Horror Game IC (*dun* *dun* *dunnnnnnnn*)

[Lord of Syntax]

You are all inside of a very large wooden building, large enough to fit hundreds, filled with at least 150 kuma.
This is the Feast of New Life.
Everyone but Rundas and Nar-Guldar are inside having fun in the crowd, while Rundas and Nar-Guldar are chained up in anti-magic cages to the side, enjoying the very good food and drink available at the Feast.

[cvbnmme4th]

I try to find some food and then find an area of the room to sit down in.

[Voice of Reason]

Magora wanders the room, making light conversation where she can without contributing too much herself. She seems to have the Kuma, and the other guests, completely fooled about her. Since having adapted the guise a blond human woman, Magora has not yet been discovered for her true, changeling identity; at least, nobody has said anything yet.

The food, as promised, is delicious and varied. Magora has been helping herself to one helping after another. She drinks only in moderation though. Although confident that no danger will come of her here, Magora knows that one must always be at least a little prepared for the worst. The presence of the anti-magic cages and their occupants do not help the case any. They're there, presumable, to protect the Kuma from their guests, but they are expected to take it on faith that they will not need to protect themselves from the Kuma. It's a ridiculous possibility, of course, which is why it deserved notice.

Magora wonders idly when the feast will draw to a close, if there's anything more exciting planned for later, and how many more helpings of the succulent dishes she can put down without being obvious about it.

Not sure if you want to roll this secretly or if I should, but here it is if needed.

Disguise: [roll0]

A true seeing effect will negate the +10 bonus from the changeling disguise self ability

[cvbnmme4th]

After sitting down I start to look around the room trying to take in everything about the crowd and layout of the area. As I look around I also try to work out what each person is thinking exercising my mind to notice tiny details and analyze them. I slowly eat my food savouring the flavour. After I have looked around the room I get up and start socializing with the Kuma.

1d20

[Keld Denar]

Keld

Keld wanders the feast, sampling small bits of food and glowering at everyone, trying to size up suitable adventurers for righteous buttkickery.


[roll0] to see through disguises, and [roll1] automatic save vs disbelief against any illusion I see. This bypasses the standard "must interact with" rule for illusions, as granted by my Inquisitor PrC.

[Tyrael]

A hulking figure lies despondently on the floor of his cell. Covered from head to toe in dark blue plate armor, the enormous warrior stands around a full 7 feet tall, towering above most others in the room. He wears a full helmet surmounted by stylized blades that could either be horns or bat wings, but neither option is anything friendly. A voluminous brown cloak covers the entire right side of his body, and orange eyes glow out of his helmet's visor.

The figure sits up, slowly coming to its senses as it shakes its head, apparently wincing at the bright lights and noise of the festival, though behind the expressionless helmet it's hard to tell. Other than scooting over to the corner of his cell, he makes no other motions and simply stares around, trying to gather information about the new place he's in.

[Lord of Syntax]

There is complete darkness.
All of the kuma are dead.
In the corner, you see a little human girl crying.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"Another child. What does this mean?" The ex-sergeant mutters possibilities under his breath and grabs his sword hilt, expelling from it a brilliant green blade that seems to writhe with anguished shadows.

[Lord of Syntax]

I am not a child.
And you will die.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"Uh-huh. And that is where you are wrong. The dead are never silenced, only vengeful. Come to me, shadows!"

Sergeant Brand Channels the shadow energy into the deceased Kuma, raising 2 or them as zombies and one as a skeleton under his control. They will last for 13 minutes.

[Tyrael]

Since there was absolutely no transition or explanation or anything, I'm going to assume it's a hallucination or something.

The hulking blue-armored figure remains sitting in the corner of his cell as he slumps, letting his head sink onto his chest as he closes his eyes, trying to block the visions out.

[Keld Denar]

Keld

Seeing undead rise, Keld bursts into action.

BY THE LIGHT OF PHOLTUS, I BANISH YOU BACK TO HELL!

[roll0]
[roll1] so, 25 HD worth of undead of 21 HD or less are dusted, closest to furthest.


Shouldn't there be some kind of initiative?

[Lord of Syntax]

Ha ha, you think the gods can help you now

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Turns to Keld, looking annoyed. "Godsdammit! Why is that everybody's first reaction? Jeez, I'm using those over here. Y'know, as a line of defense? Sheesh." (One undead Kuma has been dusted, leaving two left.)

Then Brand turns back to the girl, and glares at her through his mismatched eyes. "And who are you to judge the realms of the gods?" *Activate See the Unseen Invocation*

[Lord of Syntax]

Nothing is different

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"Well? Who are you? A fiend? A demigod? SPEAK UP!"

[Tyrael]

Rundas

The Azure Knight in the cage shakes his head from side to side. Somehow, the longer it goes on, the less likely it becomes that he's seeing a vision. That leaves the next possibility as it being a figment of imagination from the demonic presence inside him...

Rundas shakes his head again with a piteous moan, then rests his head against his knees as he battles his own treacherous thoughts, oblivious to all else outside.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Without lifting his eyes from the sinister girl, Sergeant Brand attempys to dash the locks of the cages with his magic sword. [roll0] Sunder (half damage to objects for 13)

"Your hosts are dead. Anybody left alive who is deemed a threat is going to want to make themselves very useful right now. :In Sergeant Voice: GOT THAT?"

[Tyrael]

The armored knight's head jerks up, and a pair of glowing red eyes seem to burn into Brands soul. He hods the gaze for a long, silent moment as something huge beneath his cloak shifts restlessly.

[roll0]

Suddenly he spasms slightly, scuttling as deep into his cage as he can get as the heavy chains clank against his greaves. "N-no! Stay back!" The man pleads in a surprisingly youthful shrill of fear, clutching at his enormous cloak with his armored left arm. "Don't let me--him--don't let it out! I...I don't want to hurt anybody!"

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Stabs the lock again. [roll0] (divided by 2 for 16)

:Still in Sergeant Voice: "Don't try your soul delving eye garbage with me, pally, or you'll be a-scrubbin tables 'till the cows come home. Which they won't!"

He then addresses the creepy girl again. "And you're under arrest, li'l missy. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say now can and will be used against you in halfling court!"


OOC: Bit too late, I think... Never mind, as long as you make a charge attack. Or can't fly.

[Tyrael]

OOC: Nah, no worries, he made his will save. It was a low DC, mostly just to decide which way to RP him for the moment.

Also, I'm suddenly envisioning your guy as a highway patrol officer with the wide hat and the aviator sunglasses. :smallbiggrin: What does he look like, anyway?


Rundas

The blue knight huddles in the corner of his cell, then lifts his head towards Brand hopefully. "I...s-sir?" he stammers, clearly looking at Brand as some kind of authority figure. "Are...are you in charge here? D-do you know what's going on? Can you help me?"

[Lord of Syntax]

You see a flash of indigo and violet and when you look at the girl she is gone.

[Keld Denar]

Keld

Dismiss those undead, or I'll dismiss them for you.


Battlemagic Perception and Ring of Greater Counterspells allow me to spellcraft any spell or spell-like ability cast around me out to 100'.
[roll0]

[Lord of Syntax]

You identify Invisibility Sphere.

[Roc Ness]

OOC: @Lord of Syntax: In that case she (or something) hasn't yet disappeared for me.
OOC: @Tyrael: He's wearing a khaki uniform with one of those officer caps, minus anything distinctive like a badge. He's stout and gruff, although still slightly taller than average by halfling standards. If halflings were an offshoot of dwarves or vice versa, then he's the evolutionary missing link. He glides rather than walks, and his eyes are different colours. He wears no sunglasses. Also, he distorts shadows. Shadows try to escape in the same way light tries to escape a black hole. I.e., they fail to escape.

Sergeant Brand
Addresses Keld. "I cannot dismiss the undead unless you wish me to make them commit suicide, a truly heinous act, or if you wish me to dismiss them from my control. However, their unlife will expire by itself in twelve and a half minutes. Be patient, I expect you'll need your dismissive resources very soon for a greater nuisance than a few harmless dead teddy bears."

He then turns back to caged figure. "I'm not in charge of things here, no, I don't know what's going on, no, I don't know how to help you, no, you haven't told me what your problem is apart from being stuck in a cage while stuff is going on and as you can see I am solving that problem already, but I bloody will make sure the situation's not going to escape my control."
If the lock isn't broken yet: [roll0] (divided by 2 for 15)
If it is: Brand kicks open the cage door. "Out. Now. Your not going to want to stay in there."

[Lord of Syntax]

@Roc Ness: The girl is surrounded in a indigo sphere.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"You, girl. Dismiss whatever magic you're practising. NOW!"

[Lord of Syntax]

I think I will not.

[Keld Denar]

Keld

As an Immediate reaction to the invisibility, Keld activates his Ring of Greater Counterspells (along with his Dispelling Chord).

Taking 10 on the CL check (thanks to Arcane Mastery), Keld counters the spell with a check of 36. That means if her caster level is 25 or less, her spell is counterspelled.

Can we get an initiative order or something so we know when its our turn?

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"Really. I've faced difficult folk you, there are ways of dealing with the likes of you."

The two undead Kuma left will initiate a charging grapple attack.
[roll0] Grapple (Kuma Zombie)
[roll1] Grapple (If the skeleton was destroyed, this is the second zombie)
[roll2] Grapple (If a zombie was destroyed, this is the skeleton)

[Tyrael]

Rundas

The blue knight ducks his head, cringing back at the halfling's tirade. If the circumstances were more lighthearted, the sight would have been humorous: A seven-foot-tall armored hulk cringing away from a short little man who barely comes up to his thigh. "Y-yessir," he mumbles.

Rundas shakes his head again and holds his left hand up to his helmet with a faint groan. After a few moments, he lowers his hand and looks up at Brand with a nod. Rising to his feet, he takes a step forward only to find the chains around his legs still holding fast. The man pulls at them for a moment, then shakes his head in exasperation. Looking around outside the cage, he sees an enormous seven-foot sword leaning against the wall nearby. "Uh, sir? That's my sword over there. It's pretty heavy, but maybe you could...drag it over here...?"

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Without taking his eyes off the undead and the girl, Brand drags the sword over to the wierd big blue guy.

[Lord of Syntax]

@Roc she can not be touched by any object.
You can see a multicolored orb.

[Lord of Syntax]

Counterspelling itself is a spell right? If so, then she is immune.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Watches his undead fail to get close to the girl. "A really tough one, huh? Hiding behind magic or mystic I see. I probably won't be able to find a way to get to you through whatever wierd abjuration your using, but these fellows won't get tired, y'know. Don't forget, your resisting arrest here. That's another two years in the slammer and a fine of everything you have, 'cording to halfling law." With that, the undead will start to pound at whatever the barrier is.

Brand addresses Keld. "Dismissal man! Can you see anything to dismiss?"

[Lord of Syntax]

Oh and those undead get hit by a disintegration.

[Tyrael]

Rundas

The hulking figure nods in gratitude and grasps the hilt with his left hand. With barely a grunt, he hefts it over his head and sends it crashing downwards.

[roll0]
[roll1]
+18, cut in half for attacking an object. Total: 23

Chink! The chains snap like pieces of thread, and Rundas nods in satisfaction. He stares at the blade for a moment, then shrugs and walks out of the cage to stand next to Brand, still casually gripping the enormous blade in his left hand. "What now, sir?" Rundas asks.

[Lord of Syntax]

Zombie 1: [roll0]
Zombie 2: [roll1]
Skeleton: [roll2]

[Narmoth]

"Precious... really precious..." the man in the other cage smiles with his mouth only he then continues whispering words of corruption in the DARK SPEECH reducing the hardness of the cage into half

"Little girl, come here, and I'll show you a little something..." he continues mockingly

[Lord of Syntax]

She casts a spell at Rundas. No save, lose 1/2 of your HP.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"Thank you for demonstrating some of your abilities, girl. We are now officially faced with a Class 5 threat: Deranged, high-powered spellcaster."

[cvbnmme4th]

Calmy I sayI have analyzed the situation and I may have a solution. I cast Fission.

[Narmoth]

Initiative for Nar-Guldur:
[roll0]

[Lord of Syntax]

Oh, you are a spellcasting goon that they bought and payed for?

[Lord of Syntax]

{table]
M|Magora
K|Keld Denar
N|Nar-Guldur
S|Kuma Skeleton
Z|Kuma Zombie
G|Girl
R|Rundas Alkar
B|Sergeant Brand
T|Kelmo Windbeard
C|Fissioned clone of Kelmo
Map|{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1|
2||M
3|
4|||K|||N
5|||S
6||Z||G||R
7||Z
8||||B
9|T|C
10|
[/table]
Init|{table]Girl|27

Kelmo|12
[/table]


Sup dawg, I heard you like tables...

[cvbnmme4th]

[roll0]
On my iniative my clone casts grease, psionic on the floor next to the girl and then I use telekinetic thrust to pull and object from behind her towards her sharply knocking her off her feet onto the greased floor. I am no mercenary I sell my spellcasting services to no one. What drives my actions is knowing the difference between your kind and my own, demon.

[Lord of Syntax]

If you hit her with anything it gets disintegrated and she is immune to targeted spells (and powers due to Psi-Magic Transparency).

[Narmoth]

Seeing that she completely ignores him, Nar-Guldur tries to break the hinges of the lock of the now severely weakened cage
[roll0]

[Lord of Syntax]

The cage is broken

[cvbnmme4th]

OOC: But surely grease still affects her as it is targetted on the ground.
My powers have no effect on her... May I suggest a plan other than attack? I cast Overland Flight I also stop fission.

[Lord of Syntax]

OOC: Yes it does.

[Narmoth]

The man like figure exits. In the brighter light you can see that it once was an elf, but the ears have been cut off him. His one eye fixes it's penetrating gaze on the girl:
"Are you looking for a cuddly teddy bear? Weren't these ones cuddly enough?" he smiles a predatory smile
"Is that why you killed them?" he continiues his questioning, emotionless except for the predatory smile
diplomacy: [roll0]
intimidate: [roll1]

[Tyrael]

Rundas
A piercing scream of agony and rage erupts from the azure knight as black blood seems to explode out of his body, leaking out between the plates of his armor and pooling on the floor. He drops to one knee, shaking.

