Merkabah - The Crashed Airship, pt 1
Log Info
- Title: Merkabah - The Crashed Airship, pt 1
- Emitter: Cryosanthia
- Characters: Braelnoir, Ezil, Lanier, Nels, Namira, Acedia
- Place: Caverns of Merkabah
- Time: Tuesday, March 17, 2020, 5:06 PM
- Summary: Brealnoir returns to the underground cavern, bringing Ezil, hoping to rescue the goblin she saw trapped in the armour. While crawling there, they encounter another group that found a similar map as the one Braelnoir, and Ezil, each possess. Arriving at the underground cavern, they discover at least one more party has been through. The Corpse Armour Braelnoir is looking for is nowhere to be found. Tapping out a merc-talk message activates it, and the fight is on. The party swiftly defeats the Corpse Armour as it walks out of the middle of the cavern. Crossing to the other side, they discover a party of goblins that had been drowned. At the airship, Nels explorations reveal it is very much alive, but so damaged it isn't responding effectively to them. Braelnoir finds a way in, with more of the Corpse Armours in a storage area. When they open the doors and approach, the attack starts! The party manages to glue one down, and disable two others, but the fight is by no means over or decided as things end on a cliff-hanger, mid battle.
- APL: 4.3 (4 Ftr, 4 Pal, 5 rgr, 5 ftr, 4 clr, 4 brd)
- Encounter 1:
- Encounter 2:
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Appearing, in Order =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Braelnoir 5'11" 146 Lb Human Female A rough and tumble brunette wielding a scythe and a feral grin. Ezil 5'11" 175 Lb Human Male An armored man with dark skin, and grey-blonde hair. Lanier 6'0" 245 Lb Human Male Young, lean and strong Acanian wearing hide clothing. Nels 3'7" 42 Lb Goblin Male Tall, for a goblin, and athletic. Close-cut black hair. Namira 5'0" 98 Lb Shadow Elf Female Dark Elf wearing Vardaman Vestments Acedia 3'4" 39 Lb Goblin Female An ebon-skinned Goblin in leather armor. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- As the GM =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Cryosanthia 6'7" 245 Lb Sith-Makar Female A dashingly tall, lithe white lizardgirl with tattoos. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
Merkabah, somewhere underneath it, crawling through a crack in the rock. The crevice is tight, for a human sized individual it's slow going. Armour scrapes. It's dark and hard to see very far ahead simply because of its shape and irregularities. Marks are visible on the wall where people have been through before. This is expected.
What wasn't expected, was that two groups would be travelling through it at the same time. At least they're heading in the same direction. The group in front has been moving slower, and is caught by the second. The presence of each was obvious from the noises made by squeezing around the rocks, so hostilities were avoided. Once they're close enough, conversation can be had.
This route was shown on a map that was posted in the Explorer's Guild. Apparently, more than one copy was put up, which is unusual. Typically a group can be assured they're the only ones on a task. It's suspicious.
It's been... wierd. Leaving aside Brae's been transformed into her current silvery state, her last foray into this city, into this region in particular has been a congo line of bizarre circumstance, some more troubling than others. She has a bit of a time in her armor with the scythe, but the joint arrangement in her frame makes it noticibly easier than it otherwise would have been. "Th'cavern ahead's pretty damn big, an' it's flooded, starts about two feet and gets up to four'r more in places. The ledges are flimys an' crumble easily. There's fish in th'water, they really like magic an'... nibble at it or somethin', which is potentially a problem fer me an Nels. We mostly distracted them with cantrips cast on coils and so forth, scattered about."
"We had t'pull back from a Corpse Wagon. Reanimates the dead, somehow differn't from normal undead, but enslaves them to protecting Merkabah. It's got heavy redundant armor, move's about as fast as a gnome, but isn't hindered by the water like we'll be. Breathes some kind of gas, but we don't know what it does."
As she comes to a slight bend in the crevasse, she indexes her scythe and takes up crawling with it in the other hand and continues her tactical brief, "It also bleeds some kind of brown, caustic shit, maybe acid, but it eats through a crossbow bolt in about six'r'seven seconds. Gossip has it the cables in it's back that tie it to the Corpse Wagon make it almost invincible. That'll be the first goal, if we can pull it off.
"Hmm, might of been nice to know this before I came crawling down here with you...." Ezil's musing tone coming as he navigates the rocks, sucking in a breath to squeeze through one of the tighter places. "Though it wouldn't of changed my mind." he offers once he can breath again, looking back at the second party. "I only heard about all this last night."
Lanier is along for the journey, the group with Ezil and Braelnoir, though it was more chance than anything. He is grumbling as he picks his way through a narrow cavern, quietly grumbling to himself except for the fact that it's narrow in here and his voice travels even in wide spaces, "Everyone always brings enlarging magic on these adventures. Nobody ever brings reducing magic." He looks back to eyeball Spud, and finding him safe, looks forward again, continuing with a note of derision in his voice, "Me big! Me strong!" He then snorts, adding in a mock panicked voice, "Me stuck!"
Nels is here. Lately, she's been sort of well known, first for her curse, Braelnoir knows a bit more about that than most, and lately for a couple relatively successful missions in Merkahbah. Successful in Merkahbah meaning she came back mostly under her own power. And, well, she /claims/ to be a goblin, and so that part fits with the place, and she's been seen eating goblin chili, which most other races won't touch with a stick, but just right at the moment, she doesn't look the part. She's having a bit more trouble with this passage than she would have had as a goblin, but she's at least fairly petite in her cursed form, and which she at least now has a plan to fix. But, before plans comes the lure of adventure. And gold. "I've been in worse," she allows. "Though nostly on airships. Still, could be worse, right? Hey," she calls to Braelnoir and Ezil. "Gah, this is rough." Still, leather armor and a small thunderbelcher are not the bulkiest things to bring.
Coming up around the middle is Namira...who hears the person complaining ahead. "And so, the expedition was halted because someone couldn't put the fork down. How sad." the mul says rather dryly. "Anyone have any explosives? I fear if we had butter, he'd have eaten it." She then rolls her eyes. "So...what's in here again?"
Nels, Namira, Lanier, found a map at the Explorer's guild. Braelnoir has already been here, somehow has a copy of that map. The map showed an artifice airship in the cavern.
Braelnoir shrugs, "Sorry, luv. Had t'see this through, though." She cocks her head slightly as she hears movement behind them, and some grousing, and hmmm's, "We got more hands, sounds like." She looks back past her leg to Ezil, she thinks, "Got anything t'letcha see what's at the mouth of the cavern without us bein' there, yet?"
Lanier smirks, though his voice never quite sounds what one would call 'happy', "A grease spell will work too, and is really in no danger of being eaten. I got shot with a Grease spell once. When the magic wears off, the grease doesn't actually disappear. It just becomes filmy and less viscuous." There's a short pause, and then he adds, "On second thought, don't cast a grease spell on me. I'm not really stuck." After a bit of jostling, the slightly larger than average human pushes through a particularly narrow area and is, indeed, unstuck.
"Nope, not a damned thing. I got an everburning torch, and some rope though." Ezil says, looking behind him with a smirk still on his lips once they're passed the worst of the squeeze. "I heard Nels back there somewhere. I don't think I know the other two, but I'll take anyone we can get." taking a moment to rest, and look through his supplies. "I should of packed a bit better I guess. I got one trick to see things better though.... but I'd rather save it for when it counts."
Nels grumbles to Namira, "We can't help how we're made." The moreso in her case because it's something like a hostile polymorph thing. But she's at least not Lanier's size. She's quick and agile, even as a human. She looks relieved as Lanier becomes unstuck, and says, "I'm not keen on blowing stuff up here. Done it before, and ... not sure I was completely pleased with the result."
The parties aren't far from the cavern, perhaps only a couple hundred of feet. The crawling and spelunking could take fifteen minutes, or longer to get there. The shape of the crack prevents a lot of straight line visibility.
"Oh good....He's unstuck." Namira says before looking to Nel. "Well..let me know when we get into the cavern." She says still moving carefully.
Braelnoir nods, "Watch'r eyes, I'm turnin' my torch on." then activates the everburning torch tucked into some frogs in her belt. She shifts positions for a moment and looks back that way, "More folk from th'guild?" she asks of the crew moving up behind them.
Lanier closes his eyes against the increasing brightness of the torch ahead of him, turning his head away as he calls back, "Aye, we're from the guild. I'm Lanier Vaylan, a Green Warden..." He then asks, "Did you people see the map, too?" Even though he's talking, he's still pushing forward bit by bit, maneuvering around the crags and cracks that make this cavern.
Nels calls out, "Hello," as Braelnoir asks, and at about the same level of volume. This place does not seem like a shouty place. "Braelnoir? It's me, Nels, and two others. There was a map at the Guild," she explains.
Ezil thumbs at Braelnoir. "She did. I'm just following." eyes roaming Lanier as he draws closer. "It's a terrible situation from what I hear, so... want to merege our little bands?" he asks, a glance shot to Braelnoir to see if she wants to confirm that too. As Nels chimes in, Ezil laughs, and calls back. "Nels, I knew it was you!"
Braelnoir nods, frowning a little, "Thought I had th'only copy, luv. I been out this way before, some things ya oughta-" she breaks off at Nels' interjection and cants her head, "Hey, now! There's -definately- things you'll wanna hear about this mess. We definately wanna pool our assets on this one. We ran into the goal, and it has some obstacles. We got a few more minutes a'fore we reach the cavern proper, lemme give ya th'quick brief." And, with that, she turns the light off and starts to go over the information she'd just finished relaying to Ezil, also indicating that she's quite interested in putting down the sentinel, while starting to crawl through the crevasse anew.
Lanier listens as he scoots, his lips turning down into a frown, "I think that's a good idea." He then turns his head back to look towards his party members, "What say you?"
Nels heys to Ezil as he speaks up. She agrees about teaming up and listens carefully to what Braelnoir has to say. "Absolutely teaming up is good. This place is crazy." And then after the explanation, "I guess I'm ready," she says at the end. "So the same plan as always: wing it?"
