Itchy Underwear, Mission the Commando, Round 7
Subject: Re: Something Wicked; Dead men siege 6
Can I change my mind?
Mission will attack the skeletons around Sa'id, starting with the skeleton closest to the mage.
From: Dan
Subject: Re: Something Wicked; Dead men siege 6
(OOC -- using my other address for the moment. Yahoo mail seemed to crash the moment I tried to send this and now refuses to load. Sorry if it actually managed to get through the first time)
Seeing the situation worsen in the common room, Cadfael will lightly touch Gully on the shoulder. "Walk forward with me, brother. I must aid my companion, should the skeletons manage to enter the common room. Hold your weapon at the ready, I fear that my actions may dispel the circle's magic. Stay to my side and use my body as your shield."
He then moves up to stand next to Farron in the mouth of the hallway. If there is not enough room he will slip past him either before or after he casts his spell (depending on when initiatives lie) and wait for the skeletons to start spilling in the room. Once he is confident that he can get them all in the radius of a turn undead he will let one fly.
From: Karl
Subject: Re: Something Wicked; Dead men siege 6
Farron surreptitiously casts Itchy-Underwear-that-Chafes on the mage-hating monk.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Something Wicked; Dead men siege 6
Mission attempts a saving throw [Save 11 vs Itchy DC 15] and fails. He develops a nasty rash.
From: Scott
Subject: Re: Something Wicked; Dead men siege 6
Hate to tell you, Karl: this spell would have aboslutely NO affect on Mission.
You figure it out.
:)
From: Karl
Subject: Re: Something Wicked; Dead men siege 6
Well My Stars!!
<---fans himself
From: Ty
Subject: Something Wicked; Dead men siege 7
Mission turns from destroying the two skeletons to see the flaming halfling rolling on the ground. He has seen the halfling cast two spells now, so he assumes it is a mage of some sort, and gritting his teeth, he moves forward to pound the stuffing out of it. Even as he does so, the four skeletons that protect the halfling begin moving toward Sa'id. Mission has a brief internal struggle as his hatred of magic, and his duty to help his companions, wage war. In the end, Mission's sense of duty is stronger than any hatred, and he moves to intercept the skeletons. At first, these creatures were actually frightening, but now that he has destroyed so many of them, he has lost most of his fear of them. He spins in front of Sa'id, and continuing to whirl, he launches to quick kicks [Attacks 16, 13] smashing two more of the undead monsters [Damage 7, 7].
Rennik is feeling quite comfortable now in his little haven from the storm. He has sufficient reach with his axe, that only a few steps in either direction put him in striking range of the window and the door. No skeleton will enter this room, he mutters under his breath. A skeleton is just beginning to climb through the window, when he thumps it with the flat of his axe [AOO Attack 22, Damage 13] exploding it into bony chunks. He then takes a step forward, bringing himself into range with a skeleton who looks like he was pushed into the room by the skeletons pouring out of Gully's quarters. He whacks it across the pelvis [Attack 29, Damage 13] and it goes down in a pile. Rennik smirks at the skeletons still in the hall, but steps back to stay in range of the broken window. He can still see one more skeleton fumbling around out there.
In the hallway, Farron's dire badger protects him as he moves to the other side of the protective circle to get a better look at the dining room. While the badger protects his retreat, two skeletons attack it, attempting to fight their way past. The first skeleton misses, but the second lands one solid blow on the badgers head [Attacks 6, 13, 8, natural 20 possible critical, threat roll 12, critical failed; Damage 3]. It is a solid sounding blow, but appears to do little real damage. The reaction, however, is astonishing. The badger seems to swell to half again his already impressive size, and launches itself at the skeletons with rabid fury [Badger enraged]. It attacks the two skeletons [Attacks 24, 19, 3] landing a powerful blow of its paws on each of them [Damage 6, 7] and instantly destroying them.
Farron hears the raging badger smashing skeletons behind him, but keeps his concentration focused on the skeletons pouring into the dining room. He mentally flips through his remaining spells, and with a shrug of his shoulders casts Hypnotic Pattern. After a few quick words, a gesture of his finger sends a small globe of light streaking toward the kitchen doorway. It explodes into a 20 foot ball of twisting and dancing lights that draw the eye with fascination. Though it is too far away from Cadfael or Garyth to affect them, they still find their eyes drawn to it. The skeletons, however, seem utterly unaffected. [undead immune to fascination affects]
Cadfael pulls his eyes away from the hypnotic pattern, and gripping his shield, loudly prays to Pelor for His light. His shield once again glows like the sun, and all around, wherever skeletons are in line of sight with Cadfael, they burn with holy flame then collapse into dust [5 skeletons in dining room, 1 in room south of Cadfael, 1 in room north of Cadfael, 2 in gully's room]. However, Farron and Cadfael's actions seem to have broken some of the protective value of the ring, and skeletons from the rooms north and south of the hallway begin moving into the circle.
Outside, Sa'id is hastily casting a mirror image incantation while a skeleton threatens him. In spite of the skeleton's approach, he is able to stay focused [Concentration 16] and finish the spell. Perhaps it is the approach of the skeleton throwing off his concentration, but this mirror image spell is not the most successful he has ever cast, and only two images appear.