[roll0]

Something huge bulges and writhes beneath the cloak on his right side, and as his legs shake with sudden shock, he slowly manages to regain his footing. Dragging his enormous sword heavily, Rundas leaves a virtual river of blood on the floor as he limps away from the girl, heading for the door.

OOC: Using a full-round action to Withdraw and leave the battle. If she Disintegrates anything she touches, I'm not about to go try hitting her with the most expensive item in my inventory. You guys have fun, melee clearly can't touch her so I'm out of here.

[cvbnmme4th]

With overland fligh on i fly upwards to the top of the room and cast Missive, Mass. We need a plan. If we can knock her onto the grease she will have trouble getting up it may give us time to try someing.

[Keld Denar]

Keld

[roll0] to identify the magic effect blocking her. Pretty much an autosucess.

Keld casts Dispel Magic at the girl, then activates his Circlet of Rapid Casting for 2 charges to cast Daylight on her.

She's vulnerable, kill her.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"Whatever you are, you are not defenseless, and you are not innocent. You are exempt from Act 326 of the Innocence Treaty. You will face full charges for: Misuse of Magic, Deliberate use of Magic to cause Harm, Murder, Attempted Murder, Conspiracy to Murder, Practising Magic without a Liscense and finally Improper Disposal of Dead Bodies! You now face a violent arrest, of which the minimum sentence penalty is Life in Prison and 409 years of unlife in prison!"

Sergeant Brand will brush the barrier with his left hand. He will try to get a feel of the barrier. Is it rough? Is it smooth? Can Sergeant Brand's hand get through? Is it simply a strong repulsive force?

[Lord of Syntax]

You see she is no longer glowing.
@Keld you know that it was the Warding ability of the Initiate of the 7 Fold Veil class.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"You are not defenseless, you are not innocent. You are also exempt from Act 124B of the Innocence Treaty. For resisting arrest, you will be taken by force, DEAD OR ALIVE!"

[roll0] Initiative

Brand Enters the Assassin's Stance (Swift Action). Then, Brand uses the Shadow Stride Maneuver (Move Action), teleporting into the square directly behind the girl (the direction where she is facing).

Then Brand will attack the girl. (Standard Action)
[roll1] (Touch Attack)
[roll2] Damage, if any (untyped)
[roll3] Sneak Attack, if the girl is caught flat-footed and is vulnerable.

[Lord of Syntax]

As a Immediate action she raises the violet veil, knocking you away and casting Disintegrate on you.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
[roll0] Damage (I'm assuming this because that's what the zombies took)
[roll1] Fort Save

"That's assaulting an officer! Another 16 years unlife in prison!"

[Lord of Syntax]

You fail the save, feeling like you are being ripped from reality.
Actually, it is 28d6

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Decides he is really getting too old for this. He uses the Cloak of Deception Maneuver to turn greater invisible (Swift Action) for the rest of the round, then he takes a random 5-foot step in any direction and spends a full round action to recover his maneuvers.

[Lord of Syntax]

The DMG is would be [roll0], but you did save.

[Lord of Syntax]

[roll0] is what you do take.

[Roc Ness]

OOC: Oh.
So, uh... 19, eh? Do I go again? 'Cos I got a good feeling that I know what to do now.

[Lord of Syntax]

Yeah. this is a puzzle encounter that casts at you.

[Roc Ness]

Good

Sergeant Brand
Waits patiently for whatever hit him to be dismissed. As soon as it is dismissed, Sergeant Brand enters the Dancing Blade Form stance (Swift Action), then he uses Shadow Stride to teleport 10 foot directly above the girl, staying there thanks to his Fell Flight invocation (always active).

He then reaches down to attack to girl. (He gets 10-foot reach from the Dancing Blade form stance.)
[roll0] Attack
[roll1] Damage, if any.

[Keld Denar]

Keld

Isn't that pretty...DISPEL MAGIC!

[Lord of Syntax]

The orb disappears.

You attack hits, but she is nowhere near down.

[Lord of Syntax]

M|Magora
K|Keld Denar
N|Nar-Guldur
S|Kuma Skeleton
Z|Kuma Zombie
G|Girl
R|Rundas Alkar
B|Sergeant Brand
T|Kelmo Windbeard


Map|{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1|
2||M
3|
4|||K|||N
5|||
6||||G||
7||
8||||B
9|T
10|||||||R
[/table]

A "^" means that he is in the air.


Rolling initiative is recommended.

[Roc Ness]

There appears to be two Brands on the map. XD

OOC: Also, it appears I've forgotten the +2 Collision enchantments on my sword...

Sergeant Brand
Furiously slashes at the girl through the with his sword. His blade flares with anger. (Still in Dancing Blade Form Stance. Activate Burning Blade Maneuver, for extra fire damage (Swift Action))

Full Attack:
[roll0] Attack
[roll1] Damage, if any
[roll2] Extra Fire Damage
[roll3] Attack
[roll4] Damage, if any
[roll5] Extra Fire Damage
[roll6] Attack
[roll7] Damage, if any
[roll8] Extra Fire Damage

[Lord of Syntax]

She is dead *hurk*

[Roc Ness]

What does *hurk* mean? :smallconfused:
Sergeant Brand
"You better not be playing dead!"
Just to be certain the creepy girl is dead, Sergeant Brand will raise the girl as a zombie. If it doesn't work, then something is up and Brand will have no choice but to execute the girl. If it does work then Brand will simply kill the zombie.

[Lord of Syntax]

It does not work.

[Roc Ness]

OOC: I assume you mean the bit where Brand attempts to raise her as an undead.

Sergeant Brand
"A pardon to any innocent soul trapped inside."

Coup de Grace.
[roll0]

[Lord of Syntax]

That has no effect, because she is dead.

[Roc Ness]

Just making sure... you can never be too careful in a horror game.

Sergeant Brand
"Now, who here knows anything about planes? Or simply knows something about where the heck we are. Incidently, is there any form of food left? If there isn't, who here has the ability to summon provisions?"

[Keld Denar]

Keld

We're not on the prime?
[roll0]

[Tyrael]

OOC: You never updated my position on the grid from last turn. Now at the ned of this turn, I should be 80ft away from where the girl was.

Rundas

The hulking knight continues to drag his battered, bleeding body out the door, not noticing the turmoil behind him as he attempts to withdraw to safety.

[Lord of Syntax]

2 fun facts:
1: Contingent spells do not get dispelled. (Unsure on RAW, but by RAMT (Rules At My Table) they don't)
2: You pay the material component cost before hand.

The little girl stands up, a twisted mockery of her original form, teetering a little as she walks around again.
Now, where were we?

M|Magora
K|Keld Denar
N|Nar-Guldur
S|Kuma Skeleton
Z|Kuma Zombie
G|Girl
R|Rundas Alkar
B|Sergeant Brand
T|Kelmo Windbeard


Map|{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1|
2||M
3|
4|||K|||N
5|||
6||||G||
7||
8||||B
9|T
10|||||||R
[/table]

A "^" means that he is in the air.


Rolling initiative is recommended.

[Keld Denar]

Keld

[roll0]

[Voice of Reason]

Sorry I've been out for so long. Scheduling issues and such. Anyways, Magora will be adopting the divine and arcane focuses for the day, applying the +4 bonuses to Wisdom and Intelligence. I'm updating her character sheet with a list of prepared spells. Existing buffs are:

Primal Hunter (24 hours)
Primal Instinct (24 hours)
Primal Senses (24 hours)
Primal Speed (24 hours)
Heart of Water (18 hours)
Heart of Earth (18 hours)
Mighty Wallop, Greater (on quarterstaff) (18 hours)
Magic Weapon, Greater (on quarterstaff) (18 hours)
Divine Insight (18 hours)

As an aside, the DM ninja'd me in the middle of this post. I had to rewrite the entire IC part of it :smalltongue:

For the first time in a very long time, Magora finds herself unsure of how to respond to a situation. Whatever's happening, it's foreign to her. So far though, she's been ignored as a target, and she plans to keep it that way for as long as possible. She refrains from drawing her weapon, and does not physically ready herself for an attack. Let the demon child (if it even it a demon) think Magora spineless and weak. It will be all the more effective when she finally does strike.

Magora took one rank in most knowledge skills, including Knowledge: The Planes. If it's applicable, I'll make a roll (I can buff the check after battle if we deem it important enough).

Knowledge: The Planes - [roll0]

Initiative - [roll1]

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"Where were we? We were up to the bit where you were bleedin' bleeding all over the floor, that's where! Godsdammit, I knew something was up. And I had to go pardon some innocent soul that wasn't there."

[roll0] Initiative

Brand will be spending his first round recovering his maneuvers. (Full round action)

[Narmoth]

"I guess the only way to get your attention, little girl, is to burn you..." Nar-Guldur chuckles as he targets her with a Hellfire blast (not an invocation, but a class ability):
to hit (ranged touch attack) [roll0]
dmg [roll1]
which he augments with Vitriolic blast (invocation, I guess I have to use quicken spell like ability to use it):
dmg [roll2] acid dmg (no save) for this and the two next rounds

[cvbnmme4th]

This little brat's games are begining to bore me. I cast Disintergrate, Psionic

[Lord of Syntax]

She reactivity raises the indigo veil, making both spells fizzle.

[Slayn82]

All right, let's resume this game. I'm the new DM, and i hope we all have fun.

A devious laughter is heard, as both spells are blocked by the indigo Veil created by the girl.

It's not she who is laughing. And saying "heard" is just a way to put it.

But not of that matters. From all the presents, only Kelmo Windbeard's mind could perceive the strange re-shapping of the reality, as time flowed backwards.

It was back at the instant after he manifested his disintegrating ray, and the Warlock Blast was flying on its way to the little girl. You could see her eyes, her malignous intent as she raised again the Indigo Veil.

One splash of light, bright like the day, manifested over her shield at the same instant.

Both rays hit her at once, the small body involved by purple and green flames, while she releases an horrendous scream.


Please, roll damage as apropriate

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
*Whistle* "That's gotta hurt."

[Tyrael]

Rundas

The blue knight flows backwards in time as well, and he turns around to flee as the girl implodes in a flash of light. Frozen mid-step, Rundas halts suddenly, swaying. Turning around, he beholds the small, smoking crater in the ground. He shakes his head in wonderment and plants his enormous blade in the ground, leaning heavily on it as black blood seeps out of his armor and pools on the floor.

[Voice of Reason]

I believe than an initiative order is in order:

*Girl - 20 (based of Lord of Syntax's previous rolls; not official)
*Sergent Brand - 19
Keld - 17
*Nar Guldur - 16
*Kelmo - 12
Magora - 4
Rundas - ??

*=Acted the turn.

Magora watches the hellfire blast and disintegrate rays somehow blast straight through the girl's defenses. Her impromptu "allies" are very powerful...and very dangerous. She wonders if she can truly trust the evil ones around her.

I'll be unavailable for the next 3-4 hours, but I'll try to have a post up as soon as I get back. If the girl is not dead by the time it's Magora's turn, she will cast Wings of Flurry, excluding everyone but the girl from the burst (if I'm not back in time and we're ready to move on, npc me).

[roll0]

DC 21 reflex save for half. On a failure, she is dazed.

[Tyrael]

Rundas is sitting out of this one. Losing half your HP in one blow is pretty demoralizing ICly, and his newfound allies seem to be doing just fine.

[Slayn82]

As Rundas retreat, he is the first to notice that in a corner of the room, a torch has fallen over one table, starting a fire.

In a sudden twist, a very large and dense column of smoke seems to be raising from the small flame, concentrating itself and covering completelly the north - east side of the room.

As the smell of the smoke make you all aware of the event, you all can discern yellown flashes inside the opaque smoke. Sounds like chains and whips can be discerned too, and a gutural screech, like the sound of a bird of prey.

Keld Denar
The holy inquisitor can feel the malevolent forces inside the smoke, full of sins and corruption. Their balefull presence is so twisted that it DEFILES (as the desecrate spell, 17 CL) the place. You can identify by their screeches and forms that inside the smoke, there are Kytons and Vroks, and who knows what other hellspawns. Also, your knowledge of the mystical arts tells you that those are just Astral Projections.

Rundas, Brand and Nar-Guldur
You can feel unholy power being emanated from the smoke, as the fel energies seem to raise your spirits. You all +3 morale bonus on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saves, and skill checks.

Magora
Your atention to details is acute, and your knowledge of the mystical arts allown you to perceive that whatever is inside the smoke, it just apeared throught an Astral Projection of itself.

[Roc Ness]

OOC: Brand's spirit's wouldn't be raised by that. Unless making someone angry counts as raising spirits... :smalltongue:

Sergeant Brand
Sends the remaining undead he created into the fire, to see if it causes any specific reactions other than causing the undead teddy bears to ignite.

[Slayn82]

The corpses of the unfortunate creatures advance into the general direction of the smoke, getting near the small flame.

Suddenly, chains emerge from the middle of the column of smoke, and start forming some sort of barrier between the zombies and the center.

As the chains start to move faster, they seem to begin to dissipate the smoke, allowing you all to perceive the forms of 4 large humanoids fully covered by chains and spikes, and 4 giant vulture like demons. At the center, you can see an humanoid figure mounted atop an aracnid creature, wielding a whip. Its face seems to be concealed by darkness.

True seeing
The humanoids covered with chains are medium sized. Both the humanoids and the vultures seem to be marked by a brand of control and forced subservience. Those creatures are astrally projected.

The rider atop the spider like monster is wearing an skull mask with 2 red gems in place of the eyes. Those gems seem to contain souls inside. Those souls are marked with a brand that means they are condened to eternal torment in the lower planes. The rider is wearing an spiked leather armor. You can see branded demons all around him, seemingly forced to possess his equipment. The Rider and his mount are actually present.

At the crater where the girl was standing, you can see a released soul. It seems to have just been branded with the mark of Eternal Torment.

Also, please make a will save.



Smoke dissipates on next round, before Brand's action

[Tyrael]

Rundas

Rundas stiffens as the demonic smoke wisps and curls around him, seeping into his armor and his helmet. His broad shoulders shake as he clings to the support of his massive blade like a man wracked with plague.