A "Corpse Wagon", that's what this airship seems to be: a sort of battlefield reanimation device to turn recently dead into new soldiers. It's a mythical artifice. Anyone with know/arcana 'knows' it doesn't exist. Except, the preious party has, and the one Corpse Armour they fought had a cable in its back, connecting it to the ship, and nearly undefeatable while it was.
Ezil nods back to Braelnoir, moving to follow as she's taking point. "Always, Nels. It's worked for us so far here. Just keep an eye on eachother and don't be reckless." his intent to do as asked, and be led to this place.
"I am as ready as I'll ever be." Namira says with a sigh, but then she flexes her fingers. "If there is an undead in there...we shall destroy it."
Things have changed where the crack enters the cavern. During the first exploration, Braelnoir's group was chased out by some sort of undead in heavy armour. They left it standing at the passage mouth, in the water. It apparently was unable to climb and follow them into the crack. There isn't a lot of straight line visibility, at best there's 10' of the crevice before a rock outcropping blocks the sight of the cavern. It's good for retreating, but means anyone entering the cavern would almost immediately be in range of someone waiting at the mouth.
Except, no one is. It's moved. On first glance, the 'undead' doesn't seem to be anywhere.
The cavern is large, water filled, dark, longer on the north-south axis. The passage in is a crack that opens on the west wall, directly across from it on the east side is the crashed airship, a long bent cylinder lying with the tail end submerged in the water.
There is a faint glow to the north, underwater and another right in the middle, also underwater, between the crack and the airship.
GAME: Nels rolls perception: (10)+8: 18 GAME: Braelnoir rolls perception: (17)+0: 17 GAME: Ezil rolls Perception: (14)+2: 16 GAME: Lanier rolls Perception: (10)+9: 19
The glow is caused by a school of tiny fish, each one contributing a tiny flash as it swims leaving an overall dim light where the school is. Schools. Hanging quite high up in the air to the north, is a small iron bar. Directly beneath it, a school of fish circles. There is possibly, something in the midst of the second glow between the party and the airship. A shadowy thing in the water that the fish are circling.
The passage has a 'beachhead' of about 1' of floor, sloping down and covered in 1" of water, before it drops down into the cold water. The water is clear enough that a torch illuminates to the bottom, showing off underwater ledges and the flat rock. The water itself is smooth, cold.
Ezil takes his shield from his back, a moment used to fasten it to his arm while he looks back at the others. "These the fishies you were talking about? I wonder if we could eat them." not that he would, just a random thought voiced to help kill the tension. "Do we know what's down there at all, Bre?" he finally asks, taking in the scene as he prepares.
Across the way, there are dim red lights on the airship, implying a lingering power source, some sort of magical potential. It has turret like features, fore and aft, which have been dismantled, exposing gearing and wires.
Nels acks at water, and says, "Hey, hangon. I need to do something." 'Something' consists of mechanical tools and her thunderbelcher and a furious concentration made much more complex by the space as have to do this in. "Okay, that ought to work," she explains. "It's actually an interesting idea, I think I can make use of it." SHe peers out into the cavern finally, and asks, "Hey, what's in the water over by the fish? Is that the thing we're supposed to worry about?"
Looking into the water where the fish are, Namira tilts her head a bit. "There's something black in the water where the fish are. they must be looking at whatever it is."
Braelnoir straightens as circumstances allow and looks over the scene as within her capacity, "Almost afraid he'd still b'sittin' here." She looks back to the others, "Probably, biggish fer a goblin, but not quite swarf sized, real heavy armor?" she returns, then looks back into the water, "Elly, was with me last time, tried lurin' him to into the magic nibbling fishies. Anyone think they can cut th'cables over there from here?"
The party effectively has a 10' square to stand in at the passage mouth, allowing the cables to be shot from afar. It might be difficult to melee. More than 10' back, you're safe in the crack, blocked by rocks. The airship is 100' away, the cables 90', the glow in the water 50'"
As Lanier walks along and listens, "I didn't think something like that was possible." He then looks down into the water, shaking his head, "No, I wouldn't eat those. Whatever makes them glow will probably make you very sick." He pauses just before the mouth, not quite enough room for him to join the others there.
"I have a much better bow than I used too. I could try, but...." Ezil says, looking to the shield he just fastened. "I am no archer." finishing his words as he looks up the path. "Plus I can't see anything but those fish. My eyes are terrible for the dark."
To Lanier, he laughs, nodding his head. "I figured, but... always curious."
Nels has a sunrod. This 1-foot-long, gold-tipped iron rod glows brightly when struck (a standard action). It sheds normal light in a 30-foot radius and increases the light level by one step for an additional 30 feet beyond that area' So, 60 ft radius with it dim light in the outer part, she only needs to throw 30 ft to get it.
GAME: Nels rolls ranged: (18)+10: 28
Nels can't see anything past the fish, or other than the fish, at that distance, and the bits the fish are illuminating, but she says, "Hang on, I've got a sunrod, I'll toss it as far as I can." So, she gets a sunrod from her pack, lights it, and throws it in a high arc before it splashes down in the water, shedding daylight away into the distance.
The sunrod plunks into the water, illuminating a lot more of the cavern. The airship can easily be made out, as well as several cables that are looped and lying on the ramp at the tail end of it.
A figure in the water is backlit, as well as some other strange shapes that are close to the floor.
The fish, disturbed by the splash, leave where they are. Some head towards the source of the splash, the others mill about and meander towards the passage entrance.
A careful count gives 8 cables on the ramp. One seems to be stretching towards the party's location, the others are tangled and don't head in obvious directions. They're 90' away and well illuminated.
Shooting at cables GAME: Nels rolls 1d20+12-4: (6)+12+-4: 14 GAME: Lanier rolls 1d20+9: (13)+9: 22 GAME: Lanier rolls 1d8+4: (7)+4: 11 Which is the right one? GAME: Braelnoir rolls int: (18)+int: 18
Now that we can see what's what, Nels loads up her thunderbelcher, tamps the wadding in snugly, and draws a bead on the cable source, where it goes into the wall. She offsets for range. No windage in the cavern. She checks herself again, and fires. The gun erupts in a gout of flame and a cloud of smoke. There is a distant spark and a spang, but no obvious effect.
The retort echoes in the cavern. The fish seem unconcerned, and continue to slowly swim towards interesting things. The shadows in the water, do not react, yet.
As the light impacts the water downrange, Lanier's eyes squint as he takes in the mess and mass of cables that are on the other side. He hrms lightly, then nods to the others, "I think I should be able to hit that too." He unshoulders his longbow, angling within the mouth of the cavern to get more room to utilize it. He reaches down to his belt, drawing an arrow from his quiver and nocking it to his bowstring. He waits, his eyes on Nels as he takes his shot. He emits a short grunt with the audible qualities of the gun in such an enclosed space.
Shaking his head, he raises the bow with a slightly sideways cant. He draws back the string, to his cheek, adjusts his aimpoint by lifting the bow just slightly, and releasing. The arrow sails through the air with a barely audible whistle, neatly severing the cable which emits a brown fluid from the within.
Braelnoir cants her head, "Mebbe it ain't realized it's under attack." She leans her scythe against the wall, unslings her crossbow and spends a moment loading it after making sure she got all the fish out of the track from last time. She narrows her eyes, trying to remember which one she saw connected to the armor, last time. She grins and looks to the others, "Think that's the one we want, nice shot!" and she swings her crossbow toward the glowing nimbus in the water, just in case it starts to react, "There's another one that led off a fair ways, but we didn't get a good look at where it ended, rest just ended arround the water, mebbe those other shapes, there! Anyone see movement?"
Nels will nod to Lanier, and she tells him, "Nice shot." She's a little disappointed she couldn't hit it, herself, but that's one of the drawbacks of guns. Not great at range. "So now what?" she wonders. "Can we swim over? I don't like water in Merkahbah."
A school of fish have arrived at the passage mouth. They are tiny, minnows, and pale. They cluster near Braelnoir. A bunch more seem to have joined up with the sunrod and become lost in its illumination. The brown fluid leaks, and then stops flowing.
There's still no movement in the water.
Inching forward, Ezil puts his hand upon his blade's handle. "Well, that fluid looks like what you were describing" he mentions, the lack of movement seeming to bother him more than if it had moved. "Do we chance it, or hit the others?"
Examining the Fish and the Brown Fluids GAME: Lanier rolls Knowledge/Nature: (9)+10: 19 GAME: Namira rolls heal: (12)+9: 21 GAME: Namira rolls knowledge/nature: (1)+4: 5 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Lanier rolls Heal: (15)+9: 24
Braelnoir looks up at the rod floating in the air, "I dun' like the fish, they mess with our transformation." she counters to Nels' remark, "Anyone got a grapplin' hook? We could probably swing over." She frowns and considers something, "I'm gonna see if he's still in there." Her crossbow is reslung and she closes a hand around the scythe, the shaft creaks.
To Namira, it looks like dried blood, that has perhaps been made into a slurry. Lanier, also recognize it as dried blood, but it also resembles some mushroom spoors in colour. A kind of hallucinagenic one, that can cause tissue rot.
Acedia, who had apparently nodded off, wakes up with a squeaky yawn. She fumbles about a belt pouch, and offers something up to Braelnoir. "It has a grapple hook, and ya can tie a rope to it if uh... twenty five feet isn't enough." It is her Gobbo army knife. Everything including the kitchen sink. "You gotta twist this bit here, then pull the crank out, then you gotta crank it for thirty revolutions, then push this button here, and swing it this way.." It's a lengthy description of its operation.
Namira kneels down somewhat close to the brown goo and tilt sher head. "There's dried blood here." She says as she studies it very close. "It's been made into a slurry of sorts."
Nels ehs to Braelnoir, and asks, "Mess with the transformation how?" That ... actually sounds like good news, to her. As far as grappling hooks go, she pulls out a goblin army knife from her pack, and starts manipulating the controls. Eggbeater? No.... Broom? No .... "There we go," she says after a few minutes of fumbling, and will offer the slightly grappling hook.