The formerly flaming halfling leaps to his feet, and with a harsh sound utters a spell and points at Mission. Mission feels his muscles begin to bind up and attempts to shake off the affect [Will Save 10], but to no avail. Within the space of a second, he is held absolutely motionless. The halflings hood fell down while he rolled around putting out the fire, and as he moves out of Mission's vision, the monk can see a smirk on his face. [Mission is being held. He may attempt a will save each round to break the hold.]
The remaining skeleton facing Mission attacks him while he is defenseless. The blow is painful, though even a grimace or cry of pain is denied his frozen muscles [Coup de Grace blow, automatic critical, 10 points of damage; fort save versus DC 20 roll 21, doesn't instantly die].
The other skeleton attacks Sa'id, though now the wizard has at least the protection of the two mirrored images. [Attacks 10, 17] One of the two blows lands on an image, and the image disappears.
Garyth was surrounded by skeletons in the dining room. He had moved over to the window, to protect it as skeletons attempt to crawl through. Gritting his teeth and gripping his staff, he prepared to fight to the end defending this room, when suddenly there was a flash of light, and all of the skeletons in the dining room, including those coming in the window, were turned to ash. Hmmm, that was helpful, he thinks to himself. There is still a skeleton outside, and it is heading toward the window to climb in. Also, three skeletons from the kitchen are coming into the dining room, but none are in range of his attacks yet. He continues to grip the staff, and prepares to attack those four when they get just a little closer.
[The remaining skeletons are shown on the map. The skeletons to the north and south of cadfael's position will now be able to enter his protective circle. Mission has 1 hit point left, and the skeleton will be able to kill him next round if he fails to escape the hold spell and no one helps him.]
Cadfael can turn 11
From: Karl
Subject: Re: Something Wicked; Dead men siege 7
Farron curses as his spell fails to affect the skeletons. Well, live and learn. He won't make that mistake again. He looks back into the crowded hallway and decides to move into the common room toward the front door of the lodge. He realizes that Sa'id and Mission are outside the lodge, facing who knows what, and maybe they need his help more that the group inside. Leaving his badger to continue fighting any skeletons it can reach, he heads for the door to the lodge. If he passes within striking distance of any skeletons in the common room, he will hit them with his staff.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Something Wicked; Dead men siege 7
By the way, my cryptic "Cadfael can turn 11" at the end of this email doesn't mean that Cadfael is currently 10, and awaiting DM approval to age another year. It was actually a note to myself as I was writing up this turn, concerning how many HD of undead Cadfael could have turned that round. I failed to delete it.
Sorry :)
From: Scott
Subject: Re: Something Wicked; Dead men siege 7
(OOC: Shoulda stuck with taking out the mage. This will remind me to obey my instincts.)
Sand take all mages.
No. His last moments would not be spent in bitter thoughts. Mission listens to his heartbeat, feels the pulse of his blood through his veins. This is the secret-- the secret of the Path of Blood and Stone. His veins and arteries are the path. And his flesh is the stone.
Mission struggles to free himself from the grip of chaos and magery. If he can, he'll drink his potion of healing as soon as he gets free.
From: Raja
Subject: Re: Something Wicked; Dead men siege 7
Sa'id curses under his breath as he sees the Hold spell seize Mission. His sole memorized Dispel Magic incantation is already gone, and he is quickly running out of effective combat spells. He needs to protect Mission, but realizes that he can't get over to the monk without being attacked. Concluding that the only way to end the spell is to kill the halfling wizard, he moves closer to his adversary and spits out the words to Burning Hands as quickly as possible. (OOC: Sa'id will attempt to hit as many targets as possible with the spell while avoiding Mission, but the halfling wizard has priority, so if he can only strike one target it will be that one.)
From: Matt
Subject: Re: Something Wicked; Dead men siege 7
Ignorant of the battle raging with the halfling wizard, and confident that the situation inside the inn is under control, Rennik stands calmly at the window, readying to destroy the last skeleton attempting to enter. He will then move toward the door, destroying any skeleton trying to enter.
At that point (OOC: I imagine the badger will take care of the other skelteton in the hall) he will return to the group in the hallway, seeing no further threat in the room.
From: Mike
Subject: Re: Something Wicked; Dead men siege 7
The bright flash makes Garyth squint for a moment, but at the light fades he notes with relief the number of undead destroyed. But his relief is short-lived; three of the remaining skeletons in the room are closer to Cadfael and Gully than they are to him, yet the one in the window demands his attention. He has little choice.
As he swings at the skeleton climbing through the window, Garyth shouts back to the group in the hallway, "Get behind me!" He says a silent prayer that the skeletons entering from the kitchen will come after him, rather than his unarmed companions.
(OOC: In game terms, AOO on the one in the window, then a five foot step toward the hallway folks, and a regular attack on the first skeleton to come in range.)
From: Dan
Subject: Re: Something Wicked; Dead men siege 7
Cadfael will take a moment to try and get as many skeletons as possible in his sight and will then use another turn undead. Hopefully this takes care of most of the remaining undead in the lodge.