[roll0]

He gives a choked cry, his entire body heaving. Suddenly, his head snaps up, his glowing red eyes glaring out of the sinister visor as he lets out a guttural roar in a voice very different than his own and throws his cloak back. Underneath the cloak, his right arm is enormous and twisted, bulging with inhumanly gigantic muscle and hanging down to his knees, capped with enormous claws the size of large daggers. The enormous arm reaches up and grabs the door-sized greatsword, hefting it nigh-effortlessly in its single monstrous hand.

With another deep howl of fury, the Azure Knight charges forward, lifting his enormous blade high and slamming it into the closest enemy with demonic strength.

I've already used my roll in this post, so I'll roll in the OOC.

Mechanically, he's wielding it in two hands, but fluff-wise, he's one-handing it because it looks cooler. :smallbiggrin:

Yeah, he doesn't have True Seeing.

[Slayn82]

Tyrael
Is Rundas under True seeing? If no, ill just assume you have spotted the face of a loved one amidst the group of arrivals, and Rundas shall receive -3 on your attack rolls for the first [roll0] rounds of combat.

Otherwise... Mwha ha ha ha...

[Voice of Reason]

Still waiting for the damage rolls to determine whether the girl died. When do the smoke things appear: before or after Magora's turn? It will make a difference in where she moves and whether she uses just a Wings of Flurry or an Arcane Fusion (or, if the girl dies, if she casts a spell at all).

[Narmoth]

Dmg eldritch blast: 49 this round, and additional 7 dmg the two next rounds.

[Slayn82]

Map (Edit Done, sorry for all the trouble)


M|Magora
K|Keld Denar
N|Nar-Guldur
S|Kuma Zombie1
Z|Kuma Zombie2
G|Girl (Soul)
R|Rundas Alkar
B|Sergeant Brand
T|Kelmo Windbeard

Outsiders
V| Vrock
k| Kyton
***
*** = Bebilith + rider
***

Map|{table]|a|b|c|d|e|f|g|h|i|j|k|l|m|n|o|p|q
1|
2||M
3|
4|||K|||N
5|||
6||||G||
7||||||||||S|||V3||||V4|
8||||B||||||Z|||k1|*|*|*|k4
9|T||||||||||||k2|*|*|*|k3|
10|||||||R||||||V1|*|*|*|V2|
[/table]



For those with Arcane Sight or simmilar effects

The general Area is emanating an aura that indicates an Forced Dream effect (Magic of Eberron) has just happened. It was generated by an Supernatural Ability. Another Aura seems to be a ward to prevent ethereal creatures from leaving this place.

The Vrocks and Kytons are under effects of Astral Projection,Greater Bestow Curse, Geas (CL 19), Haste and Entropic Shield (CL 14).

The Kytons are under effect of Enlarge Person, Bull's Strenght, Blindsight, Spell Resistence and Anticipate Teleportation (CL 14).

The Vrocks are under effect of Bull's Strenght, See Invisibility, Spell Immunity and Heroism (CL 14).

The mount is under effect of Magic Circle against Evil (CL 12), Freedom of Movement, Displacement, True seeing, Greater Anticipate Teleportation, StoneSkin (CL 14), Death Ward, Greater Spell Immunity, Spell Turning,Immunity to Fire (CL 17).

The rider seems to be under effect of a Mind Blank spell.
It is also possible to perceive that he is able to beneficiate himself from the spell effects over his mount.

His face is covered by an effect similar/spell-like to the Shadow Mask spell (SpC). CL 17.

You can see that an strong Unhallow effect is emanating from his head, empowering automatically all creatures with darkness in their hearts. (CL 21).

One effect similar to Simbol of Pain emanating from the Ruby eyes of the mask seems to be blocked at the moment by the Shadow Mask spell (CL 21).

You can see that the whip he carry has an aura of a Ghost touch spell-like effect (CL17).

He seems to have one Contingency Spell active. (CL17).

His armor has a strong necromantic aura.

The saddle of the Bebilith, the boots of the Rider and his belt all have moderate transmutation aura.



Keld
Only Runas seems to emanate clearly evil, althought good seems to be present as well. On the other side, the other party members have some darkness on them.
On the newcomer's side, all the fiends emanate evil, including the Bebilith. You have no reading at all from the rider.

[Keld Denar]

I'm not on the map...

[Voice of Reason]

The girl falls dead, disintegrated into ash within the burning inferno of hellfire. A small pile of ashes is all that remains of the creepy, yet impotent child. Magora takes the brief breather to cast a transmutation spell, causing red dragon scales to sprout out from her skin all the way down her body. The extra protection may just be the difference between life and death in this place, and Magora has a certain eerie premonition that the danger is not yet past.

A quick glance around as she finishes her casting tells her what she's already suspected: the others are just as surprised as she is by the recent chain of events. Either that, or they are very god actors.

It would be wise for us to stick together.

Rundas continues limping for the exit, but Magora runs to intercept him.

You there! Limpy! If you would just hold still for one moment, I can patch up that wound and--

The man is not listening to Magora. Magora's gaze follows his to a blaze that has just started in the corner. The smoke conceals her sight, but Magora knows well the signs of extra-dimensional travel. Whatever just manifested, they are projecting themselves through the Astral Plane. Another shot of adrenaline races through her body, and all thoughts of healing the wounded leave her as she thinks

Every woman for herself!

I'm changing my actions from the previous round as advised, because there are were no enemies to target. Magora casts Dragonskin on herself (3 hour duration) and moves to (F, 6) on the map, with the intent to catch up to Rundas as heal him with Greater Vigor. Obviously, plans change with the appearance of 8+ demons, but that seemed to be the most logical course of action at the time.

Where will the demons go in the initiative order? I'm going to refrain from posting Magora's actions this turn until that gets squared away at least, because I'd hate to have to repost her actions because they all teleported out of the range of her spell, or etc.

Vrocks (x4) - ??
Kytons (x4) - ??
Bebilith and Rider - ??
Sergent Brand - 19
Keld - 17
Nar Guldur - 16
Kelmo - 12
Magora - 4
Rundas - 3



Keld Denar/Slayn82: Keld Denar should be on the map at (C, 4)

[Narmoth]

"Splendid: more to kill...." Nar-Guldur hisses towards the new arrivals
he then turns to the ones that aren't demons, and smiles:
"I think it's better to stay and fight than to run out not knowing what waits outside..." his voice is faint, and much more pleasant that earlier. It seems almost friendly, and a bit patronizing.

[cvbnmme4th]

I cast Mindwipe and burn an additional 80 power points putting the save DC at 40 and bestowing 20 negative levels. Now you see the true power that I wield.

Edit: i cast it on whoever is riding the bebilith.

[Slayn82]

Rundas charges in direction of the Demons, knocking one of the chained monsters into the large beast behind it.

The rider takes his mount out of the way, causing the Kyton to collide with one of his equals in the back line, knocking both prone.

The Vrocks seems to be pleased by this event, with an colective laugher over the Kytons. One of them seem to encourage Rundas, and speaks in Common

"Yesss... Gut those in the chains, Mortal. Make them suffer for a looong time. How i would like to personally ARRGHH....

The creature stops mid sentence, when it seems mark on his face glows red in unnatural flames, burning the beast.

SLAVES! REMEMBER YOUR PLACE, OR I WILL DEVOUR YOUR WORTHLESS HUSKS WHERE THEY STAND. YOU DISPLEASE OUR MASTER!

The masked rider attention seems to be divided between Rundas, Keld and the crater where the remains of the girl stands. He speaks softly, and with difficulty but his voice can be heard clearly by all despite all the banter .

Salutations... I came to reclaim this corrupted soul... to it's eternal... torment in Gehenna. May i proceed ... unninterrupted?

EDIT: Kelmo's mind begins a vicious attack. He can sense a lot of mind's sharing the rider's general location, and focus his powers on him. Searching, waiting, until the right time.

Powerfull barriers seem to surround his being, protecting him from most mystical disciplines. One breach seems to be open, and Kelmo takes advantage of it, discharging his psichic energy, who is blocked by a Death Ward spell over him and the mount, who the rider seems to be able to share.

The rider seems to have noticed the agression...

It is... a mighty power... indeed. But you are ... too. confidant.on. it.

[Keld Denar]

Keld

Her soul must be judged, but it is not yours to judge. She must be brought to reckoning for what she has done here before the Immortal Judge, in the name of the Light. If it is His will that you should be her jailor, then he shall make His will known. Until then, take your flight of fiends and be gone from this world.

The finality in his last words make it clear that there IS no other option.

Keld moves 30' to I4 and readies an action to cast Holy Word if the fiends make any hostile actions.

[Narmoth]

"Bad choice" Dag-Guldur whispers coldly

[Slayn82]

Those who have the power to see the truth can discern clearly the girl's soul, seemingly strugling to overcome the pain of the brand upon her. She screams and try to assemble her mighty arcane powers, but apparently they not answer her call.

I have ... came for her soul... and I ... shall have it... for Lord Mellif

The Bebilith mount seems stasied for hearing those words.

SLAVES! HERE IS THE RELIEF FROM YOUR SERVITUDE. KILL ALL THE MORTALS WHO OPPOSE US.


New round. Keld, what is the Holy Word DC? I've got 24 so far. And yes, you are on the Prime.

Map


M|Magora
K|Keld Denar
N|Nar-Guldur
S|Kuma Zombie1
Z|Kuma Zombie2
G|Girl (Soul)
R|Rundas Alkar
B|Sergeant Brand
T|Kelmo Windbeard

Outsiders
V| Vrock
k| Kyton
***
*** = Bebilith + rider
***

Map|{table]|a|b|c|d|e|f|g|h|i|j|k|l|m|n|o|p|q
1|
2||M
3|
4||||||N|||K
5|||
6||||G||
7||||||||||S|||V3||||V4|
8||||B||||||Z|||k1|*|*|*|k4
9|T|||||||||||R||*|*|*|k3k2|
10|||||||||||||V1|*|*|*|V2|
[/table]

[Keld Denar]

Holy Word (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/holyWord.htm) doesn't allow a save for the main part. Its my CL vs their HD.

[roll0] which is CL+1. Thus, my CL for this spell is 16.

If my CL is 10 higher than their HD, they are Killed.

If my CL is 5 higher than their HD, they are Paralyzed for [roll1] minutes.

If my CL is 1 higher than their HD, they are Blinded for [roll2] rounds.

If my CL is equal to their HD, they are Deafened for [roll3] rounds.

All effects are cumulative.

FURTHERMORE, since they are not from this plane, they have to make a Will save or be deported. They suffer a MINUS 4 on this will save. The DC is 24 before penalties are assigned (or 28, effectively).

This spell has no effect on GOOD aligned persons.

[Slayn82]

Map

M|Magora
K|Keld Denar
N|Nar-Guldur
S|Kuma Zombie1
Z|Kuma Zombie2
G|Girl (Soul)
R|Rundas Alkar
B|Sergeant Brand
T|Kelmo Windbeard

Outsiders
V| Vrock
k| Kyton
***
*** = Bebilith + rider
***

Map|{table]|a|b|c|d|e|f|g|h|i|j|k|l|m|n|o|p|q
1|
2||M
3|
4||||||N|||K
5|||
6||||G||
7||||||||||S|||||||V4|
8||||B||||||Z||||*|*|*|
9|T|||||||||||R||*|*|*|k3k2|
10||||||||||||||*|*|*|V2|
[/table]



Keld enounces an Holy Word. It's power instantly banishes 3 of the Fallen beings, and blind's one of the Vulture demons. The masked rider and it's mount seem unnafected.


Since you didn't mentioned it, i rolled against Spell resistance. You overcome all them, no problem. Vrock 4 is blind and deaf.

[Tyrael]

Rundas

The demonic knight is now lost deep inside his own mind, paying absolutely no heed to the taunts of the rider on the horse as he unleashes a whirlwind of destruction with his gigantic blade upon one of the Vrocks, almost as an afterthought punching out with his engorged arm, furiously trying to wreak as much destruction as possible.


Full-Round Attack, Power Attack -3 on the sword
[roll0] [roll1]+[roll2]+27=47
[roll3] [roll4]+[roll5]+27=62
[roll6] [roll7]+[roll8]+27=45
Claw1 - (1d20+20)[25] Damage1 - (1d4+9)[10]
Claw2 - (1d20+20)[31] Damage2 - (1d4+9)[11]
If the Vrock doesn't die, he needs to make a Reflex save (DC 47) or be [roll9] and fall prone.

If the Vrock dies, then I get a Cleave vs the Kyton at M8.
[roll10]
[roll11]+[roll12]+27=46
If the Kyton doesn't die, he needs to make a Reflex save (DC 46) or be [roll13] and fall prone.

[Voice of Reason]

Keld speaks with religious authority and judgment. He will drag them all into an infernal war with that tone. In fact, his last words hold such divine authority, that Magora can scarcely stand to hear them. With a small utterance, she throws her hands up and wings of green force appear to divert the wave of magic.

Magora should be on (F, 6) from last round when she started toward Rundas. Either spot puts her in the Holy Word, and since Magora isn't a fan of being blind, she's going to use an immediate action to cast Wings of Cover, blocking the line of effect for the spell, rendering her immune to it. Here's hoping I won't need that immediate action for something else this turn.

[cvbnmme4th]

I try and meet the gaze of the demon. Who are you? You who hides there face behind a mask and can so easily Resist my power?

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"For unlawful possession of souls, you're all under arrest, to be taken dead or alive!"

"Goddamit! Who did that! I promise you I'm gonna find your holy symbol and shove it where the sun don't shine. You assaulted an officer, you did!"

The zombie is ordered to move away as Sergeant Brand charges the figure's mount.
[roll0] Attack (+2 Charge, -5 Combat Expertise)
[roll1] Damage, if any.

AC for this round is 35
EDIT: Alright! Crit Confirm rolled in OOC thread. Is the damage simply gonna be doubled or should that be rolled twice?

Ah darn. Lawful Neutral still counts as non-good, that means Sergeant Brand will be spending the next 5 rounds cursing 'cos he's blind and deaf. I was so looking forward to a crit, and here we are...