Braelnoir smiles to Ace's offer, 'Silk rope in the big back pouch under the crossbow, luv. I'm gonna check on our boy. Owe'm at least a hello 'fore we set him t'the Hall.' The chimera seems vaguely disturbed for a moment, then resolute as she picks up her right hoof and stomps out a particular pattern of sounds. "bleh sandy blah blrgl blah sandy" <unknown>
Translation: 'It is time. Your service ends.'
"I did bring rope... but no hook. I think I dropped the ball on preperations." Ezil says, looking as the party makes a plan to cross the water. Though after a moment he looks to Nels, smirking wide. "At least I didn't throw a rock in there this time, right? Might piss off Mr. Dark-and-Shadowy."
Lowering the bow, he looks towards Nels and nods his head, "Thank you." He then looks towards Braelnoir and nods, "Sure thing." He turns to look over towards Namira, tilting his head and walking over. He reaches down, taking his torch off his belt and gesturing towards what she's seeing, "You know, I'm not completely sure, but that looks like these mushroom spores I encountered once. They're hallucinagenic and cause tissue rot." He looks up and then looks around, "We may not want to go swimming there."
At first, there is nothing. No movement, no response.
Then the water ripples, the backlit figure moves. Through the rocks, a set of vibrations, similar to the ones Braelnoir stamped out.
The Gobbo's ears perk up as Braelnoir taps out a message, and she blinks a few moments later as the water ripples. She grins toothily and looks to Braelnoir. "Good news?"
"... Foxtrot... Hotel... Queen Tango... Tango Yello..."
Translation: '... Flee... hostiles... quadrant three... thank you...'
It's moving, it's approaching. The dome of it's head rises from the water, followed by shoulders.
The figure started in the middle of the cavern, 50' away. It advances, pushing through the water, moving 10' closer and slowly rising into view. Its reply, perhaps, prevented it from moving further.
Braelnoir closes her eyes, feeling the return, nodding, and gives a solemn, "He's ready." She staightens and, barks, "Incoming!" even as he's starting to surface, then shaft creaking in her hands' grip, she roars, "KOOOORRRRRRRRRR!" and surges into the water to prepare to greet the poor sod for his release party.
GAME: Acedia casts Mirror Image. Caster Level: 5 DC: 14 GAME: Acedia rolls 1d4+1: (3)+1: 4
Acedia lets out a long huff of breath, but grins. "I've been wanting to try this out!" She begins saying something under her breath, in Goblin-talk, her fingers weaving an arcane pattern in the air. A moment later, there are five Gobbos!
The fish swarm around the chimera. She has a halo illuminating her position in the water. They nibble, lots of nibbles, all over.
As the figure rises out of the water, it becomes more clear. An individual, 4' tall, wearing very heavy plate armour, moving with the jerking motions of a corpse.
Nels, Using deady aim. GAME: Nels rolls 1d20+11: (19)+11: 30 GAME: Nels rolls 1d10+6: (10)+6: 16
Nels watches. "What's that?" she asks, but she's frantically reloading her thunderbelcher even as she waits for the answer. Nothing in this whole place is friendly, she's observed. She backs into the crack, though, as much to give others room as to get away, because she's not retreating. So, with bruised elbows, she loads her thunderbelcher and shoulders it, waiting for a clear shot. When she takes it, there's an eruption, a jet of flame and a cloud of smoke, and a very loud clang as the ball hits its target.
A clear hole is punched in the armour. Brown fluid, similar to what was observed earlier, leaks down the breastplate.
Ezil moves after Braelnoir, his scimitar drawn as he treads into the water to stand next to her with shield at the ready. "Yeah, this is creepier than I thought." giving her at least some acknowledgment of the situation she's been through. Now it's time to focus on the potential fight at hand.
Lanier, shoot it with arrows, drop the bow on shore, draw the greatsword with quickdraw, and move out into the water." GAME: Lanier rolls 1d20+7: (1)+7: 8 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Lanier rolls 1d20+7: (4)+7: 11
As the shape approaches them, Lanier raises his bow, takes aim, and fires two shots into the water. They penetrate the depths, but go wide of the approaching form. With a grunt, he puts his hand back and lets the composite longbow fall to the ground. He reaches up with his other hand, grits his teeth, and yanks the sword off his back as he wades into the water. He looks towards Braelnoir for a moment, seeming taken aback by the calling out to the gods. He shakes his head for a moment, then says, "I guess we're doing that." He raises his sword above the water, taking a deep breath and shouting, "SPUUUUUUUD!"
The ranger's animal companion, Spud, who seems to have taken a hard pass on wading into the water, tilts his head to the side and casts a look towards the ranger that communicates clear confusion on the part of the wolf.
Namira has her hand on her medallion already. "Grey lady, bless my allies to destory this abomination to your faith!" Everyone can feel someone guiding their hands.
Braelnoir throws Holy Water GAME: Braelnoir rolls ranged: (16)+7: 23 GAME: Braelnoir rolls 2d4: (6): 6
The chimera cants her head a little and despite the slight squirming she's doing from the glowing nimbus of tickling going absolutely nuts on her beneath the surface, she stamps out a message under the water, quick and to the point, "beagle bleep" then pulls a small blessed vial from her bandolier and whips it at the armored abomination, 'Remember t'be ware of's breath!'. <unknown>
Translation: 'Query name.'
"Nice shot! The water sure learned its lesson!"
Acedia begins to move back and forth, her dopplegangers moving around her as she turns about. "Hah, you can do it! Beat his ass! Work together! Rah rah rah! Nothing to fear but fear itself!"
The fish are absolutely loving the silvery chimera. Waist down and below, she can feel them nibbling everywhere, and ticklish, tingling sensations spreading from the contact.
The Corpse Armour keeps trudging forward, the water streaming away from it. The holy water, seemed to have no obvious effect, it was already wet. One step is an odd sticcato.
"... Bravo..."
Translation: '... Brakka..."
Nels, Shoot GAME: Nels rolls 1d20+14: (7)+14: 21 GAME: Nels rolls 1d10+8: (6)+8: 14
Nels is wedged a bit higher up in the cleft in the wall, foot braced on one side, hips on the other, loading her gun as fast as she can. She shoulders it, can't miss at this range, and BOOM, smoke and fire and another hole in the thing that leaks brown gunk. "Gah," she makes a face.
The Corpse Armour is close, 20' away. On dry land, it would be possible to charge. Here, with the water depth. Impossible.
Ezil hunkers down, bringing his shield completely froward as he tries to minimize any target he may present. His eyes flick to Braelnoir and then the fish beginning to swirl at her feet, but... if the woman is fine with this risk, he will not mention it. "Can it walk any slower?" he tries to joke, but with those words his focus is now on their main foe.
Lanier, quickdraw alchemist's fire, throw it in its face, ranged touch GAME: Lanier rolls 1d20+BAB+Dex+2+1: (19)+5+Dex+2+1: 27 GAME: Lanier rolls 1d6: (5): 5
It catches on fire. It takes a few more steps and falls over into the water. Underwater, the alchemical fire is washed off and no longer burns.
Holding his ground as the armored corpse makes its way towards them, Lanier takes a moment to adjust his grip on the sword. He then shifts his feet to alter his stance. Then he steps out of his stance, setting his sword broadside down on his shoulder. He reaches down, scratches himself, then looks over towards Braelnoir and gives a quick shrug. He then fiddles at his belt, removing a flask. Without preamble, he overhand chucks it at the approaching creature, the glass impacting on the armor of the armored corpse and shattering into a bright ball of flames.
As the creature nose dives into the water, Lanier lifts his sword again and asks, "Do you see where it is? Is it moving?"
Namira, casting spiritual weapon, attack GAME: Namira casts Spiritual Weapon. Caster Level: 3 DC: 15 GAME: Namira rolls 1d20+3+2: (15)+3+2: 20 GAME: Namira rolls 1d8+2: (7)+2: 9
Namira runs her fingers across her medallion and a glowing khopesh appears above the thing, and stabs it in the back. It seems to have worked cuz the thing isn't moving anymore. "Interesting." She says...but doesn't move closer.
Some of the fish around Braelnoir and the Corpse Armour are drawn towards the weapon, giving it a halo as well while it is in the water.
The Corpse Armour itself, it doesn't move. It lies where stabbed.
"I'm slowing him down talking." Brae hisses between gritted teeth, still squirming and shaking her head, "Pushin' my luck wi'the fish." sounding a little nervous. As Lanier beans the target with alchemists fire and shortly after sends it down under the waves, Brae starts to slog forward, "Well done! Now t'go make sure..." Which is about when the spellborne weapon appears and starts... doing that very thing. The tingling is getting intense and she's sure she doesn't want to see how this part ends, while she didn't directly deal the death blow, she can at least bring him someplace to rest. She uses her scythe to try and hook under the chin and get the head free.
"Yay, well done!", the Gobbo calls out, hopping from foot to food in quintuplicate. "Get outta there now, Braelnoir!" Acedia begins pulling coppers from her coinpurse, and sets them alight, tossing the glowing coins into the water near Braelnoir, and then in a trail leading away from the soggy woman.
Ezil sheaths his weapon, taking a long time to just stare at it, and the lines connected to it. He looks about the cavern, and the the path leading to the airship in question. "Do you require help?" he asks of Braelnoir, still on guard as this has been his easiest encounter in this place, and that doesn't seem to bode well for him.
As the once again deanimated corpse is checked and confirmed to be dead (again), Lanier nods his head and rests his sword on his shoulder once again. He grits his teeth and smiles savagely, "I need to remember to invoke the mighty name of Spud more often. It really works!" He wades out, looking down towards the corpse and saying, "Let's go back on shore. It's really not worth risking whatever is in this water staying on us for too long."
Nels is still wedged in the crevice. It's nice and comfy here. "Wait, was that all we came for?" she asks. "I thought there was more?" She looks to the illuminated area across the water.
Plonk
Plonk
Glowing coins splash into the water. Some of the fish swim off to investigate. Most however, are quite happy with their current meal. The silvery chimera is delicious apparently, even the fish nibbling on the corpse armour abandon it and surround her instead.
