha givea her a tired but hopeful smile.
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Lars, still holding his comrade, kicks the door shut behind them. He looks at it with worry on his face, before carrying Morthak to their room.
Let's hope he doesn't becomes a ghoul himself.. You have to be killed to become a ghoul, isn't that true, Sam? I never wanted to study necromancy and undead, while I trained to become a mage, but now I kind of regret it, I should have learned the basic facts and how to fight and distroy thèses unholy creatures.. I feel so useless!
Atsushia seems on the verge of panic, and shakes with fear
"If he is infected by ghoul fever, he could die and become one. If he's just paralyzed, then we got off lucky." Samantha says, trying to reassure Atsushia. "Either way, he's not going to turn into one right away and we'll have time to heal him."
Taking Morthak up to their rooms, Samantha sits next to Morthak's form and examines him.
"He seems to have just been hurt. My magic is limited, so I'll have to heal him the rest of the way tomorrow." she assures Atsushia.
After an hour of rest, Morthak blearily regains consciousness.
"Ahhh... Those damn claws! Twice they got the drop on me now! Arg, I feel sore all over."
"So... what happened?"
"We all died." Samantha says sarcastically. "And now we hunger for living flesh... no, that's not right."
She smiles. "We all lived." she corrects herself. "And now we hide in the inn and rest so we can heal up."
Seeing the grim demeanor of the party, the patrons give a wide berth as the group moves upstairs.
As the group tends to Morthak and discuss the events, a putrid smell begins to rapidly overtake the area, as if someone opened a container of dead flesh after letting in bake in the scalding summer sun for days.
Everyone please make a fort save.
"Agghhh... what is that ghastly smell?"
Lars was sitting next to their window, staring into the night with his sword on his lap when the smell hit. ”Gods above and below! What is that?” He got to his feet and looked around to find the source of it.
This... stink! What is this? Even if I'm not sure I want to know...
Weakened from his wounds, Morthak falls to the ground, clutching at his throat as he falls into a rage of uncontrollable coughs. His arms spasm as if directed by some unseen current running through them.
A cacophony of wood dragging on the floor, coughs, and thuds resonates through the walls.
Samantha leaps to her feet, drawing her short sword and shield. "We were followed! They're even attacking innocents."
Lars surged to his feet, sword in hand. He looked at their comrade with concern, and then to the door. Every fiber of his being screamed at him to run, but his pride would not let him do so, or to give voice to his fear. Instead, he stood there, as paralyzed by fear as he was by the claws of the ghouls, waiting for someone to tell him what to do...
"Quick! Let's head back into the swamp for some random encounters until we level up!"