[Slayn82]

Map

M|Magora
K|Keld Denar
N|Nar-Guldur
S|Kuma Zombie1
Z|Kuma Zombie2
G|Girl (Soul)
R|Rundas Alkar
B|Sergeant Brand
T|Kelmo Windbeard

Outsiders
V| Vrock
k| Kyton
***
*** = Bebilith + rider
***

Map|{table]|a|b|c|d|e|f|g|h|i|j|k|l|m|n|o|p|q
1|
2||
3|
4||||||N|||K
5|||||||||||*|*|*
6||||G||M|||||*|*|*
7||||||||||S|*|*|*||||V4|
8||||B||||||Z|||||||
9|T|||||||||||R|||||k3k2|
10|||||||||||||||||V2|
[/table]


The Bebilith gives a large jump, coming closer to Keld and slamming to the ground with its jaws and claws the Kuma Zombie on it's path.

damage: 9+9+18=36 damage total, Kuma Zombie is grappled.

Onofre. Open way mortals. Don't stand... between me ... and my prey.

Saying this, he enunciate arcane words, and casts over Keld an hostile spell.

Make a Fortitude Save. Initiative status can be found here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8316257&postcount=88)

EDIT: The arcane power surges throught the Holy Inquisitor's flesh, causing him to become innert in a cold, white marble shape.

By irony, this doesn't seems to cause his soul to be trapped into the rock as usual, and he can see and hear everything around him.

[Narmoth]

Nar-Guldur decides to send an eldritch hellfire cone in the direction of the demon as he growls:
"Trying to blind me, devil? I'll burn you without looking"

(OOC: eldritch cone is reflex half on dmg, not a to hit roll. He'll hit the bebilith and it's rider and the two zombies)

dmg: [roll0]

Nar-Guldur then discovers that he can't hear anything
"Hey, where are everyone?"

[Slayn82]

The eldritch power hits both Outsiders and Kuma zombies, with a powerfull surge that surprises both Bebilith and Onofre, burning their flesh with the dark flames. Despite the mount's agility, it takes full effect over it's master.

[Slayn82]

The remaining darkspawn act. The blinded and deaf Vrock summons it's power to create doubles of him. The other Vrock flies in direction of Rundas, while releasing a gutural screech. Over Rundas, a cloud of spores cover him, dealing [roll0] damage.


Anyone not deaf, make a fortitude save, DC 22, to prevent stun

The 2 fallen Kytons raise from the ground, and attack Rundas with their chains.

Attack k2:
[roll1]
Damage: [roll2]
Attack k3:
[roll3]
Damage:
[roll4]



Map changes: V2 on g10, k2 on p8, k3 on p9

[Tyrael]

Rundas

As the blows and gas rain down around him, the blue knight seems to hunker down into himself, shrugging off a good portion of the effects.

DR reduces 8 damage to 0, 19 to 9, and 21 to 11 for a total of 20 damage.

Fort vs stun: [roll0]

Still waiting for my turn in the initiative.

[cvbnmme4th]

OOC: what is the range on holy word because if I'm near the top of the room it might not affect me.

(If I'm not blind) I cast disintergrate on the bebilith. Maybe I can't destroy you but i can still destroy your back-up.

[Voice of Reason]

Magora barely manages to hold herself together after the vrock's hideous screech.

"Gods damn it, it's really hard to choose sides when both of them are shooting at you"

The psion manifests a second disintigration, distracting Onofre enough to give Magora a chance to get closer. Making a few snap judgments, Magora runs into the fray, leaving Kelmo with a few thankful words

At least somebody knows how to aim!

Chanting the words to her spell as she runs, Magora extracts a residual portion of her last spell for use as an invisible shield of force to grant her greater protection to match the greater risk. Shortly thereafter, she gestures outward, and the same ghostly wings that came to her aid previous re-appear. Instead of curling themselves around her protectively though, they batter selectively at choice foes in the area before once again disappearing.

Magora will move to (K, 10) with her 40' move speed and cast Arcane Fusion, allowing her to cast a 4th and 1st level spell simultaneously. She will cast shield and Wings of Flurry. She will hit the Bebilith, Onofre, both Kytons, and both Vrocks for:

[roll0]

Reflex save 21 for half. On a failure, they are dazed.

[Slayn82]

Map (Updating, please check any problem, waiting Kelmo's reply to solve all)

M|Magora
K|Keld Denar
N|Nar-Guldur
S|Kuma Zombie1
Z|Kuma Zombie2
G|Girl (Soul)
R|Rundas Alkar
B|Sergeant Brand
T|Kelmo Windbeard

Outsiders
V| Vrock
k| Kyton
***
*** = Bebilith + rider
***

Map|{table]|a|b|c|d|e|f|g|h|i|j|k|l|m|n|o|p|q
1|
2||
3|
4||||||N|||K
5|||||||||||*|*|*
6||||G|||||||*|*|*
7|||||||B|||S|*|*|*||||V4|
8||||||||||Z||||||k2||
9|T|||||||||||R||||k3||
10|||||||V2||||M|||||||
[/table]

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Calls upon the policeman's inner reserve of energy (*Iron Heart Surge*) to bypass his temporary blindness. However, so as to still appear blinded and harmless, he'll still be blinking hard, and will make his way in a completely random fashion ending his round 5 feet above ground in the square G7

[Tyrael]

Rundas

The Azure Knight turns around, his massive blade raised towards Magora as his eyes glow with reddish hellfire. He hefts the sword to strike, seeing little difference between the woman and the witch that had attacked him earlier, his lambent glare appearing completely ready to kill her where she stands.


================
Deep inside an isolated corner of his mind, Rundas throws himself against the iron will of the demonic influence seeping from his infected body. Not her! he howls desperately at the entity controlling him. She's not the witch! She's not food! He can feel the demon's contempt for his plea, but with the rising tide of of crimson rage blanketing his brain, Rundas knows his methods of persuasion are limited. Go attack the other ones! He suggests desperately. They hurt you! Finally, he feels the demon agree reluctantly.
================


Suddenly, the deformed knight twitches slightly and whirls around again, charging with reckless abandon towards the other demons. With a snarling shriek of fury, he buries his gigantic sword into one of the demons with all his strength, nearly cutting through into the demon next to it.


Full-Round Action: CHAAAARGE to square O9 and attack Kyton 3!
Power Attack -3 [roll0]
[roll1]+[roll2] = 48 damage.
[roll3], negated by DR.
Knockback and Crushing Blow activated. Kyton 3 must make a Reflex Save (DC 48) or be [roll4], then make a Reflex Save (DC 48) or fall prone.

If Kyton 3 dies, then I get a Cleave vs Kyton 2.
[roll5]
[roll6]+[roll7] = 53 damage.
[roll8], negated by DR.
Knockback and Crushing Blow activated. Kyton 2 must make a Reflex Save (DC 53) or be [roll9], then make a Reflex Save (DC 53) or fall prone.

Also, he needs to make a Fort save vs. Massive Damage. :smalleek:

[Slayn82]

Intense burns cover the dark rider Onofre and his mount, caused by the blast of Nar Guldur's attack. They had escaped the worst of powerful strike of Magora's energy wings, who knocked down one of the Kytons and left the other one and the Vrock on its range unable to act.

One gash on the Bebilith's shell pours awfull smelling, purulent, black bile, in the place where the psionic energy of Kelmo's disintegrating ray landed on them. The Bebilith is visibly less than pleased, and manifests its fury by its intense, horrendous voice directly in all your minds.

STUPID, USELESS SLAVES. I WILL EAT YOU ALL WHEN WE FINISH THIS. I WILL EAT THIS MORTALS HEARTS. YOU, VROCK, CRAWL IN THIS DIRECTION AND SCREECH!!

The rider steers the Bebilith, and makes it jump, puting them right over the girl's soul, a silhouete of her former self, and strikes her with his whip.

As the whip touches her, it entangles her, bursting into an hot, yellow fire and quickly drawing her closer to the rider's face. His shadow mask seems to disapear, revealing an skull mask over his face with glowing, ruby red eyes. From them, scarlet rays seems to emerge, tearing her appart and pulling her inside the mask. While the accursed soul screams in pain, cursing and menacing its captor, Onofre speaks, in an profound tone.

You have sinned so much... the abyss would gladdly give you rewards for your crimes. I will not allow it... I imprision you, in name of LICHLORD MELIFFLEUR, SWORN ENEMY OF NERULL...

The Bebilith moves around itself, while its master works, and attack with a vicious bite Nar Guldur, gladly taking payback in behalf of its master and injecting him with its powerful poison.

Bite attack (power attack)
[roll0]
damage
[roll1]
poison: Con damage, For DC 27 prevents
[roll2]


Map

M|Magora
K|Keld Denar
N|Nar-Guldur
S|Kuma Zombie1
Z|Kuma Zombie2
G|Girl (Soul)
R|Rundas Alkar
B|Sergeant Brand
T|Kelmo Windbeard

Outsiders
V| Vrock
k| Kyton
***
*** = Bebilith + rider
***

Map|{table]|a|b|c|d|e|f|g|h|i|j|k|l|m|n|o|p|q
1|
2||
3|
4||||||N|||K
5|||*|*|*||||||||
6|||*|*|*||||||||
7|||*|*|*||B|||S|||||||V4|
8||||||||||Z||||||k2||
9|T|||||||||||R||||k3||
10|||||||V2||||M|||||||
[/table]

[Narmoth]

Nar-Guldur uses Hellfire Shield: when he is hit in melee, he retaliates with a hellfire blast (reflex DC 24 for half dmg, no roll to hit)
dmg[roll0]

Hellfire Shield (Sp): Starting at 3rd level, you can call
up hellfire to surround yourself with a protective barrier.
Whenever someone directs a melee attack against you, you
can, as an immediate action, aim a blast of hellfire at that
creature. This blast deals damage equal to your eldritch blast
(including bonus damage from the hellfi re blast ability). This
blast automatically strikes the target, which can attempt
a Refl ex saving throw for half damage (DC 10 + 1/2 your
character level + your Cha modifi er).
Each time you use this ability, you take 1 point of Constitution
damage. Because the diabolical forces behind the power
of hellfi re demand part of your essence in exchange for this
granted power, if you do not have a Constitution score or are
somehow immune to Constitution damage, you cannot use
this ability.

[Narmoth]

Nar-Guldur quickcasts an empowered hellfire cone (doesn't provoke attack of opportunity) at the direction of the attack and then activates fast healing 1 as he tries to back away from the attacker (I'm not sure how far he can go without provoking AOP)

dmg: [roll0], total dmg 57 (half = 28)

[Slayn82]

Nar Guldur release large bursts of flames, who encompass both opponents.

A foul stench rises from the Bebilith's burned carapace. As hot as the flames are, Onofre and his servant managed to prevent being totally incinerated by it.

Meanwhile, Nar Guldur's body is encompassed by the fever, as the vile creature poison overcomes him, and the warlock starts to bleed from his ears, eyes and nose.

The blind Vrock moves hesitantly, crawling blindly into the ground, while his companions remain dazed by Magora's last spell. He moves to (N7), and releases his own loud scream, who is only able to encompass Magora and Rundas. Despite this, its not a pleasant sound to Sargeant Brand at all,who is close enought to hear it well this time (but is not affected).


Another Fort save, same DC (22). The stun lasts for one round. Next, on order: Kelmo, Magora and Rundas.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Turns to face the injured, screeching Vrock. "Ah, shut yer trap, yer lousy, cowardly, loud-mouthed fiend. Save your screeching for a judge." He then turns his attention back to foul-tempered Bebilith.

Sergeant Brand exits the Dancing Blade Form Stance, entering the Assassin's Stance, takes a 5-foot step to 5-foot above F6, and full-attackig the Beblith
[roll0] Attack
[roll1] Damage, if any
[roll2] Sneak Attack, if the Bebilith is caught Flat-footed
[roll3] Attack
[roll4] Damage, if any
[roll5] Sneak Attack, if the Bebilith is caught Flat-footed
[roll6] Attack
[roll7] Damage, if any
[roll8] Sneak Attack, if the Bebilith is caught Flat-footed

[Slayn82]

Displacement effect: 50% chance of miss for each attack ( on 50 or less)
Attack 1 [roll0]
Attack 2 [roll1]
Attack 3 [roll2]


Sergeant Brand deception allow him to aproach the enemy. His bluff almost caught them off guard, but the Aracnoid senses of the Bebilith perceive the threat.

As Brand attacks, his weapons swing in wide arcs, breaching the creature carapace, as large sparks raise from the contact between the Bebilith's body and his blades.

AAARRGH! YOU PURULENT FESTERING DRETCH-BUTT...

Our work is done here... the acolites of Nerul... released this wild tigger... over the Kuma.

DAMMIT, I WANTED TO SEE THEM SCREAM AS THEIR ORGANS MELT WITH MY POISON.

[cvbnmme4th]

Ok i cast dominate, psionic on all the remaining enemies. Maybe i can find a use for you after all...
thats 7pp + 6 to make it affect more than just people + 10 to make it hit all of them so the save DC is 25 (10 + 3 int + 4 spell level + 8 (additional power points/2))

[Slayn82]

Kelmo focus his mind powers and try to force all the enemies to his will. Both Kytons and the blinded Vrock minds are subjugated to his willpower.

The attack against the Rider is fruitless, as a powerful Mind Blank spell protects him. The attack against the Bebilith is deflected by arcane forces, returning it to Kelmo's mind, to his small annoyance for one moment, as he is forced to bypass his own psichic power.

Onofre stares with his blazing scarlet eyes against the Sergeant, a wave of pain from the captured souls inside the mask rising over the soldier. For his luck, his continual blinking, from faking still being blind, allow him to evade the full might of the rider's eyes.

The Bebilith takes advantage of Brand's distraction, and strikes him with its poisonous bite.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Poison: [roll2] Con damage, Fort DC 27 prevents.


I hope your bloodlust is satisfied now... we are leaving.

Onofre words ressonate as he casts what Magora, Kelmo and Keld recognize as a Limited Wish, teleportating away both rider and mount.

[Narmoth]

Nar-Guldur casts an eldritch cone at the direction where he still believes the enemy to be
[roll0]

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
[roll0] Fort Save

AAAARGHH!!!!! I'M AN IDIOT. :smallfurious: That attack didn't even touch Brand. Also, I deducted the attack roll from my HP total as well as the damage roll. :smallannoyed:

[Slayn82]

Blind, Nar Guldur releases another cone of eldritch flames, aimed at the direction of his last attack, causing it to hit both Brand and the uncontroled Vrock, who screams, as he jumps around, raising his arms and wings while protecting his body from the damage.