It's a short walk through the water, 20', made longer by the resistance it provides, and perhaps, the tickling attention of the fish. Beheading the Corpse Armour is possible, but it takes some sawing and leverage. The helmet and neck seems incredibly thick. Finally it's possible off, and the water around the body becomes cloudy as the brown fluid leaks out.
Across on the other side of the cavern, there's a crashed airship, glittering bronze in the sunrod's light.
Halfway across, in the water, there are strange silhouettes which haven't moved during all this.
"Yeah...I imagine that water's going to get scummy before long." Namira then looks to Lanier. "Didn't you say there was fungus of sorts in that stuff we saw?"
Ezil gets out of the water, taking turns to shake out each leg and boot with a jostle. "I am glad this wasn't worse. But... we were prepared, and had good information." he muses, looking back to Braelnoir. His shield is taken from his arm, and he lets out an audible sigh. "This... this was not so bad."
Braelnoir is still fidgetting and squirming up a storm as the fish keep feeding on what's keeping her in her current shape. Ezil's question gets a panted, "Yes!" She dips down and flouders in the water to get the freed brainbucket and, with new haste, starts to try to get to some form of shore, though unsteadily and, while she was reasonably composed if kind of solemn before, now she seems nervous, almost frightened, "Somethin's wrong, I can feel it...!"
Ezil is confused, turning to help Braelnoir and finish getting that corpse out of the water. He's flushed, a bit embarrassed as he had taken a bit to move to her aid, but doing so now. "Why do you have a bad feeling?" he asks, confused as he bends to help hoist the body on dry land, and offer her his grip to help get out. "Do we need to still cross this? Was it not done before?"
With his sword still on his shoulder, he looks towards Ezil and nods his head, "That went well, but it was only just the beginning." He then looks towards Braelnoir, "Are you alright?" With a few lopping and splashing steps, Lanier makes his way over towards Braelnoir, offering a hand to help pull towards the shore, "Come on. Get out of this water."
Nels is curious why they're pulling out the corpse, but if they want to, she's not going to stop them, taking the role of lookout while all this is going on. "It's the airship we're after," she points out. She'll try to see if maybe there's some floating debris they could use as a raft? Possibly if pulled free from the wreck?
There seems to be nothing floating on the surface of the water, even out where the illumination is faint. You paged Braelnoir with 'Also, you walked straight through where those silhouettes are under the water. There was nothing there last time. That's new.'
Namira is still keeping an eye on the water as it clouds over. However, she IS moving out of the water.
Lanier says, "How much rope do we have?"
Ezil says, "I have a roll of Spidersilk. 50'"
Nels says, "You know. A goblin army knife can be a 1-person canvas tent. That implies that cloth is possible. That implies a kayak is possible."
Lanier says, "I love my Goblin army knife. It has everything! A corkscrew. Can opener. Screw driver. Bottle opener. Hole punch. Marital aid. Key ring. Tweezers. Amazing magical do-button that orders me a pizza right to my location, any time, anywhere. Toothpicks! Oh... and a knife. Too bad I left it at home."
Acedia says, "Knife to meet you too."
Braelnoir is twitching, and her gaits gets more unsteady as she gasps out in stunned dismay, the grip on her scythe is too tight to tell, but the fingers cradling the head are splayed enough to reveal something transluscent spanning the distance between them, as the water level lowers from her betline, an spined fin, like a fish is revealed along the top of her tail near where it meets her pelvis. Meanwhile the glowing fish continue to go nuts.
Lanier says, "Woah! What bit Bralnoir on the arse?"
Braelnoir says, "Mighty miny magic mangiang minnows"
Nels is, as all this is going on, working her goblin army knife frantically. "What was the combination for that. I used to know it." She fiddles with it, producing a lamp, then a piton. She shakes her head, tries a few more levers, and ahhs, "That's got it," as the device turns from a tent into a very small kayak. She unwedges herself from the cleft in the wall and gets it into the water, then climbs inside. "Hand me like three ropes, and I'll tie them off on the ship. You tie them to spikes at this end, and we can rope bridge across," she suggests.
Braelnoir says, "I forgot the knife has a boat in it!"
Lanier says, "I really need one of those things. That's awesome."
Ezil heads back into the water at the sign of distress, trudging his way towards Braelnoir as his voice is raised. "Is it the darts?!" he calls, trying at first to make enough movement to scare the fish, but his second option is to grab and try and drag the woman directly. "Come one, let's get you out of here." his efforts now to get the changing chimera out of the water before she can't leave it herself.
Attaching ropes and rope tricks GAME: Nels rolls survival: (2)+1: 3 GAME: Namira rolls survival: (12)+3: 15 GAME: Lanier rolls Survival: (13)+9: 22
One she's hauled out of the water between the boys, still clutching the scythe in one hand and the head of the undead guardian in the other, additional fins are revealed along her calves, and it's as her hooves clop heavily onto 'dry' floor once again, Brae collapses with several shudders, both objects meeting the floor with much clanging. A pant or two, a shake of her head, then, "M'back pouch... got... got spidersilk if w'need it...." That said, she rols onto her hip and tries to look over herself to see what's happened.
Nels has hammered in a spike into the wall by the crack and tied her own rope off to that. It's not the high-quality ropes like the others have, but it's cheap, and that made the sale. She will take her kayak and ... the ropes on the ground. She goes back, fiddles with it again, gets back in the kayak, waits for the others, looks back, finds the rope on the ground. "Gah, one of you guys get that?" She peers at Braelnoir, "Uh, you okay?" she wonders.
As Braelnoir is back on shore, or making their way back, Lanier begins gathering the rope and handing sides off to Nels witha nod, "I'll drive pistons in here, and then tie off the ropes." He then moves back onto the shore, finding the heaviest set of rocks, he goins to work on pounding the pitons into the stone with a hammer. He then takes each end, tying them off with very secure knots. He then pulls them to check the tension and then shouts, "Set!"
The new additions to the chimera are disturbingly sensitive. This fades, perhaps as the magic in her dies down. The fins move and flex with her muscles.
The goblin-knife-kayak seems sea-worthy enough, especially for a calm underground lake. It does draw the attention of the fish. Or perhaps, it is the kayak's passenger. They cluster underneath it, causing a glow that follows the watercraft as it moves.
Halfway across the cavern, at the deepest point of the water, a disturbing scene reveals itself.
The silhouettes resolve into bodies, and a boat. The bodies are of four goblins, each crushed and cut in horrible ways. The cold water and the weight of their armour keeps them under and on the cavern floor. The ripples on the water, from the kayak's motions, cause the images to distort. One goblin stares up, her face a grimace of terror and surprise, mouth open. Full of water. Dead.
The boat seems to be some folding contraption, as it wouldn't fit through the crevice normally. It has a hole punched in it, is bent, and rests hull upwards beneath the water. The position of the bodies suggest it was tipped, and then the goblins drowned or were pummeled to death.
There is also a bag underwater, and a spray of 'loot' from it. The loot seems to be a remarkably nice set of cook's knives, very modern looking, as well as pieces that were clearly pulled off the airship. Panels, wires, small artifice devices, brass spheres.
Nels, with the ropes anchored, using the butt of her thunderbelcher as an improvised paddle, will skim her way across the water slowly. Because she doesn't know much about how to actually do it. When she passes the bodies, she'll try and push them away if they get too close, and will get past them as fast as she can. Though the loot looks pretty cool. .... nono, she's got to get across, this is exactly the sort of trap traps are made of.
Braelnoir takes a few for all the wierd sensations to die down before she answers, "Ha... yeah... yeah I'm ok, thanks, luv." She takes deep breath and looks to Nels, "Fancy a dip?" she quips weakly, then makes to stand, considering her hand for a moment, "Oh fer fuck's sake..." Sigh, she reaches into her pouch to withdraw her previously mentioned rope in case it's still needed.
The bodies lie there on the bottom, as the kayak passes over, with blank stares to watch it. No movement, not even disturbed by the paddling, they remain frozen where they fell, claimed by the lake.
They drop out of sight as the kayak moves on, returning to the strange silhouettes they were earlier. Soon the canvass boat bumps the ramp, which seems solid enough. Up close, this airship is clearly artifice, full of glass and brass, odd pipes and lights. The paddling echoes through the chamber, then dies down. It's easy enough to shout back and forth, the sound carries well.
Ezil looks after Nels, then back to Braelnoir to assess any change she may have suffered. He too takes out his rope, looking around at the others as some plan seems to have taken shape. "Well in for a copper, in for a pot." he notes, seeming to affirm his resolve to keep going. "They wanted a fishy friend huh?" he asks Brae, trying to lighten the mood, but something about that pool still freaks him out.
Nels gets to the airship, pulls herself and the rope up out of the water, then the kayak with her, so it doesn't drift away. She'll set it on the deck, then look for good places to tie the ropes to at this end.
<OOC> Nels, profession airman, to know where to tie ropes to. GAME: Nels rolls profession/airman: (16)+9: 25 <OOC> Cryosanthia says, "Oooooooo! You find great spots, and get some extra info!"
Airships have airbags. This, does not have an airbag. It doesn't have the connection points for an airbag mesh, or the hot air mechanisms to power one, or the setup for a self contained hydrogen/helium one. The only thing that makes sense, is those 'turrets' were some sort of Anti-gravity/levitation/flight artifice. It looks like an airship, even up close, but it's _wrong_.
Nels ties the ropes off to the actual intentional tiedown points and makes them fast, winching the ropes taut enough to use as like a tightrope, but with additional ropes at hand level to hold onto so you can keep your balance. "Should be OK now," she calls back across.
Lanier stands, walking back to the edge of the shore to call out, "Understood!" He turns back, looking between the others gathered on this side of the shore and says, "Look, I think I'm the heaviest of all of you. I'll go across first, test the weight, and then you'll follow along." He then looks towards Spud the wolf, shaking his head, "You're staying here, boy." He goes about the business of picking up his longbow and resecuring his greatsword to his back, "Any objections?"
It's a bridge. A rope bridge across the cavern, with one to stand on and two to balance with. All seem securely anchored at both ends. It dips a little in the middle, of course, but the height seems enough to keep everyone out of the water.
Braelnoir gets to her hooves and looks around as the others do the 'pillage pillage pillage, loot loot loot!' thing. The rope bridge makes her squint some, look at her hooves, then, "This'll suck." She looks to Lanier a moment with a, "Might surprise ya, luv, but go ahead, I'm gonna have to cross awkward."
Ezil nods to Lanier, looking to the rope bridge, and then after Nels once more. "Sure thing. I will wait my turn." seeming to choose to go last after Braelnoir. He's got to work up to these things. "I really wish I could afford that mithril right about now." speaking to himself, about what? Who knows.
Roll athletics to climb across without falling in GAME: Lanier rolls Athletics: (15)+10: 25 GAME: Braelnoir rolls athletics-2: (12)+6+-2: 16 GAME: Ezil rolls athletics: (5)+-3: 2 GAME: Ezil rolls athletics: (11)+-3: 8
Lanier narrows his eyes towards Braelnoir, turning his pack over to dig into it. He then pulls out a loose collection of small ropes, rings, and straps, a climbers kit. He offers it towards Braelnoir and adds, "Here, you can secure yourself to the bridge as you cross with this." He then loads up on the bridge, beginning to pick his way across slowly. At a point about half-way across, he shifts his weight to bounce slightly. He then calls back, "It's secure!"
Nels is, meanwhile, peering at the marvelous ship. As the others arrive, she tells them, "This isn't like modern airships. See those turret looking things there?" She points. "I think those are what kept it aloft. We should try to recover one."
Brae accepts the kit with a smile and a, "Thanks luv, I'll get't back t'ya." Once she's gotten it buckled into place, she starts across the bridge, biting her lip in discomfort as she rests her weight on the large dew claws backing her hooves rather than the hooves themselves. As she's about that, she decides to remark, "I been thinkin'... what if this was a setup? Why'd the guild give two groups this map without sayin' anything?"
Ezil clings too tightly to the rope, his balance when not on flat ground is awful. He wobbles and almost falls, not once, but twice! "I knew I didn't like this. I am a sentinel, not a showman! If I'd of wanted to learn to walk ropes, I'd of stayed with the caravan." he huffs as he manages to slowly shimmy across without a catastrophic incident. "Ya know... it's more than two. I have one in my bag. I'm pretty sure it's the same map." looking for that piece of paper he was handed in the pub. "Cryosanthia said it was given to her from a goblin." he notes, pulling it out to compare.
Working along the rope bridge, it's possible to the boat Nels paddled over. A mending spell or perhaps an appropriate craft would be an easy repair if it was fished it out.
Namira doesn't seem to mind getting wet, as she makes her way across fairly easily, and without incident. However, she keeps looking around...especially into the darkness.
The turrets would take some dismantling, and it looks like that has happened already. Some parts exposed parts seem very shiny. There would be two more turrets on the other side, the side crushed on the wall. Likely some parts could be accessed from inside.
Nels says to Brae, "I give it even odds that they even -know- they gave it to two groups. If they did, they expected one or the other of us to succeed and figured it doubled their chances to give it to both groups. So by both of our groups succeeding, we're putting one over on them. But it's their doing if they gave us all the same mission."
The map seems identical to the one Nels, Namira and Lanier got from the guild.
Namira says, "Strange that they would give two maps though. Perhaps they want this mission to be a success? Or there is something important here." She also keeps looking where the light doesn't go."
As Lanier appears on the deck of the airship, he looks up towards the turret indicated by Nels. He then nods his head, "That's a possibility, but we'll need to figure out a way to get it back through that crevice." He then looks towards Nels and shakes his head, "I think I'm too well-fed to pull it off." He then adds, "I agree that it was probably to increase their chances. I wouldn't be surprised if they had sent others who subsequently ended up at the bottom of the water."
Nels nods about them having sent out others. "Yeah, they had a folding boat, but that didn't make it." She hrms. "I'll bet if we disassembled the bits we want to small enough pieces, we could get them though the crevice."
Braelnoir shrugs, once she's reached the other side, "Yeah... maybe. So, who's real good with dismantlin' mojo-tech?" She spares a queer glances at her little finger webs then sighs, "Least they still work." The airship was originally a long, octagonal cylinder. It is bent now, like a banana, from having crashed against the wall. This impact appears to have driven the starboard side into the rocks and wedged it tight. There's a light incline, to the length of the vehicle. The back end where the party is has a ramp, which has dropped down from the rear and is partially in the water.
The ramp has a track in it, and a pedestal, as well as several cables snaking about and hanging into the water. One is severed, the others visibly have nothing attached to them, except for one, which heads off in a North West direction, vaguely towards the immobile rod that hangs in the air. The cables all disappear into the rear of the airship. Enough light gets in to show a small room, the far wall of which seems to be a vertical sliding door. It's almost to the floor, held open a few inches by the cables that are running under it, which vanish into the airship, and darkness.
Nels admits "I was an air sailor, but I worked in the armory or as a deckhand, I don't know much about the technical side. I just about know where to stick the grease, if you point me in the right direction. But I do know this stuff will make them go wild in Alexandria."
Lanier shakes his head to Braelnoir, "This isn't my kind of mojo. This is about as far from matural as one gets." He takes a look around and then adds, "On so many levels." He looks back to the others and adds, "We should probably clear this place of the riff-raff and possibly blow this up so that this technology can't fall into hands that would ever use it in war."
"It's like they wanted people to come here. Though, that's both good and bad." Ezil says, taking his shield off his back, and moving to fasten it back to his arm. "This place also sounds too good to be true. Something's really not right." glancing back to Braelnoir, almost echoing her words as he prepares. "Multiple maps, a big treasure. Undead, and goblins put to a horrible rest under the water. It screams wrong." His torch is taken from his belt, glancing between the others and nodding to Lanier. "I agree. Scuttle it."
The chimera looks back toward the landing whence her scythe and the head lay, "I mostly come t'set Brakka t'rest. We can scorch this forsaken thing fer all I care."
The party is on the back end of an airship. It's got an inside space that no one can see far into, which has a door. It's possible to climb around the outside. There may be other ways in which can't be seen from the current location. It's very valuable tech, it's too broken to fly, and the circumstances that the party here are suspicious.
Nels adds, "If we can disassemble it small enough, we can carry it in pieces back through the crack." She gives Lanier a puzzled look. "Alexandria'd use it in war, too, though it'd take anyone /years/ to figure out all how it worked. It's different from how we do airships now," she explains. "Scuttle? No way, this stuff is like gold, to the right people. You're reading wayyyy too much into the situation," she complains to Ezil, and looks shocked at Braenoir. "C'mon, guys, this is our payday!" Of course this is the goblin talking.
"If we're going to burn it......we should set it ablaze and run. I don't want to be caught in here when the fire catches and the smoke chokes the cave." Namira says softly.
The Airship is mostly made of brass, glass. Metal. From the outside, there would be great difficulty getting it to burn. Inside, perhaps there is wood.
"Wanna swipe the flight systems? Fine. What about the spook-tech? Whatever gearwork is buried in this accursed thing that makes a slave outta yer corpse? Only you ain't dead, yer still in there, forced t'fight fer yer enemies until someone destroys you?" With that, Brae emphaticly points back toward where the severed head lay, "Y'know how long ago th'fighting was? How long Brakka, that soul we just freed, was stuck standing in place, without even th'ability to scream? That ain't no way t'wage war!"
Lanier's eyes darken, and he looks back towards Nels, "I don't care who would use it for war. Something like this should not exist. This is an abomination." He turns, taking a few steps away his teeth audibly grinding before he adds emphatically, "Everything I've encountered in this forsaken city is an abomination. If we use this, even for the so-called 'just' reason of protection of Alexandros, then we become abominations." He frowns, shaking his head again, "No. Not this. This airship burns, sinks, melts, or is somehow otherwise rendered impossible to use."
Nels ehs about the guardian, and admits, "Sure, sure, that part was bad. And if we find more parts like that, burning those parts are fine But it's not -all- like that. You're throwing out the good with the bad if you wreck the whole ship." She grumbles at Lanier, "Then you're calling me an abomination. If you hate Alexandria so much, why are you even there? Anyhow, it's not an abomination any more than gunpowder flavored pork rinds are." Mind you, a lot of people -would- say that gunpowder flavored pork rinds are an abonination, but Nels loves them.
"I've never tried them. Always been sold out when I went to Goblintown." Ezil says, his torch-head taken from it's pouch so the everburning flame can do it's thing. He keeps it low, keeping the light contained mostly behind his shield. "I understand the reasons for wanting such things, but no. I do not think this will 'aid' anyone with it's recovery. It's likely to set us all behind in the end once it's put to use." shuddering at the thought of the last contraption associated with this. He will step forward, and take a peek inside.
"They're ok. Prefer Polrus pepper flavored, though." Brae remarks offhandedly, then, more seriously, "B'we should be careful what we touch, cuz this thing is still alive. It powered up on us the last time, when he woke up. Th'old stories didn't tell if the boat handled the conversion itself, or if they used artificers as crew to do the job, -be-careful-. There ain't no worse death out there, then the one that mocks ya from outta reach." She considers the cable and draws her sword before she follows it back up the ramp toward the door, then draws and activates her everburning torch with the other, "Easy, now..."
Nels will scale up in the rigging, then, to take one last look around, since it looks like the party's gonna burn the ship. "The guild probably won't even pay us," she complains with a sigh as some of the others peek around also.
With a loud snarl, Lanier replies with a barely contained, "No!" He then points towards Nels, "You, no." Then the blunderbus, "That noise machine, maybe." Then the sky, in general, "Gunpowder flavored pork rinds, probably." He then points down, "This ship? Definitely. That garden I encountered that was killing adventurers to spawn. Definitely. Any part of this ship which, because we don't understand it how it all fits together, can be reverse engineered to create the effect of ressurecting the dead to a unnatural life of combat against the will of the Gods?" Lanier's teeth are bared now, his fists balled, and a vein beginning to become more prominent upon his forehead, "Yes!"