KWEEACK!!! Cursed fire from Hell. Moribund warlock. Revenge.

Saying those words, the Vrock's eyes glow with arcane power. Debris and random objects from the room are raised in the air, and throwed over Nar Guldur, Magora and Brand, while the creature moves near Kelmo. It seems to not even notice that its companions remain quiet, without moving or attacking.



Well, Vrocks fight even against unlikelly odds, after all. Evil things and battlelust.:smallfurious:
2 attacks vs Nar Guldur
[roll0]
damage: [roll1]
[roll2]
damage: [roll3]

5 attacks vs Brand
[roll4]
damage: [roll5]
[roll6]
damage: [roll7]
[roll8]
damage: [roll9]
[roll10]
damage: [roll11]
[roll12]
damage: [roll13]

5 attacks vs Magora
[roll14]
damage: [roll15]
[roll16]
damage: [roll17]
[roll18]
damage: [roll19]
[roll20]
damage: [roll21]
[roll22]
damage: [roll23]



Map

M|Magora
K|Keld Denar
N|Nar-Guldur
R|Rundas Alkar
B|Sergeant Brand
T|Kelmo Windbeard

Outsiders
V| Vrock
k| Kyton (k2 is unconscious)

Map|{table]|a|b|c|d|e|f|g|h|i|j|k|l|m|n|o|p|q
1|
2||
3|
4||||||N|||K
5|||||||||||||
6|||||||||||||
7|||||||B||||||V4|||||
8||||||||||||||||k2*||
9|T|||||||||||R||||k3||
10|V2||||||||||M|||||||
[/table]

[Tyrael]

Rundas stands dazedly, swaying slightly.

[Narmoth]

Hellfire shield against Vrock:
[roll0] (reflex for half)

[Roc Ness]

OOC: Okay... give me a moment to sort the last round straight. (I'm a real idiot. Also, it turns out I wasn't poisoned. AC does matter, I just forgot for all those times it hadn't. :smallannoyed:)

Previous Round: Sergeant Brand
The Bebelith's bite glances off of Brand's armor as he twists aside through the air, leaving Brand completely unharmed. "Toothless street mutts could leave a mark deeper than you. Maybe because they're mouths could cooperate with their brains.""

He is then quite annoyed to find himself caught in a wave of virulent, burning infernal energies. [roll0] Reflex. (Assuming the DC is of Eldritch Cone is the same as that for Hellfire Blast (24), Brand manages to avoid most of it.)

Current Round
Brand nimbly dodges and blocks every single piece of table, chair and burnt undead Kuma that is flung his way. He then suddenly disappears (Cloak of Deception - Swift Action) steps through the shadows (Shadow Stride - Move Action) to the Vrock's side, and slashes at the foul fiend, still invisible.

[roll1] Attack (-5 Combat Expertise)
[roll2] Damage, if any
[roll3] Sneak Attack, if Vrock is caught flat-footed by greater invisibility.

AC for this round is 37

[Slayn82]

{ Is Brand on B9 or B10? Answer in the OOC thread}

The Vrock turns his body fast, in a vain atempt to escape the Eldritch Blade from slashing him. As Brand strickes, the creature hideous form disapears from this dimension.


Now only the dominated monsters remain. Action in order are: Kelmo, Magora, Rundas. At the beggining of next turn, deafness by Holy word ends.

[Voice of Reason]

Magora recognizes Kelmo's handiwork from the glazed-over look in the demons' eyes. Only one still retains his original bloodlust, but he is quickly dispatched by the loud swordsage after delivering a few small hits to Magora. Despite the apparent lack of enemies, Magora remains on edge. There are still demons in the room, and they may still be made to break free of their mystic restraints.

Even disregarding that fact, a blind and deaf warlock continues to aimlessly spew hellfire across the field, the self-righteous cleric will be an issue if and when he returns, and it's hard not to notice the clear sin against nature standing not more than five feet from her. All told, everyone here has got a lot of explaining to do...and Magora does not enjoy explaining herself. Taking advantage of the apparent break in combat, she casts Voice of the Dragon on herself so as to augment the power of her words.

Ok, nobody get jumpy. We're all friends here, right? Let's keep it that way. Wait for the effects of the Holy Word to wear off, and we'll see about patching you all up and figuring this out.

Magora casts Voice of the Dragon on her turn, good for a +10 enhancement bonus on bluff, diplomacy, and intimidate for 3 hours. She was hit by two of the Vrock's attacks for 8 damage.

[Tyrael]

Rundas

The Azure Knight finally seems to come to his senses. Slumping to his knees and leaning against his gigantic sword, Rundas shivers as he regains control of his body again, knowing that the demon's banishment is only temporary, but still reveling in his ability to act under his own will again.

Wearily, he turns his head towards Magora, the fiery red of his glowing eyes now dulled to a dim orange. "What...happened...?" he wheezes.

[Narmoth]

Nar-Guldur continues staggering backwards until he reaches a wall

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Sergeant Brand will spend this round sitting in the air and yelling his head off while recovering his maneuvers. "Right. Thats that, then. HEALERS, RAISE YOUR HANDS! I want this lot TIDIED UP! Somebody assist Dispel Man first, I'll bet he can heal, but he can't do that as an oversized LAWN ORNMENT! And somebody better help BIG BLUE BOY over there, too. He's not looking too good on his feet."

"Incidently, if I had an office I'd ask the lot'o you to show up NOW! The enemy of my enemy is a FRIEND! Learn to IDENTIFY! If you can't see, you do NOT fire spells blindly in EVERY DIRECTION! I'm watching you, STAGGER BOY!"

[cvbnmme4th]

Flying down from the top of the room, landing gracefully and dusting myself off after recieving no wounds during the battle I say Well that went as well as could be expected i supose. No one was seriously hurt.

[Narmoth]

Nar-Guldur follows the wall closer to the rest, clearly unable to stand on his own.
Blod covers all of his body, and most of it seems to be his

[Slayn82]

After half a minute, three unicorns and 5 Kuma enter the room, on a full stride. They seem to belong to one scout group, and their eyes survey the room fully. A couple of them are visibly shaken, starting to cry, after seeing the members of their tribe laying dead around the room, their expressions distorted from their calm and celebrative usual to the grim, distorted expressions left by the painfull death magic. Not standing to see the room, they go watch the entrance.

The Kuma who rides alone points to Nar Guldur, saying something on their native language, and the other couple proceeds to go near the stumbling warlock, who breathed with dificult. The serene unicorn seems to pause for a moment before the Warlock, aparently judging his characther.

Whatever conclusion the creature reached, it proceeded to touch Nar Guldur with its horn, releasing a mistical briliance like the sun light, who aleviated the Warlock's pain and reverted partially the effects of the poison, neutralizing it.

Meanwhile, the leading Kuma dismounts, standing near his mount. He contemplates Keld's stone form, and the bound fiends under Kelmo's mind control. Seeing no immediate danger, he trances for a moment, taking some of the earth from the room with his hands/paws. After a moment, he speaks:

I know no guest of the Kuma had in their hearts the will to do us harm. What happened here? Is that one fallen (pointing to the girl's body) the bringer of all this pain?


Had to re- edit this post a couple times, to make it more consistent with the overall actions. Original version on the OOC thread.

[Narmoth]

Nar-Guldur pulls away from the unicorn

[Slayn82]

The back rider of the unicorn dismounts. The young Kuma talks on a soft voice to Nar Guldur, and points to the unicorn:

We mean no harm. He says you are poisoned, do you understand?. You have not much time left, he can help you, cure the poison from your blood. Do not be afraid, we will not hurt you.

[Voice of Reason]

Before the Kuma enter, Magora tried her best to fill Rundas in on what has just happened, although it is troublesome if he cannot remember the grueling battle that they just emerged from. He does seem a tad shaken; perhaps he is repressing the memory? That seems rather at odds with the bloodthirsty monster he was in battle.

Our hosts were slain with powerful magics that the rest of us were barely able to escape. Shortly thereafter, the girl that lies there dead appeared. Surely you remember her? She tried to kill you and got halfway there before you limped away. The rest of us managed to kill her though, and demons came to claim her soul. You were caught in the crossfire and you...you lost it for a while I'm afraid.

The Kuma enter. Magora knows what this looks like. A dozen lies, a few excuses, and even a passing urge to reveal the truth, all form instantly in her mind, ready to be set free. But the Kuma are not angry with them...Instinctively, it seems, they know the truth of the matter, and even try to aid the Hellfire one. Magora has had trust of hundreds in the past, but it means so much more to her now that deserves it. It feels good not to have to spin so much as a white lie. Perhaps she was not wrong to come to the Kuma for repentance. Perhaps.

It is strange that you should pick out her body from among the other corpses. She appeared from nowhere into our midst, seemingly untraceable. We believe that she is responsible for the death of the others, for she tried to slay us as well, and demons followed in her wake. We had no choice but to kill her and the repel the demons who attacked us. I can give you the details later, but I must ask that I first be allowed to attend to the injured. Old habits die hard for some.

She gestures to Nar-Guldur, who is still denying treatment for the poison in his veins. If the Kuma do not object, Magora begins with Rundas, and moves about the other guests, healing them. The Kuma's influence since her arrival has led to her preparing ever more spells designed for healing the sick and injured, and even the grievous wounds of Rundas and Nar-Guldur do not deplete her prepared healing for the day.

Magora will take 10 on her Diplomacy check via her Changeling Rogue substitution levels for a total of 41. She will cast Greater Vigor on Rundas, healing 4 points of damage each round for 25 rounds (100 damage total). She will cast Mass Lesser Vigor over everyone else, healing them for 1 damage each round for 25 rounds (25 damage total). On Nar-Guldur, Magora will also cast Cure Serious Wounds and Lesser Restoration. Healing for:

[roll0] damage and
[roll1] constitution damage

And finally, if there are no other pressing matters, Magora will attempt to free Keld with a Break Enchantment.

[roll2] caster level check to dispel.

[Narmoth]

"Yeah, sure...that's what he said..." his voice is full of mockery. His voice then turns menacing "...and then they brought out the pliers..." he sinks down from the wall "... and much rejoicing was to be had..." he finishes almost sobbing
he then straightens and says calmly in an ice cold voice
"I would never trust anyone that has imprisoned me: so stand back, or we'll find out who has the least time left!"
a wicked grin spreads on his face as he hisses gleefully:
"Yes... Let's find out who has the least time left..."

Intimidate: [roll0]

[Slayn82]

The unicorn and the scared Kuma retreat, leaving the grim Warlock alone, on his corner. The Bebilith's poison burning on his veins, his gaze seem determined to reject anyone from coming near him.

The Kuma scout leader sees the warlock reaction, and run on Nar Guldur's direction:

Honorable guest, please allow us to help you. YOU ARE DYING!!!

[Narmoth]

"Sure, and I've been doing it for more than a year, without succeeding, so I think I'll pass that offer..." Nar-Guldur smiles bitterly

[Voice of Reason]

The Hellfire one still refuses to cooperate.

Listen to me, my name is Magora.

Magora reflects that the Kuma must be having a greater impact on her than she thought if she's giving out her real name.

You are a bloody mess, you've barely the strength to raise your arms, let alone defend yourself. They wanted to harm you, they would have done so already. If I wanted to harm you, I would not have missed with my spell, and you would already be dead. But you are still alive, barely. We want to help you. In your condition, the poison will kill you without help. Are you so proud that you'd rather die than accept our aid? I beg of you to listen to the voice of reason!

Magora takes 10 on her diplomacy check for another 41. You're under no obligation to be influenced by it, of course.

[Tyrael]

Har har, listen to the Voice of Reason. I C wut U did thar.

Rundas had collapsed against the wall, and now he sits slumped in the corner, his enormous blade lying on the floor and his grotesque arm sticking out at an uncomfortable angle. His cloak is matted with his own black blood, and he simply rests quietly and waits for his body to heal, his head slumped onto his chestplate.

The dull orange glow of his eyes tracks the Kuma warily around the room, but he seems too exhausted to be curious. Still, his deformed hand rests close to the hilt of his sword, though it's not clear whether out of genuine mistrust or habit.

[Narmoth]

[roll0]

"It's much simpler than that..." for the first time you see him smile. It's a very faint, and unsure smile, looking totally misplaced on his tortured face, and quickly disappears, like an old memory
"As far as I know, I can't die. And I don't really care one way or the other... Still, I won't take help from anyone who has been hostile to me earlier." he's now reverted to the cold voice he used earlier "Or maybe you didn't notice the cage?"

[Voice of Reason]

Rundas and Nar-Guldar are chained up in anti-magic cages to the side, enjoying the very good food and drink available at the Feast.

Magora shrugs, hiding irritation and concern.

Then take help from me. You came to the Kuma forest under your own power, so far as I know, chose to attend the ceremony, and whether the cage was your idea or not, it appeared to me that you were enjoying yourself at the party despite it. Should you have cried out for deliverance, I may have granted it. You did not need my help, so I did not give it; things have changed.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Grunts. "One of you Kuma should probably still help Stoneface over there."

[Narmoth]

"I'll accept help from you, but not from them" Nar-Guldur doesn't really seem to care at this point

[Tyrael]

Rundas shifts his baleful stare over to Nal-Guldur. A dozen possible replies flit through his mind - Sneering at the man's arrogance, telling him to shut up, insulting him, MAKING him shut up, delivering a caustic remark, geting sarcastic, trying to reason with him - but in the end, Rundas simply shakes his head and chooses none of the above as he remains silent, watching the Kuma again.

[cvbnmme4th]

Kelmo takes a few steps and suddenly feels very dizzy, he realises that the battle must have been more draining than he had realised. I think I need to lie down... then collapses.

[Slayn82]

The Kuma scout watches as Magora purges the poison from Nar Guldur's body with her magic.

Well said, young woman. You have our thanks. Enought lives from of our brothers and sisters and guests have been taken without them having any chance.

A younger scout

Buhr was supposed to stay here too, with his wife and brother. Since he was needed as scout master, he stayed with us.

Buhr speaks again

We Kuma are blessed with magic, gift from the faerie and the Nature itself. I was watching over the sacred feast and my people from outside.