With a sharp turn, he begins walking back towards the ramp leading downwards towards the water, a deep breath entering his lungs and then exhaling slowly with each step down.
Athletics to climb around, +2 to Nels because of Profession/Airman GAME: Nels rolls athletics: (9)+10: 19
"ENOUGH!" Namira yells at Lanier. "Until we find out WHY we're here...opinions are MOOT! Let's find the flight controls and what's inside...then decide instead of simply standing here." She then looks over to Nels climbing up. "LIke Nels. Get moving! Or shut your FAT HOLE AND LEAVE WITH YOUR TEMPER TANTRUM LIKE THE MAN CHILD YOU ARE!"
The immediate area just inside from the ramp seems to be a staging area. A flat floor which has sloped sides where it gets to the edges of the airship. A track runs down the middle of it, lining up with the one in the ramp. There are a few glowing lights still active. The door, is a wide rolling contraption that goes up into the ceiling. All the cables go underneath it. They've stopped it from rolling all the way to the bottom.
Crawling around on the outside of the airship, a few more things become apparent. It has a front end, similar to the rear, except it was crushed in the impact so while it would be possible to enter that way, some work is required. The turrets have largely been dismantled, they're effectively shells. The fore one is in better shape than the aft, in the sense that it has more bits left. Conduits and gears lead into the hull of the airship, but it seems possible to get in that way. There's a hatch of some sort that accesses the middle, from the topside. The front of the airship, has a lot more windows. If there's flight controls, that's likely the cockpit.
Nels ooohs, may have found the cockpit? She will continue in that direction, still exploring, surpressing a smirk as Namira yells at Lanier. Saves her the effort. "I may have something up here," she tells the others, though the tough part is decided whether to get out her wrech fror disassembling, or her sketchpad to take it all in.
"This is where I should say something inspirational... talk to you all about community, and that it takes all types. It usually ends with a hug, or a shake of hands, but I just don't think I need to be giving children's temple lessons on how to get along." Ezil says, looking up to Nels, then to Lanier and even including Namira in this bit. "We've pretty much announced ourselves, but on the off chance we havent... let's take a lesson from this... and everyone embrace their inner tsuran. Be quiet, be sneaky, and keep your opinion to yourself until we need it. Yeah?"
Stealth to avoid setting off a trap GAME: Nels rolls stealth: (12)+8: 20
Namira looks over to Ezil, then shakes her head. "Fine...I'll keep quiet until you need prayers to heal you." She says walking over to a boulder and simply sitting down. She's still scanning the dark areas of the cave....
Braelnoir's hooves aren't quiet on the decking, but she's trying to do her best sneaky, and careful as Ezil decides to play moderator. She shoots him a look at first, as she probably feels a little bit of that was for her, too, but she nods and and keeps on scouting out the ship, whispering, "Maybe we'll find out how t'kill it, in here."
Shaking his head, Lanier turns to go back up the ramp, stopping to look towards Namira, "It's pretty obvious why we were sent here, and there's a line that I won't cross, and that needs to be made abundantly clear. If you don't like that, swim home." He turns to look back up into the ship, his eyes narrowed as he starts to actually examine the thing. He then nods and begins to look for the flight controls with the others.
It's relatively easy to continue climbing on the airship. It is necessary to pass over several of the lights, and some of the hand-holds have strange colourations for bass. Accessing the outside of the cockpit area is possible. It's up near the front, the impact damage is greater here. Windows are either completely deformed and shattered, or fully cracked and hard to see through. There is a cockpit, and control panels that still glow with tiny lights, the ones that aren't warped and damaged. Two heavily decayed bodies that look like they've been inside a while. They wear strange uniforms.
Nels calls down, "You said there were zombies before? Only there's two more bodies up here on the bridge. Not moving now, but I'm not gonna try and go in unless you all are up here and want to." What she will do is sketch out what she sees. "Oh, and it looks like the helm still has power. I -really- think the arcanists ought to have a look at this, this is a big deal."
There are eight pedestals, like the one the Corpse Armour was on. Eight pedestals and boots, and a couple of the Corpse Armours in the back look a lot fresher than the one the party fought.
Braelnoir perks an ear at that, then calls back, "W'only fought the one, but there were multiple cables! Maybe the fish killed the other one, or the ship didn't have enough juice to power more than one at a time." She takes a knee near one of the doors and hmm's, "Hey, Eezee, I'ma check under this door, be ready if nasty happens, ok?" that said, she lays her cheek to the deck and tries to use her torch to put some light on the subject. "Fuck me runnin'.... Eezee, I got a couple more armors back there... can't quite tell if they're occupied yet. Get everyone cautious." she hisses.
"I meant all of us. It's not fair to argue over who's right and wrong when we all have our own opinions." Ezil says with a shrug. "I am not one to get mad easy, but I don't think we should be shouting at another over what should be done, when we don't know what /can/ be done." he stresses, shaking his head. "It takes all types in this world, and I would not discount any of you. I just don't feel now's the time." speaking quietly and plainly as he's suddenly talkative while looking around once they're moving beyond the ramp. "We need to work together... not fight over small differences."
The control panel, some of the lights are flickering around what looks like an outline of the airship. Shows a dot flashing near the front of it, several dots at the rear. These lights seem to be a proximity altert. There's another panel that might be damage report, that's lit up red, orange, yellow, very little green. Front ramp - red, first section - orange, second section-orange, third section - yellow, back ramp - green'. It looks like the goblin has set off an alarm already, but the airship is too damaged to respond to the ones activated so far.
Having met up with Braelnoir on his walkabout the ship, Lanier asks as his eyes turn to keep watch on their immediate surroundings, "Would it make sense to cut the other cables to keep more undead?"
Ezil perks at Braelnoir's words, raising his shield to guard himself and nodding his head. "Understood." falling silent on the other topic as his focus now shifts on the potential for a new foe. "It's already tense, now my hackles are up." not seeming pleased with the state of things, but he will do his duty. "Wan't me to go check? Might be wisest?"
Suddenly very interested in being quiet, Brae looks up at Lanier, a grim but strangely professional look on her face as she brings a finger to her lips then nods, making a little snippy motion with her fingers despite the new webs. On the quietest voice she can manage while still being reasonably audible she advises, "Got a couple more in there, fresher condition." A blink, then, "Cut the cords while they're inert, try not t'step on any little pedestals, I think they're triggers. Tell the others we might have trouble."
Nels hrms, but everyone seems to be busy, so she'll make her way carefully aft, looking over the other sections with a thoughtful eye. And a wrench, in case something looks ... informational. She calls out, "The front and rear ramps look like maybe they're alarmed, but the alarms are going crazy and nothing's happening, so I think the airship might be too wrecked to do anything about it. But go carefully if you can," she advises, and will go carefully herself. Hey, are we close to the power cable place? Was there a way to shut things down?
Catching the switch, Lanier crouches down to converse quieter and listen better. He then nods his head, "Understood. Stay here and I'll go gather the others." He stands up, moving back out to to the deck and calling out, "Hey, we have an issue inside. We found more of them!" It doesn't take him very long to work his way back into the ship and rejoin Braelnoir at the roll-up door leading to the next set of presumably undead. He crouches down, at least somewhat mollified for the moment, and whispers, "What's the plan?"
Nels's excursion aft is interrupted by Lanier coming to call everyone down, so she settles for what she's sketched so far and will head back, loading her gun as she goes. That's what they want her for, right?
Joining Lanier and Braelnoir, Ezil looks between them having overheard part of the conversation as he was already heading up that way. "I'm all ears, but I'm willing to draw their attention first. Fussing with the door might alert them... but..." looking between the two. "Will it even move?" his tone barely above a whisper.
"I got two tanglefoot bags. We can pry this open, doesn't look that tough, then glue the armours in place. Sever their cables an' hopefully take'm out before they get loose or breath their... whatever gas on us." Brae explains, "If one gets loose, flank it an just hit it's hard as ya can. I don't think I can slow these guys by talkin', again." She climbs to her hooves and spends a moment swapping her sword for a tanglefoot from her bandolier, then withdrawing a second for the other hand, "Imagine th'elements haven't touched these guys like the last one, be smart. We're a unit, now. Anything ranged t'soften them up or keep them from gassin us'd be great."
There is a ramp at the back of the airship, it is 10 x 10'. It drops down like one of those ramps from helicopters, airplanes. Walking inside, there is a 5' space, 10' wide, lines up with the ramp. The far side of that, is a roll door. On the other side of the roll door, is another area. From what you saw of the layout in the control room, probably 10' wide, 20' long. The airship itself, is 70' long, has 3 internal sections that look 20' long each. It will be a tight battle. Outside of the roll-door, the party has 6 squares to fight in, 4 are the 10' x 10' ramp, then there's a 5' x10' area inside. On the other side of the roll up door, are the Corpse Armours. Their noses practically touching it. Flat ground is a premium.
Passing one of her bags off, she nods to Lanier, then to Ezil and Nels, "Alright, opening in three..." she hooks her finger under the edge of the door, "Two...." sets her hooves, then, "One!" and TUG!
The door rattles and rolls up, every slat of it vanishing into the ceiling. Light reaches into the chamber beyond. There are eight figures, standing on pedestals, held up by armature frames. Each has a cable into its back. Each is heavily armoured with no skin visible. As the door slides open, lights at the top corner start rotating and flashing. The party is bathed in red.
There is a clunk.
Somewhere deep in the airship, a high pitched whine starts, and cycles in pitch before dropping and starting again. The figures, the Corpse Armours, were dark and still. As the lights flash, matching lights on their helmets illume, and their heads raise.
Nels, throw Tanglefoot bag, DC15 Reflex GAME: Nels rolls 1d20+10: (8)+10: 18 GAME: Corpse Armour rolls 1d20+2: (2)+2: 4
As soon as the door is up, Nels lobs her tanglefoot bag at the armor in the front row closest to her. That much goes according to plan, and it's glooped to the spot. So far so good!