I saw most of what happened, how that girl apeared and my people died. I know that man was poisoned by something big, and that it commanded the Demons, but i dont know what or why.

One of the younger scouts goes help Kelmo.

The other Kuma will be here soon. There will be cries and saddness. So many were killed here, we cant bring them all back. We shall help you, our guests, to recover, and mourn for our lost.

[Keld Denar]

Keld

Breaking free from the stone, Keld looks around for more demons to smite. Finding none, he staggers a step, falling to a knee. So much death...the fiends WILL pay!

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"Easy there, kid. Never chase fiends, they leave their marks. Wait patiently, and you'll find the fiends will come for you."

Brand is still sitting in a meditative position 5-foot above ground. His head is bowed out of silent respect for the dead Kuma.

[Tyrael]

Rundas leans forward, wincing slightly as his body flares in pain, but resolutely pushes past it as he slowly clambers to his feet. The Azure Knight points his massive claw at the Ewoks Kuma and beckons them closer. "You say you have healing magic," Rundas begins. "Do you have anything more powerful? Very powerful?"

He gestures at his arm with his free hand as he explains to the Kuma. "My arm is....infected, or possessed, or something else entirely. It's been spreading slowly over the past few weeks and it's already up to my shoulder. I originally went to a city to try to find a healer who could reverse it, but you people knocked me out and brought me here in a cage before I could find one. I suppose one healer is as good as another, if they're willing to help a man turning into a monster. Tell me, do you have anything that could help?"

[Keld Denar]

Keld

If you will allow me, I am a trained Exorcist. Keld appraches the man, chanting a quick prayer to Pholtus for guidance and strength.


This should work:


Exorcism (Su): As a full-round action, a sacred exorcist can force a possessing creature or spirit out of the body it inhabits. To exorcise a possessing creature, the exorcist makes a class level check (also adding her Charisma modifier, if any), against a DC of 10 + the possessing creature’s HD + its Charisma modifi er (if any). If the exorcist’s result equals or exceeds the DC, she succeeds in forcing the possessor from the body, with the normal results based on its method of possession. A spirit so exorcised cannot attempt to possess the same victim for 24 hours.

If not, there is always Greater Restoration (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/restorationGreater.htm), of which I have 1 prepared.

[Slayn82]

The scout leader tilts his head to Rundas question.

I'm sorry. The rite of rebirth could have helped you to find a path to your healing, but with so many of us dead, we can't perform it. Our consecrated hall has been unhallowed, and those monsters still defile it with their presence.

The fiends are still in the room, surrounded and watched by the three unicorns.

Slowly, a couple of the Kuma walk throught the room, picking the bodies throwed around or dousing the fire on those still burning and trying to put an order on the mess. One scout watches the entrance, and other is standing with Kelmo.

Anyone willing can receive a cure serious wounds spell from the Kuma (caster level 9), healing 3d8+9 points of damage.

Magora
Despite the politeness of Buhr, and the remaining Kuma Scouts, Magora can perceive clear as the day the despair in the creatures faces. The small bears are crushed, and Buhr is trying hard to avert gazing on the room on the right side, aparently to a group of corpses standing on the floor.

Its not hard for Magora to perceive that those are his closest kin. Somehow, it seems that their sense of duty over your safety is above even the mourning.

[Narmoth]

"Well, thanks to everyone for the hospitality" Nar-Guldur shrugs
"And thanks for the effort to all who fought, and especially to you..." he turns to Magora
"... for the healing..."
"but I guess I just move on from here. Nothing for me in staying here at least..."

[Tyrael]

Keld
Unfortunately, the actual spell affecting him is a slightly-tweaked, slow-acting Baleful Polymorph, which as far as I know doesn't have any proper method of removal, necessitating a Wish or something similar. The demon-possession bit is just him slowly losing his mind to the Carnage Demon(MM5) that he's turning into.

Rundas sighs in bitter disappointment even as the Kuma's healing energies wash over him. "I should have known," he mutters to himself glumly. "Nothing's ever that easy."

The hulking knight shakes his head and plods over to his enormous blade, which he slings onto a harness on his back without any apparent effort. Tugging his long cloak shut to conceal his twisted appendage, Rundas turns to Keld with a weary shrug. "I'm sorry you couldn't be more helpful," he tells the man. "but the longer it goes unchecked, the more I lose what little humanity I have left. Every second I stay among you puts innocent lives at risk, and even when I'm losing my mind, I still have my honor. I guess I'll go try to find another healer in another town, and if I don't, well...at least I won't be a danger to anyone but me when...when I go. Thank you for trying to help."

Head bowed, he trudges slowly towards the door, his gait staggering and uneven as the weight of his arm drags him slightly off-balance, his armor clinking faintly at every heavy step.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Will accept a dash of healing. [roll0]

Without opening his eyes or changing his stance, Brand replies sharply (but not unkindly) to Nar-Guldur's last comment. "By staying here you could find a future awaiting you. Life isn't easy for the likes of us, and you know it. Here is where there is proof tolorence exists. Much could be gained if you stayed and studied our hosts, and much you can use to secure a stable life for yourself, and command a bit more respect than what comes from punks who spit at your feet, yet run for fear of your call."

[Narmoth]

"I think you presume to much..." Nar-Guldur replies in a venomous voice
intimidate [roll0]

[Slayn82]

You all can hear the footsteps of the other Kuma coming near the Feast Hall. They must still take at least a couple minutes before arriving.

The quietness is broken by the sudden neigh of the Unicorns. One of the Kytons starts to scream, some of the chains covering his body torn appart, ravaged and broken, by some strange force or unseem attacker, who seems to crush the fiend's body between a giant scissor and lift him in the air. His face contorts in anguish, showing inhuman expressions that terrify the Kuma in the room, as blood starts to flow from his eyes and mouth.

The Kyton struggles, falling into the ground:

My body!?... no, master Onofre, i'm your servant, please, take him awaAAAAAAAAAARGH...

With another vigorous push of the unseem attacker, the monster's chest burst, muscles, blood and internal organs flying in the air. His pulsating heart fly in the air for a moment, still beating, before being crushed.

The unfortunate creature's body disappear.

As much terrified as the Kuma seem to be, that pales in comparisson to the effect of the gruesome scene over the remaining fiends, who imediately disapear from the room, leaving the temporary bodies they materialized in this plane.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"Gods, am I glad I'm not the janitor."

[Slayn82]

The Kuma taking care of Kelmo is the first to break the silence after Brand's snappy comment.

T-those mo-monster-r-rs... Wha-at hap-pened to it?

Buhr, the scout leader, seems to regain his senses.

That's it. Everyone. We are leaving the Hall - he looks briefly to the direction of the bodies of his family, before focusing again his attention at Magora and Keld - this place isn't safe.

Kuma guests, i'll have my best scouts guarding the entrance, and contact our friends and allies. You all have our gratitude, and i hope you can explain to us what exactly happened. Please, come with me, you shall rest at the best acomodations on the village.

[Voice of Reason]

The dismemberment of the demon has left Magora temporarily speechless. In hindsight, she really ought to have forseen this; they were astral projecting, and their master was right next to their real bodies. Even as Buhr signals the withdrawal, Magora wishes she could say or do something to alleviate the sorrow apparent in his and the other Kumas' eyes.

...I understand.

[Keld Denar]

Keld

Keld follows the kuma soberly.

[Tyrael]

Rundas hesitates as the furor breaks out behind him. While a large part of him wants to just break away from all these people and go far away where he can't hurt anyone, it also occurs to him that these are the first people who have seen the full extent of his infection and haven't rejected him, but instead actively tried to heal and help him. Rejecting these people, he decides, would do them no good. Who am I to decide what is the most safe for them?

So, Rundas stops in the doorway, turns around, and reluctantly follows the Kuma.

[Narmoth]

Nar-Guldur looks around the room for food and anything of interest
Search [roll0]

[Slayn82]

Nar-Guldur: The food looks good, but once you put it on your mouth, you feel an horrible taste, possibly caused by the dark necromancy that killed the Kuma.

You follow the Buhr and two other scouts outside. Kelmo is carried by an unicorn. A group of Kuma and a few other guests comes in your direction.

They ask questions to Buhr in their native language, who limits himself to say that the celebration of the Festival is finished, and all Kuma should assemble in the center of the village. He asks five other Kuma to go to the hall and help as they can.

A few of the Kuma start to scream or sob, but are contained by their friends.

The guests are politely asked to acompaign Buhr to a cave entrance, in a hill inside the area of the village. Inside, you can notice the floor, walls and ceiling have been elaborately worked, in the style of the gnome underground houses, but adapted to housing large creatures. The Kuma added paintings and sculptures on the walls, showing simple motiffs, like their people, birds, insects, flowers, stars and trees.

The Furniture in the place is rustic, althought the occasional deer or tiger hides over them help to provide more confort. Polished silver mugs, ranging from small to large, stand on a large table, with a large beer Keg in a corner. Deer meat is roasting in a fireplace, with the smoke seemly being sucked into a pipe. Fruits and vegetable stew are over a workbench.

This is the guest house. Feel free to rest and use it as long as you wish. In the next room, there is a rope attached to the ceiling. At the top there is an invisible opening, where you can enter and rest too in a special place. It's gnomish magic, and its permanent.

Sitting on a high chair, while the other Kuma stand on the entrance of the room, the small Scout leader speak.

We lost too many. We, the Kuma have special powers from the nature, and i know some of us may think that we could give our loved ones a new birth. They certainly will try.This pratice is one of the reasons why we Kuma learned to be accepting of others.

After a brief pause, Buhr start speaking again.

That girl, she killed our people, in a way beyond our powers to bring back. To us, she did worse than kill them. She erased them. I saw it all throught my magic. She came to kill us.

And those demons, who came... after her? They unhallowed our hall. I know something large was there, but it was hidden from my powers. The thing that hurt the Warlock Nar, and that petrified the holy man. And killed that demon, too. I am afraid of what it means for us and for you.

[Narmoth]

Nar-Guldur spits it out and follows the rest
"A rope, you say? Do you have a chair and soap as well?"

[Tyrael]

Rundas shifts awkwardly, feeling conspicuous even with his twisted arm concealed under his cloak. He isn't quite sure what to make of all this, or what their next move would be even if he could, so he keeps quiet and simply listens to everyone else discuss the situation.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Gets into a comfortable position. To any observers, it looks as though he's going to take a nap while floating in the air at (human) head height. Going through his memories, Brand tries to sort out what happened, how, and how they are linked. He came here to search for infernal/abyssal connections, and now that these are presented, he is searching for links, hidden or otherwise. His listen ability is currently set to sleep mode, which means he'll remember every word but will only notice a few keywords.

Currently, he is going through three major thought processes. A) This is an isolated incidence of immediate soul claim of a deranged and metally lost individual. B) This is all a big set-up, or C) The Kuma are (unknowingly) investments of the fiends (perhaps of their rebirth powers), who have come to protect their investment from a deranged and mentally lost individual.

[Keld Denar]

Keld

Relieved to no longer be stoned, Keld takes some rest in the rope trick after a cursory sweep of the area with Detect Evil.

[Slayn82]

The Kuma leaves, allowing you to rest. Buhr has still too much to take care, and any talk still relevant can be done later.

As the night advances, you can hear the muffled cryes of their people, even as they diligently recover the corpses of their dead. Chants are offered throught the night by them, to ask the nature spirits that protect them to guide the spirits of the dead, and reconsacrate their Hall . The corpses of the deceased guests are stored safely, and treated with a special oil. For their own dead, the Kuma cover the bodies with beautiful animal hides, and the deceased's jewery, mostly consisting of silver and jade.

The girl's remains are stored inside a funerary urn, the angry face of a bear sculpted on it, and sealed by the Kuma.

At the dawn, a group of 5 gnomes enter the village escorted by a couple scouts.

Magora and Brand can notice that one of the gnomes, a vigorous midle aged male clothed on practical vests, adorned glasses and carring a small staff, seems to be an old and estimated acquaintance of your hosts, by the way that a few of the Kuma seem to defer to his words of confort to them.

The other gnomes are clothed in a fashion more apropriated to travel and fight, with 2 on leather armor and crossbows, with a pair of dangerous daggers on sheats, and 2 others wearing mail and carrying 2 handed weapons who are seemingly a mix of a hammer and a pick.

[Tyrael]

Rundas lurks outside their resting tent, his deformed arm safely concealed again beneath his nondescript cloak. His glowing orange eyes narrow slightly at seeing the gnomes, but the towering blue knight offers them little except a wary nod of acknowledgement.

[Keld Denar]

Keld

Keld watches the interactions between the Kumu and the gnomes, making sense motives if needed to determine their disposition.

[roll0]

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Will observe the gnome's mannerisms, looking for anything out of the ordinary. I.E., are the gnomes agitated and react as so when confronted with something strange, slightly threatening or suprising.

[Slayn82]

The gnomes seem to be a little alarmed, but not hostile to the Kuma. While their appearant leader proceeds to go to the Hall where the battle happened, the others proceed to the guest house.

A female gnome, one carrying a crossbow, enters first, seemingly eager to drink the beer. She looks at the other guests with interest, something that Magora can perceive easily as a form of trying to gauge the degree of menace of each one while keeping a perfectly trivial tone.

Oh, hello, hello. I hope you all are feeling better, after the tragedy yesterday. We received a message from the Kuma this night.

Its a shame that such a thing would happen to the Kuma, they are so good and helpfull to everyone. My name is Bunkkin, and those are Namder, Lumdo and Marddo. We came to help to find the ones who did it and make them pay. I mean, Jebbediah will find us some clue.

To say that meanwhile, we are going to enjoy a little of the food and the good talk, if you don't mind. So, miss - she says, turning to Magora - who are you, what do you do, and what brought a woman so charming like you here?

[Voice of Reason]

Magora smiles warmly in return.

Somebody is well-versed in the finer arts of flattery, at least. These are the other survivors of last night's catastrophe, naturally. My name is --

Magora is about to give Bunkkin the name of one of her aliases when she remembers that she may have given her true name out to the warlock last night; Magora doubts he has the good manners to keep quiet about the lie. One could claim that it's for the best, but old habits die hard, and it makes her uncomfortable as she continues.

-- Magora.

The next part comes easier.