Acedia starts strumming her lute, singing inpirational things. "Fight, fight, fight like you mean it! Fight, Fight, Fight and demean it."
Acedia, +1 inspiration for all Ezil, draw warhammer, attack. GAME: Ezil rolls weapon12: (8)+8: 16 GAME: Ezil rolls damage12: aliased to 1D8+3: (1)+3: 4
Ezil finds it odd that these things take a while to get going, his warhammer drawn and giving the one before him a slap. It's not as hard as he'd like, but it connects with a dull thud. "So do we need to attack the lines connected to them, or them?" he calls to Bralenoir as this fight starts up. He's unsure of a lot of things today.
The goggles light up. Eight pairs, as the heads raise and look towards the party. The armatures holding the Armours up drop away. There are a few 'pings' and 'clicks' around the room.
Namira, check...to see if they're undead enough to be affected by Channel energy set to harm undead. GAME: Namira rolls knowledge/religion: (12)+10: 22 These aren't undead GAME: Namira casts Shield of Faith. Caster Level: 3 DC: 14 a +2 to AC on Ezil
Namira...hearing the alarms starts making her way into the ship and.....sees the bunch they're up against. "Well....they're not undead." She says touching Ezil on the shoulder. "But then...that's just an opinion."
Lanier, tumble past her deeper into the storage room GAME: Lanier rolls Acrobatics: (2)+6: 8 GAME: Lanier rolls 1d20+9: (10)+9: 19 GAME: Lanier rolls 2d6+12: (4)+12: 16
"Shit! Cut the cables first if ya can an' pull back!" Brae shouts as she sees the situation slightly different than she did under torchlight, "We form a line at the door so they can only come in one're two at once!" Damnit! Damnit! Dmanit! sorta... like this
Layout airship - | 7 8 | | 5 6 | | 3 4 | | 1 2 | Door ===== Water | E L | | N B | | A B | -----
As the door opens and the tanglefoot bags are deployed to secure two of the undead-like artifaced things to the floor, Lanier lifts his sword above his head and attempts a spin around Braelnoir in order to get the most advantageous position on the front row. Unfortunately, there's a bump and a misstep which sets him off his feet. He does see an angle, and there's a swing which cuts deeply into one of the targets in the first row.
Nels, shoot 3's cable. GAME: Nels rolls 1d20+11: (17)+11: 28 GAME: Nels rolls 1d10+6: (2)+6: 8
Nels has tossed her tanglefoot bag and the front row thing is stuck. But it can still struggle, in theory. But there are a lot of them, and maybe the tubes will disable them, so her aim moves back one row, and she draws a bead on the cable of the one behind her first target. She fires, and there's an explosion, and a cloud of smoke and burst of flame, but her shot is not enough to completely sever the hose. It does hemorrage that brown liquid, though.
Ezil, smack CA1's cord and try and dislodge it GAME: Ezil rolls weapon12+1: (9)+8+1: 18 GAME: Ezil rolls damage12: aliased to 1D8+3: (8)+3: 11
Ezil sees the cord on the one he is fighting, noting how his first blow seemed to do little, he raises his warhammer to strike once more. It came recommended, and rightly so! His blow manages to actually do damage, severing the cord with the weight of the strike. "One!" he calls, shield brought to bare before him as he is worried about the onslaught.
CA1 attacks Ezil, CA2 attacks Lanier CA1 has a -2 attack because of tanglefoot, also lowered AC GAME: Corpse Armour 1 rolls 1d20+6: (19)+6: 25 GAME: Corpse Armour 1 rolls 1d20+6: (2)+6: 8 GAME: Corpse Armour 2 rolls 1d20+8: (9)+8: 17 GAME: Corpse Armour 2 rolls 1d20+8: (6)+8: 14 GAME: Cryosanthia rolls 1d6+4: (5)+4: 9 GAME: Corpse Armour 1 damaged Ezil for 9 points. 32 HP remaining. Ezil and Lanier, fortitude saves." GAME: Lanier rolls 1d20+Fort: (6)+7: 13 GAME: Ezil rolls fort: (4)+10: 14 Lanier affected as if hit by a slow spell for the next 6 rounds - effectively staggered - only a standard or move action - -1 to attack, AC & reflex"
There is a rumbling, the cables behind all the Corpse Armours jump as if they pressurized. The one Ezil just severed spurts out a gout of glowing brown fluid. The second Corpse armour, deeply cut by Lanier's attack, oozes this same fluid from the gash. It bubbles, bulges and solidifies, sealing up the cut. The armatures drop away, and the Corpse Armours start to move.
Only the two in front are able to effectively attack. The one swinging at Ezil misses, both blows. The other manages to land an attack on Lanier. Immediately after, there's a whrrrring sound, and the brownish clouds expel from their faceplaces, engulfing the pair.
The paladin is fine. The ranger discovers everything is a lot brighter, more colourful, and perhaps the most unsettling, moving a lot faster.
Namira casts bless.
Lanier, 5' step forward and cleave CA1 will get an AOO GAME: Lanier rolls 1d20+8: (9)+8: 17 GAME: Lanier rolls 2d6+6: (8)+6: 14 Lanier Now rolling my cleave into CA2 GAME: Lanier rolls 1d20+9: (9)+9: 18 GAME: Lanier rolls 2d6+6: (3)+6: 9 GAME: Corpse Armour 1 rolls 1d20+6: (4)+6: 10
The attack on him from the Armored Corpse sends Lanier a step back, but he lifts the sword in his hand a little higher. He seems ready to send his response but blinks, the world around him seeming to speed up incomprehsibly. He shifts forward, lethargicly (as combat goes) turning to find the cable of the second corpse armor in front of him. He swings his sword upwards, cutting deeply enough into the brass coated cable to slice it away. With the momentum of the sword, he's able to continue the attack directly into the back of the 2nd Armored Corpse, cutting deeply into it.
GAME: Braelnoir rolls weapon4: (19)+7: 26 GAME: Braelnoir rolls 1d8+7: (2)+7: 9
Seeing Lanier move forward against her call, Brae bites off a , "Fu-!" and steps up into the vacant spot, lightly dropping the alchemical trap she was holding. She glances sidelong at her brother as she pulls her hammer from it's frogs and, seeing Lanier's bleeding target as more vulnerable, she snarls in hate and brings the hammer up-then DOWN against the armor's dome, dislodging things no doubt, and bending some others, but the abomination still stands. Alas, she'll never know these sods' names.
GAME: Nels rolls 1d20+13: (1)+13: 14 (EPIC FAIL)
Nels is feeling the urgency, don't call it panic just yet, as she crams another round into her thunderbelcher, draws a bead, and pulls the trigger. But instead of the satisfying BOOM and smoke and flame, there's a sort of hiss, and a slow flame billows from the barrel. "Ah, drat," she grumbles. "Gimme a minute," she says, not that there's much choice at this point.
Acedia keeps playing, "this is good, this is good, this is good. Battle Battle Battle."
GAME: Ezil rolls weapon11: (10)+8: 18 GAME: Ezil rolls damage11+2: aliased to 1D8+3+2: (6)+3+2: 11
Ezil clobbers that Corpse Armor right after Braelnoir, but the body within doesn't fall as it is still attached to the pedestal near it. It's good to see it stop moving, his smile breaking across his face as he turns to look at the one before him. "Well... that's not the worst!"
Some lights cycle on the helmet of Corpse Armour after Ezil bashes it. Orange, Yellow, Red. The pedestal lights up, a thin band of white. There is the hum of gears and the pedestal shoots forward, taking the limp body with it. It runs in the track, out of the airship and down the ramp. It gets right to the very edge when it jerks to a stop, crashing into the other pedestal that was there, jamming against it. The body flops. Other than perhaps terrifying Acedia and Namira, it does nothing else.
Inside the airship, the queue ratchets forward, sliding up and then jamming at the door.
GAME: Lanier rolls 1d20+9: (5)+9: 14 CA1 attacks Ezil, CA4 attacks braelnoir (with a surprise), CA3 & CA6 Attack Lanier, they will PA. GAME: Corpse Armour 1 rolls 1d20+6: (4)+6: 10 GAME: Corpse Armour 1 rolls 1d20+6: (14)+6: 20 GAME: Corpse Armour 4 rolls 1d20+8: (4)+8: 12 GAME: Corpse Armour 4 rolls 1d20+8: (19)+8: 27 GAME: Corpse Armour 4 rolls 1d6+4: (4)+4: 8 GAME: Corpse Armour 4 damaged Braelnoir for 8 points. 33 HP remaining. GAME: Corpse Armour 3 rolls 1d20+6: (3)+6: 9 GAME: Corpse Armour 3 rolls 1d20+6: (5)+6: 11 GAME: Corpse Armour 6 rolls 1d20+6: (7)+6: 13 GAME: Corpse Armour 6 rolls 1d20+6: (16)+6: 22 GAME: Corpse Armour 6 rolls 1d6+8: (4)+8: 12 GAME: Corpse Armour 6 damaged Lanier for 12 points. 33 HP remaining. GAME: Braelnoir rolls fort: (12)+7: 19
The other Corpse Armours roll up, swinging their heavily armoured fists. Two woosh by Ezil, the one that ratcheted up in front of Braelnoir, is likewise inaccurate and ineffective. Lanier, finds himself swaying through space, dodging technicolour blows. He's untouchable! Until a solid punch takes him in the gut. Knocking the air out of him.
There's a whrrr, and a cloud plumes from the new Corpse Armour, straight into the silvery chimera's face. She remembered to breathe out, she's not affected.
The deeper in he goes, the more of a grimace his face takes on which bares more of his teeth. At this point, he's swinging the greatsword around mostly by moving his shoulders, keeping the motions nice and compact. He pauses for a moment to look at Braelnoir, blinks, then keeps swinging, "This reminds me of a mushroom I accidently included in a stew once!" He moves to the side, defensively as he takes a swing at an advancing artifice zombie and misses, "You shouldn't be scared on undead filled lakes. Your face may be wires, but I'm sure you'll find somebody who always wanted to spend the rest of their life with someone who has wires for a face. You shouldn't try to hide that!" With a grunt and a shove, he attempts to make a little more room to fight, "And you should just be who you are, Nels. I don't think you're an abomination. I just think you're piloting around that human suit when you should just be yourself and make better decisions about diet, exercise, and using zombies for war." He pauses, blinks, then looks past Ezil to ask Nels, "You know?"