I am a servant of the gods who enjoys life on the road. I enjoy visiting new places and experiencing new cultures, and I offer my aid to the sick and weary in return, where necessary. Of late, I committed some rather...impious actions that were at odds with who I wanted to be. I came to the Kuma looking for guidance, but I'd really rather not talk about it right now. Maybe after a few drinks; care to join me?

I'm going to assume that since Magora hasn't changed her disguise, she won't need to make a new disguise check for today. If you'd like me to reroll it (or if you'd like to do it yourself, Slayn) let me know; the last roll for disguise was terrible anyways.

Magora will prepare the same focuses as she did the previous day, and her bonus feat for the day will be Rapid Spell; I'll shift my spell lists around in a bit. Magora is obviously not being truthful about what she does or why she's here, so she will expend her Divine Insight to lend credence to her bluff check (taking 10 as per her class feature): 51

[Slayn82]

It will be my pleasure, Magora - Bunkkin says, her eyes turning to Keld with curiosity, while serving herself a drink.

The other gnomes sit together in a side, their eyes going from Rundas corpulent body to the massive sword he carries on his back. One of them make a comment on their native tongue, causing the other 2 to barely contain their laugh.

Idioms or Gnomish
Woah, that guy would be a hell of a lumberjack!

[Narmoth]

Nar-Guldur slithers through the crowd of gnomes as a shadow, seemingly not caring that there's anyone in the world besides from him

[Keld Denar]

Keld

Releasing the tension in his shoulders a bit, Keld takes a seat near the gnomes, staring at each of them with his piercing blue eyes in a way that makes the gnomes feel naked.

What brings you to this area?

[roll0]

None of the gnomes are masked by illusions or shapechange, are they? I get a save automatically to see through it if they are.

[Slayn82]

There's not any kind of illusion or shapechange over the gnomes

Well - begins mumbling one of the gnomes, visibly disconcerned with Keld's gaze - i... i mean, we came to escort Jebbediah, to this village. To help the Kuma, i mean. I mean, he came to help the Kuma, and us too, sir.



Another gnome, the one who made a comment before, despite his amusement with his companion hardship, intervenes - Please, pardon dear Lumddo here, he has many abilities, but way with the words is not one of them. You see, Jebbediah is a pretty important guy among us, one of our best artificer's, and one of the bears sent an animal with a message to him.

So, we came to guard him, and help the Kuma as best as we could while on it.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Drums his fingers on the table. "What does Jebbediah usually create? Does he have a trademark alchemy item? As in, is there any particular alchemy item that he always makes or simply is commonly associated with him? And what can he do here?"

[Slayn82]

The 3 gnomes look surprised to Brand. This time, its Bunkkin who aswers:

Well, he does almost any kind of magical item, as far as i know. I heard he did some jobs for the Kuma before. And believe me, he is very smart, it almost scaries me the kinds of stuff he seems to know about. The bears seem to agree on this, i guess, to ask for him to come.

After a moment of pause, she resumes:

Of course, officer, if you mean to do business with him, its best if you ask him personally. We don't like to spread gossip around.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"Very well, civilian, I shall ask him personally later."

[Tyrael]

Rundas comes over and stands near Brand, the towering knight gazing down at the gnomes, his glowing orange eyes burning with curiosity.

"What sort of aid do you help the Kuma with?" he rumbles, his voice slightly tinny inside the demonic helmet.

[Slayn82]

Well, our people trades with the Kuma. They get jade and precious woods and herbs, and also are great at nature magic. We are a little better at crafting and we can obtain things from the other people around. And we have our magic too.

At this point, Buhr and Jebbediah voices can be heard aproaching the room.

Magora and Brand
When the gnome enters, you can notice that Jebbediah's facial features seems to be similar to Bunkkin's. They are probably related by blood.

Buhr is the first to speak
- I'm sorry, Jebb, but i can't allow it. Our guests already had their share on all this story, and we can't ask them to undertake this quest. It's dangerous, and they came to seek our help into finding a path away from evil.

- Well, i think they can decide for themselves. Also, if something isnt done quickly, other groups like yours will be attacked too - the Gnome turn to the guest room - Ladies, Gentlemans, good morning.

[Narmoth]

Nar-Guldur smiles, but there's nothing kind or nice with the smile
"Good morning. And... good bye. I'm not participating in whatever this quest you were talking about is. I'm out of here"
having no pack and no personal items, it's really easy for Nar-Guldur to pack to leave.

[cvbnmme4th]

Getting up, still feeling dizzy, Kelmo leans against the wall and tries to catch his breath. If I may interject, it seems that you expect me, after just witnessing a vile slaughter by that girl and then those demons, to leave you undefended should they return. I'm sorry but until you can provide me with a damn good argument as to why I should leave you unprotected I'm staying here. For now at least.

[Slayn82]

Buhr seems somewhat relieved by Kelmo's comment:

- See, our guests are persons of reason. Their judgment agrees with me.

- But they didn't even heard about the shadow trail we found yet.

Jebb starts talking very fast, despite the protests from Buhr.

- Listen, one person entered the Kuma's Hall throught the shadow plane. My guess is that it was the girl who attacked first. I was able to examine closelly the hall, and i found a strange pattern in the shadows. It was very well disguised, but im sure it was the remains of a Shadow Walk spell - and there is a trail that goes throught the shadow dimension. Now, i can force open a passage throught it, so we can track it to the place were she came from.

I'll just need some of your precious Jade, if you don't mind, Buhr.

Bunkkin looks concerned to the artificer's direction:

- I don't think thats a good idea too, Jebb. If something go wrong, we could unleash something dangerous here to the Kuma.

- Oh, no, don't worry. Once the hunting group pass throught the planar breach, i will seal it, no problem. It will be very easy.

But i can only do it, from this side of the breach, so i was thinking about asking the people who fought the girl yesterday to see if they would agree to go. The hardest part is making sure the breach keeps attuned to the plane of shadow, but i can manage it. I would say the chances are 8 in 10. We don't have much time, so it's either you guys do it, or this clue is lost.

Magora/Brand
Bunkkin looks a little less worried after his declaration. Clearly, she was concerned about having to go after Jebb in another dimension.

- Well, if that's the situation, then i think some magical help and items for them would be very welcome too, Jebbediah.

- Our friends, we can't ask this favor from you - Buhr spoke, his body showing signs of fatigue and anguish - Please, disconsider this old fool and his magical enthusiasm. This... isn't right for us to do.

[Keld Denar]

Keld

So you are saying that you can open a path that might allow us to follow the strange man who followed the girl, and his fiendish consorts? He is dangerous and a threat to all life. The Path of the Light dictates that all goodly peoples should take up arms against the darkness. I will travel this shadow way, alone if required. Pholtus himself will protect me.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Raises an eyebrow, and promptly Shadow Strides behind Jebbediah. "You sure the shadow trail wasn't just me? If it isn't though, then I will join the expedition. Somebody out there should be brought to justice."

[Tyrael]

I just realized like three people in the party are using Green, so I'll switch speech colors to Dark Orange.

"Plane of Shadow..." Rundas repeats thoughtfully, and then gives a morbid shrug. It's not like I have a lot of choice anyway, he muses. These are the only people I've met who seem to be accepting me, so I really don't have any alternative.

"I'm in," Rundas decides, and steps forward to stand alongside the rest of the party.

[Narmoth]

Nar-Guldur turns and bends over the gnome Jebbediah
"Yes...." he hisses
"...open a gate to them...." then he screams at full strength
"We want their blood!"
an insane flame burns in Nar-Guldurs eyes, his mouth in a beastly smile as if he imagines exactly what he would to to the demons

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"Please do not judge us through his... eccentricities. We here are all unique, he's just uniquer."

[Keld Denar]

Keld

I was thinking uniquerest, but the point still stands.

[cvbnmme4th]

I don't think it's a good idea. The demons we fought were powerful, they wouldn't leave such an obvious trail. I think this might be a trap. Perhaps on the other side waits an ambush. We had trouble defeating the demons when they were only expecting Kuma think how plowerful they will be if they expect us. Or maybe as soon as we are sealed on the other side they will teleport back here and kill the Kuma with us unable to help.

I will stay.

[Slayn82]

Jebbediah looks pleased in Buhr's direction. The old kuma looks very, very tired to keep arguing.

No, it wasn't you, mister. Anywayl, it seems we have a agreement then. In this case, i'll offer the hunters some magical aid. - and saying this, Jebb starts pulling from pockets in his belt some objects, putting them over the table.

3 stones - one small clear spindle, and two with irregular form, one being made from pink quartz, the other made from dark blue stone. Then he pulls one small rod, covered with leather. After some small deliberation, he pulls 3 scrolls from another pocket. Jebb proceeds to explain:

- Those are ioun stones, respectivelly allowing sustenance without food or water, enhancing one's physical vigor and tolerance [OOC: +2 CON] and the third giving increased awareness of your surroundings.

This one is a Lesser Rod of Metamagic, allowing silent spells.

Now, those scrolls include two spells of lesser globe of invulnerability, and one spell of tongues. They were made by artificer's ways, so your average arcane caster will not be able to use them, but perharps someone among you could put them to good use.

Buhr looks to the items in the table, and sighs.

- If you are willing to go throught this, as current leader of the kuma i must give my help too.

I can offer some potions our tribe stocks for emergencies, and a staff we received as payment from an ally. It has small healing powers, and will help our tribe better in your hands, ensuing that you travel safely.

The kuma scout leave the room, going to fetch the items. He returns with 9 flasks of potions: 2 of magic circle against evil, 2 of Eagle's Splendor, 1 of delay poison, 1 of invisibility, 1 of remove fear, 2 of protection from arrows, all labeled in common language by him.

The white ash staff, with inlaid silver runes is a common staff of healing, with 28 charges.

Buhr then turns to Kelmo:

-Thanks for your generous offer to use your power to protect us from harm. I apreciate that. Please, stay as long as you wish, you are welcome among us, honored guest.

If you excuse me, i'm feeling tired, and i think i need to rest a little, and pray. I have many prayers to make.

Jebb, i know your intentions are good, and you are probably right, but if something bad happens with those people, i will never forgive you.

[Tyrael]

Rundas reaches out with his left hand and picks up the small clear spindle curiously. The stone clinks against his armored fingertips as he turns it over in his hand. "How does it work?" he wonders aloud.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Picks up the white ash staff, and runs his finger along it. "I remember these. We called them life-savers. Pretty darn useful they were, and I think I still remember how to use them, too."

He sets the staff back down, and picks up the third ioun stone. "Huh. The scout division had these. I always wondered what magics actually powered these things. I remember seeing one of them bursting when it was stuck by an arrow, idiot lost an eye."

[Keld Denar]

Keld

Keld picks up the rod and the potion labled Invisibility.

[Voice of Reason]

Magora looks over the articles presented, and sees a few things that might be of interest. She takes a good, long time thinking about it though, because she isn't quite sure she wants to commit herself to go delving after the very forces that tried to kill her less than 24 hours ago. She wishes that she'd seen this coming, and had more time to prepare properly; for one thing, her spell selections would be extremely different if she only had the time to correct them, but time is, supposedly, of the essence.

How much time do we have before the trail goes cold? I do not wish to sound cowardly, but entering the plane of shadow ill-prepared, with no knowledge, and with no way back is not the way I would choose to go. Can we spare but one hour?

[Narmoth]

"Nah, I'll loose interest by then" Nar-Guldur smiles wickedly

[Keld Denar]

Keld

I do not know. I would suggest making all haste though. We've already lost a great deal of time.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Shrugs. "As far as I'm concerned, the step of preparation available to us now is to figure out who benefits us the most with the supplies. And given the nature of otherworldly planes, a whole year might not be long enough for the trail to go, whereas a second might be too long. I don't see anything wrong with an hour."

"I'm guessing that I shall be taking the staff, as we'll need another healing in case Turnmeister here is stoned again. I see he's already taken the magic rod and the burglar's potion. The most cowardly of us should take the fearless potion, and the most scoutworthy should take the alertness crystal. Big Blue Boy, you should might want to take the vitality orb thing, maybe then we might be able to turn you into a proper riot shield. Or maybe one of those new fangled living walls."

[Slayn82]

Fine, make your preparations as you see fit - Jebb says with a nod - If there is any power you would like to have over you on your travel, please just ask. I don't think your jorney throught the shadows will be that long. Is any of you skilled at following tracks?

[Slayn82]

The hour passes, while the party chooses their equipments, prepare spells and asks for infusions to Jebb.

After some hesitation, Jebb decides to lend the pair of lenses he uses to aid you in your task of tracking the enemy.


Anyone using the lens get the track feat. No extra benefit if the user already have the feat. Also, the user can cast detect magic at will.

Casters, please pm me a list of prepared spells

[Voice of Reason]

When Jebb asks for a tracker, Magora looks about to see if anybody can step forward. Nobody does. If only she had another day to prepare...she is not used to things moving this quickly. However, when Jebb, albeit hesitantly, offers the use of the magic lens, Magora sees an opportunity.

I will take the lens. Although far from processional, I've had experience with this sort of thing. I will go mediate and alter my spells for the day, so that I may be better prepared for what lies ahead, and so that I may use this lens to its fullest potential. Keld, I will be unable to provide as much healing today as I was last night; I will be counting on you in emergency situations.

A very brief review of character sheets tells me that nobody invested too heavily in Survival. Magora has a standing bonus of +6, but Primal Hunter will boost that to +10, and the +4 competance bonus to wisdom will boost it up to +12. She has three uses of Divine Insight left for an additional +15 on one roll. I've prepared a few spells (bloodhound, scent, living prints) that will also help her follow tracks. She can either roll a survival check at +12 three times and take the best (by spending one luck point) or at +27 two times and take the best (by spending a Divine Insight).

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"Meditate away, Miss Guide. And I'll see to it that our new healing stick will also be available in emergency situations."

[Keld Denar]

Keld

The...petrification was most inconvenient. I'll take measures to ensure that it does not happen again. Otherwise, I trust that I'll be able to handle things quite adeptly in that department.

[Slayn82]

Bunkkin smile to Magora.

- I see you have a great share of skill. You boys are lucky, gonna be on good hands. Well, lets allow the mystics to prepare themselves.

The hour passes, without any trouble. After reading yourselves, you leave the guest house. Outside, in a glade, the bodies of the dead are being veiled, receiving praises, chants and a good amount of tears from their friends, before each body receiving oil to be burned, all along, in a funerary pire. Large urns made of ceramic stand ready to colect the ashes.

Slowly, you walk back to the room where hours ago you fought for your lives. The Kuma have diligently arranged the room, under the circunstances, removing most of the garbage and broken objects to a corner.

Jebb asks from each of you to choose one greater armor enhancement to receive, who shall last you for entirety of the first day. (+5 bonus or up to 100.000 gp).

After conceding the infusions, Jebb starts casting a Limited Wish from a scroll, using it to force open a passage to the plane of the shadows.

Instead of taking you to the border of the plane, his procedures cause the plane to merge partially with the Hall, coagulating the shadows in the area around the point were the girl apeared first, forming an hemispherical shape. A sensation of cold seems to emanate from the black zone.

- Aaand, the first part is done - Jebb says - Now i just need to lock it after you pass to the other side, and wait and watch until you return. Take care, you will be entering pretty deep into there, and were is magic, its bound to be beings of power. I wish you success, you have two days, i guess, a dozen hours more or a dozen less from that.

[Tyrael]

Rundas nods. "How will we be recalled once our time is up?" He asks.

I'll take the Freedom enchantment (MiC p11): Continual Freedom of Movement.

[Keld Denar]

Keld

Prior to the hour of down time, Keld prepares a great feast for anyone to take part in. This will protect us from a good number of effects we are likely to encounter.

Heroes' Feast (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/heroesFeast.htm) protects against all fear and poison effects, cures all diseases, and grants +1 moral bonus to hit and [roll0] temp HP.

Keld will also take Freedom on his armor.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"Good food, Turnmeister, good food. Just fills you with vitality, doesn't it?"

If possible, I think Brand would prefer the Soulfire (+4) enhancement from BoED. Makes the wearer immune to [Death] spells, magical death effects, energy drain and negative energy effects. If Brand can't have that, or anything along those lines, then he'll just get Freedom enhancement like everyone else.

[Voice of Reason]

Magora eats quickly of the food at the Heroes Feast, having spent most of her time away from the group and in preparation.

It's wonderful and invigorating, thank you. No offense intended though, but I still think our hosts make better chefs.

Magora receives the infusion promised by Jebb, asking for something that will protect her from the negative energy that she is likely to encounter in the realm of shadow.

[gnome]Truly, you are a talented and powerful tinkerer. You say we have two days, give or take. Is that when your magic will falter and we'll have to find our own way back, or are you saying we'll be stuck there?

Magora will take the Soulfire enhancement, if possible. If not, she'll take the proof against transmutation armor. Barring that...probably freedom.

[Slayn82]

{gnome} The first one, madam - Jebb says, after infusing Magora's armor with the Soulfire enhancement - {Common}If you can come back by then, good. If you can come back in other way, good too. Once this path closes, i'll try to contact you to asset the situation. Meanwhile, i'll contact other allies, to see if someone has any bit of info.

Godsspeed to you on your quest.

[Narmoth]

"When we get stranded there, it will be fun to see who tries to kill and eat one of the group first..." Nar-Guldur whispers softly

[Keld Denar]

Keld

There will be NO eating of other party members on my watch. I'll see to it.

[Narmoth]

Nar Guldur starts laughing "Sounds like you'll be the first to break...." he looks him in the eyes
"It's always the most righteous who break first..."

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"I heard that. Break the law on my watch and I'll break your fingers. Your jaw, too, if you've already had some sort of lunch."

[Narmoth]

"I don't think there's any law for you to enforce where we're going. Or are you the kind of person who goes to other mens temple to tell them to worship your gods?" Nar Guldur seems to really enjoy this discussion

[Tyrael]

Suddenly, Rundas' enormous armored form steps between them, and his twisted demonic arm simply holds its palm out towards Nar Guldur in a "stop" gesture. "Quiet," Rundas orders tersely. "Stop bickering or we'll leave you behind." He turns and glares down at Brand. "Both of you," he emphasizes.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Raises an eyebrow at Rundas. "I'm only giving him due warning of the consequences of breaking the law. Saves a lot of time in court when the idiot thinks he can get away with a 'I didn't know there was such a law' just because there are more sets of laws than there are cities."

Turns back to Nar Guldur. "By the way, creep, I will be embodying whatever shattered remnants of law there is left wherever, whenever or however we are going. I apologise, Big Blue Boy, but I do need to impress that last bit into his lost, twisted mind."

[Keld Denar]

Keld

Keld is inspired by the Sgt. Brand's words. Its as if hes channeling the One True Path himself. Then again, all living beings in true form channel the will of the Blinding Light.

We have evil to smite and a little girls soul to retrieve. Let us not forgot our real calling.

[Narmoth]

"You really know how to make friends, don't you?" Nar Guldur doesn't even care to look at him
"The way you're going at it, no one will even care to piss on you if you're set on fire"

[Keld Denar]

Keld

Keld speaks mainly to Nar Guldar, with occasional nods toward Rundas.
I make friends by leading through example, doing deeds in the name of the Light. Through my righteousness and convection and zeal, others are moved to perform great deeds and commit to great sacrifice in the service of their fellow man. The Blinding Light of the One True Path shines into their souls and allows them to accept the righteousness of my deeds. Do you yourself not wish to take on a responsibility greater than yourself? Do you not wish to bring guidance and virtue to your fellow man? Do you not wish to leave the material world better than you entered it? Do you not wish to bask in the Light of the Enlightened One for all eterenity? Or would you rather be blinded by the brilliance that His influence brings to the afterlife? Only in the Light will any evil that touches your life be burned away. To be a foe of the Light is to be a foe of life. Surely you can think past the demands of your own belly every day? As you have seen, Pholtus provides for the belly to strengthen the body for a life commited to the destruction of the forces of evil. His will protects your mind from the corruption and sinister will that attempts to weaken your resolve. If you did not believe this in your heart, you would not have partaken in His blessing.

[Narmoth]

"Nice speech, but my words were directed at the sergeant boy" he smiles an unusual smile at Keld
"As for protection of mind, I think all will agree that it's a bit to late for that..."

then he get's a bit more somber
"Still, you don't need to worry that I won't help you if you're on fire. I won't even set you on fire in the first place" his lips get's a wicked curve
he turns to the gnomes
"Now you have a lot of fancy items here, but do you have an ordinary chain shirt to lend?"

[cvbnmme4th]

Kelmo walks over to one of the Kuma and asks I noticed you have a lot of strange magical devices, what I need is some means of communicating and keeping track of the people you are sending off to fight your demons. Something that will allow me to lend them assistance should their situation become dire. should he recieve said device he then heads to Magora Now, I don't know very much about you but due to what I do know about the people you will be travelling with I know that sets you on a much higher degree of trust than anyone else around here. I want you to take this Kelmo hands her the device this will allow you to communicate with me, should you fall into serious danger this will allow me to come and assist you. If infighting should develop within the group, as I fear it may well, use this and I will use my powers to try and calm the dispute. Oh and most of all don't let it fall into the hand of any demons as I have no way of knowing who is communicating with me and this could be used as the perfect bait for a trap. And finally good luck, I get the feeling you will need it.

[Slayn82]

- I'm sorry, i can't help with your requests. I doubt you could use a gnome mail sir, and i don't have a sending scroll ready, but i guess they could use sending spells of their own. - Jebb says.

Slowly, the party enter the circle of shadows. At first, the only noticeable change is a slightly colder temperature. As you walk in the direction of the center, the borders of the circle seems to rise around you, until you are walking in a shadowy circular tunnel. To those right after, it looks like those ahead are slowly submerging into the ground, like a ship capsizing.

A damp smell seems to surround you as you move foward, and slowly the colors from your clothes and equipments disapear. As you advance throught the tunnel, you start seeing a bright light ahead.

You emerge throught a light hemisphere, emanating from the ground and with the exact same shape and size from the shadow circle you entered. Surrounding the party, it's a replica from the Hall you just left. The main distinction is the fact that everything seems to be reduced to black and white (like if you had been put inside a drawing). Details of the objects can be discerned, but they either are black filled with white arests and details, or white filled with black details. Your light sources seem to dim in this place, causing their range to be reduced to half.

The Hall is decorated with replicas of the tables and utensils of the Kuma. But despite that, it looks empty. A fading silver trail seems to emanate around the place, going in the direction of the door leaving the Hall.

Keld Denar, Magora only
You notice that, around the tables, shadowy silhouetes are standing attending the tables, short and stout. They make no sound, and make almost no movement.

It's seems clear to you that those are shadow undead, created by the brutal slaugther of the deceased Kuma. There are over fourty of them.

Also, you spot that near the entrance door to this place is a strange statue, larger than Rundas, who emanates an arcane aura, generating an effect similar to a simpathy spell able to affect only undead creatures.

[Tyrael]

Rundas shifts and looks around uncomfortably. The place is rather altogether too eerie for his tastes. The silence is uncanny. Even the insidious pressure of the demonic infection seems subdued and sullen.

"Creepy," he mutters.

[Keld Denar]

Keld

Something is amiss. Evil spirits have amassed. Be ready!

Keld casts a targeted Dispel Magic on the statue, dispelling anything with a CL of 19 or less.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
"Evil Spirits, huh? Hostile spirits, or just Evil, or both?"

Either way, Brand will be materialising his eldritch sword.

[Voice of Reason]

The Kuma dead surround us as undead shadows; they are but remnants of their former selves, and the magic of that statue draws them inexorably to this place.

Magora gestures towards the entrance where the statue lies.

It is very powerful magic that is far out of my class, though it may be possible to dispel it, if I were prepared for such a situation. The spell can last for a few days if cast correctly, but given the way that it managed to trap all forty or so Kuma, I'd wager that it was cast yesterday at the latest, when they were slain.

In response to Sergent Brand's question, Magora draws her own weapon, a simple quarterstaff layered with a few choice enchantments of her own; Jebb isn't the only one with such powers.

I don't think they're hostile...yet. Destroying the statue may set them free, but they outnumber us an easy five to one, and if they turn hostile, I don't want to be in the area. As long as they refrain from attacking, our first priority should be ensuring that they're the only ones in the area; the caster may well still be around.

Magora recasts the Divine Insight over herself, and follows it quickly with a Scent spell; her nose will be the best indicator of a perpetrator, since the shadows leave no footprints nor scents. The first thing her heightened sense of smell becomes aware of is Rundas. It may be hard to tell with her own olfactory senses, but the corruption of Rundas' flesh positively reeks to her magically-enhanced senses. She cautiously begins looking for signs of other, non-shadow creatures in the room.

Recast Divine Insight and add a Scent spell, which grants the Scent ability for 3 hours out to 30'. If there's no invisible enemy nearby that she can smell, Magora will begin searching for some evidence that the caster of the Sympathy may have left behind (footprints, a lingering odor, etc.)

[1d20+12
[1d20+12

Take the best of the two. If both of them fail the check, Magora expends a luck point for a third roll:

[1d20+12

[Narmoth]

"I say we kill them and go on with or business" Nar Guldur proposes in a casual tone

[Voice of Reason]

I rather expected you to feel that way, although to be honest, I thought for sure you'd have already started blasting, so I suppose I ought to be thankful.

Magora smirks.

Don't worry, I'll find you something to kill. Just give me a minute, first.

[Narmoth]

"I'm in no hurry..."

[Slayn82]

The simpathy effect is dissipated by Keld, causing the statue to crumble as it disapears. The shadows of the Kuma seem somewhat disturbed by the spell ending for a moment, before the bulk of them start to disperse escaping throught the nearest exits from the Hall.

Meanwhile, Magora can sense the smell of three persons inside the room, all scents already fading. One is the scent of the girl, the weaker of them. The other scents reek of undead creatures.

One shadow seems to not be leaving the room, but instead advances near the assembled party, moaning:

guests... thanks...look... my children. inside meee. i can feel. i can feel. something wrong.they need... help...

As it come closer and moans, coming to the range of the light from the breach, Keld is the first to discern that inside this form are another sillhouetes, like a couple developing babies inside. Their forms start to pulse and move, seemingly reacting to the presence of living beings, and you all can hear baby cries.

HELP! HELP THEM.

MY BABIES. MOM HEARS YOU. COLD?

I'LL MAKE THE COLD STOP.YOU WANT WARM?

WARM.

GUESTS...MY BABIES...GIVE MY BABIES YOUR WARMTH.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Raises a questioning eyebrow (without dropping his guard, of course). "And by that you mean...?"

[Slayn82]

The Kuma Shadow advances in Brand's direction, with eagerness, trying to touch him. As "she" draws closer, his armor starts glowing. Its warm like being closer to a torch, but the shadow seems pleased, as it stops in front of the Sergeant, and starts singing a lulaby. The babies stop their crying soon after.

As the moment of silence happens, Brand is the first to notice almost imperceptible vibrations on the ground, like something big/heavy and very sneaky coming closer.

Magora right after that senses what otherwise would be faint, but thanks to her enhanced senses is very perceptible smell of decay, caracteristic of the undead. It is somewhere near the door to outside.

A voice comes into your minds
- Lambs. Lambs to slaughter. heheheheheheh

Something about the contact seems obvious to Keld Denar's. His knowledge of religion quickly sends his memories to old lectures and nearly forgotten tomes in the Holy Temple. He is certain that a variety of Nightshade is nearby.

[Roc Ness]

Sergeant Brand
Is slightly dumbfounded by the undead mother bear ghost thing. "Still can't say I've seen everything yet." And without changing tone: "Brace yourselves, everybody, something big or a lot of little things are coming. Soldier's senses, y'know."

Then he addresses the room in general: "Whoever or whatever you are, Mr. I-Think-I'm-Sneaky, you're under arrest for stalking and malicious loitering. And if you even think of attacking us, then you're also booked in for conspiracy to murder. And if you actually attack us, I won't just tag you for attempted murder, I'm also going to ignore any #$&% you give me about police brutality. Got that?"

[Narmoth]

Nar Guldur casts the eldritch invocation "See the Unseen" and then proceeds to set himself on fire (fire immunity, class ability hellfire shield)

"If all the sane persons would like to clear out, the rest of us will have some fun"
he seems almost in a trance, but his voice is full of anticipation