GAME: Cryosanthia rolls 3d6: (13): 13
Namira rolls her eyes and looks heaven-ward, into the darkness of the cavern. "My dear Vardama, keep these fools alive."
Lanier, hit CA4's cable, cleave into CA1 GAME: Lanier rolls 1d20+Melee+1+1-1-2: (16)+9+1+1+-1+-2: 24 GAME: Lanier rolls 2d6+12: (7)+12: 19 GAME: Lanier rolls 1d20+Melee+1+1-1-2: (8)+9+1+1+-1+-2: 16
Even though Lanier missed his chance to do some damage on the 4th Corpse Armor's advance, it hasn't escaped his notice entirely. Putting the greatsword tip down, he slams the point through the cable attached to it, severing it cleanly in two. He then takes the greatsword into a reverse grip, yanking it up and around to slam the sharp edge of the blade into the first Corpse Armor, even though he finds himself jammed up in the movement. None of it is very fast at all. Between grunts of exertion from muscling around this sword.
Braelnoir, power attack ca1, cleave into ca4 GAME: Braelnoir rolls weapon4: (1)+7: 8 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Braelnoir rolls weapon4: (8)+7: 15 GAME: Braelnoir rolls 1d8+11: (4)+11: 15 GAME: Braelnoir rolls weapon4: (10)+7: 17
GAME: Braelnoir rolls 1d8+11: (1)+11: 12
Braelnoir blinks, "Wi-!" she starts at Nel's ramblings, then as another new contender steps up to the plate, she drops her swhort blade to put both mitts around her warhammer and SWINGS, resulting in a somewhat satisfying, >BRONG!<->KLANG!< as she lays into Ezil's friend first, then puts her followup across Mr Helper's chin!
GAME: Nels rolls craft/gunsmithing: (6)+11: 17
Nels acks as her gun misfires, and she quickly sets about clearing the half-burnt powder charge and lodged ball of ammo. Quick work with the other end of the ramrod fishes the ball out, and a smouldering hunk of powder mixed with gunk. Apparently she'd let some muck in when she was loading before. She clears the barrel out with the rammer tool, then loads fresh powder and a round, packs it in with the wadding, tamps it down with the rammer, and is ready to go at last. Who's next?!
Acedia sings, "And we AHHH!"
She jumps as the Corpse Armour glides up to her like a puppet with its strings cut. It flops to a stop. She continues singing, "AAAh! One down and a bunch to go, what a show, what a show!"
<OOC> Ezil, Going to bash CA1 GAME: Ezil rolls weapon11+2: (1)+8+2: 11 (EPIC FAIL)
Ezil had began to swing, but something about the one he's fighting causes him to suddenly go on guard. His arm raises awkwardly as their jerking movements threw him off, and he is too high to connect with the altered swing. Yeah, he misread that pretty bad. At least he still has his weapon and his shield.
CA1 attacks Ezil, CA4 attacks Braelnoir, CA3 & CA6 attack Lanier, Power Attack, CA6 has flank GAME: Corpse Armour 1 rolls 1d20+6: (10)+6: 16 GAME: Corpse Armour 1 rolls 1d20+6: (18)+6: 24 GAME: Corpse Armour 1 rolls 1d6+4: (2)+4: 6 GAME: Corpse Armour 1 damaged Ezil for 6 points. 35 HP remaining. GAME: Corpse Armour 4 rolls 1d20+8: (12)+8: 20 GAME: Corpse Armour 4 rolls 1d20+8: (4)+8: 12 GAME: Corpse Armour 3 rolls 1d20+6: (11)+6: 17 GAME: Corpse Armour 3 rolls 1d20+6: (13)+6: 19 GAME: Corpse Armour 6 rolls 1d20+8: (6)+8: 14 GAME: Corpse Armour 6 rolls 1d20+8: (7)+8: 15 GAME: Corpse Armour 3 rolls 1d6+8: (4)+8: 12 GAME: Corpse Armour 3 rolls 1d6+8: (3)+8: 11 GAME: Corpse Armour 3 damaged Lanier for 23 points. 22 HP remaining.
The living, or perhaps active is a better term, Corpse Armours make their attacks. Ezil is hit with a glancing blow by the one facing him. Braelnoir's comes no where near the chimera.
The ones on Lanier are much more successful. Teaming up, he's belted hard, twice by the one diagonally to him, while the one facing is less successful, with neither blows landing.
GAME: Cryosanthia rolls 3d6: (14): 14
"They really, really need some help. Especially Mr. Principals in the middle of it all." Namira 'prays', "Fix up my allies, my great and wonderful and very patient Grey Lady."
Lanier, Going to hit CA1 then cleave into CA4 if possible. GAME: Lanier rolls 1d20+Melee+2-1: (15)+9+2+-1: 25 GAME: Lanier rolls 2d6+6: (8)+6: 14 GAME: Lanier rolls 1d20+Melee+2-1: (10)+9+2+-1: 20 GAME: Lanier rolls 2d6+6: (4)+6: 10<pre> Reeling left than right from the double-attack from the 4th Corpse Armor, Lanier grunts as he hefts his sword to get to work in that general direction. He continues using a reverse grip on the great sword, turning and almost seeming to go back to back with the one that is in front of Ezil, stabbing backwards and puncturing the insides to render the Corpse Armor inert. He then yanks it out, pulling it forward into a slash that lays into the forth Course armor that tried to take him down a moment ago. He looks towards Brae and nods knowingly, "I think you know what I'm talking about." <pre>Braelnoir, PA ca4, flanked GAME: Braelnoir rolls weapon4+2: (3)+7+2: 12
"Wires?" Brae blurts suddenly, then, "What th'fuck're ya-" WHIFF! "talkin' about? Wires? Really?" Someone's dating advice really got deep down, it seems.
Nels, shoot with deadly aim. 4 GAME: Nels rolls 1d20+12: (19)+12: 31 GAME: Nels rolls 1d10+6: (10)+6: 16
Nels loaded and packed her shot carefully, now she takes a moment to aim before firing her shot all but in the armor's faceplate, the lead ball slamming into it with monstrous force, fire and smoke billowing from the muzzle of her dragon spitter. The corpse armor falls over backwards, and Nels shouts, "So there! That's more like the old pepper!"
Acedia sings, "And our ranger guy got freaky, but his attacks are super sneaky, and they go down, down, DOWN!"
GAME: Ezil rolls Weapon11: (4)+8: 12 GAME: Cryosanthia rolls 1d20+4: (3)+4: 7
Ezil steps forward to swipe at the line that wasn't fully severed on CA3, but misses as he is thown off by squeezing between two of the inert Corpse Armors. "What in the hells are these things?" he says, frustration in his words as they are proving a bit hard to deal with.
CA3 on Ezil, CA6 on Lanier, PA GAME: Corpse Armour 3 rolls 1d20+8: (9)+8: 17 GAME: Corpse Armour 3 rolls 1d20+8: (11)+8: 19 GAME: Corpse Armour 6 rolls 1d20+6: (2)+6: 8 GAME: Corpse Armour 6 rolls 1d20+6: (14)+6: 20 GAME: Corpse Armour 6 rolls 1d6+8: (6)+8: 14 GAME: Corpse Armour damaged Lanier for 14 points. 22 HP remaining. GAME: Cryosanthia rolls 1d4: (3): 3 GAME: Ezil rolls fort: (15)+10: 25
The front line of Corpse Armours are inert. The one in front of Ezil, glued to the floor by the tanglefoot bag, rattles in place as the pedestal it is on attempts to move, and fails. The light bar surrounding it flashes, yellow, white, yellow, white.
Meanwhile, the one in front of Brealnoir suddenly zips by as its pad lights up. It glides down the track and crashes into the one that went before. There's a grinding of gears, and it is pushed into the water as this one lurches up to the edge of the ramp.
Meanwhile, the others in queue face off against Ezil. Two blows miss him completely, and then he is engulfed in a brown plume. Lanier, fares worse, absorbing another heavy slam as he watches glittering sparkles shower the paladin beside him. Truly, he's having a magical fight.
GAME: Cryosanthia rolls 3d6: (14): 14
"Hey my Vardama, it's me, Namira, you know what I need."
Lanier, CA3's cord, cleaving into 6's GAME: Lanier rolls 1d20+Melee+2-1: (11)+9+2+-1: 21 GAME: Lanier rolls 2d6+6: (6)+6: 12 GAME: Lanier rolls 1d20+Melee+2-1: (10)+9+2+-1: 20 GAME: Lanier rolls 2d6+6: (5)+6: 11<pre> As Ezil steps up, Lanier looks towards him briefly and nods, offering a cheery "Hulloooo!" in spite of getting beat mercilessly. For those who have just joined, he's high and/or drunk on the ill-effects of a slow spell. He seems to realize that there's a bard and they're singing about him. As he steps forward and slices down with another slash of the greatsword, the dragging it across to another one of the cords as the first is severed, Lanier sings along with the "down down down" part of the inspirational song! <pre>Braelnoir, ok, PA GAME: Braelnoir rolls weapon4: (1)+7: 8 (EPIC FAIL)
Braelnoir moves into the gap produced by the discarded armor hoping to keep Lanier from getting too badly swarmed. Still holding the hammer in both hands, she rears back and is pulled out of her synch as the song and dance expands before her, her warhammer almost slipping completely out of her hands, "Shit!"
Encounter 1
===================== Current Initiative Order - Round 1 =====================
---Init--Name------------AOO-Notes--------------------------------------------
21 Braelnoir 1 Flat-footed (0 rnds active)
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16 Acedia 1 Flat-footed (0 rnds active)
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15 Corpse Armour
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15 Nels 1 Flat-footed (0 rnds active)
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13 Ezil 1 Flat-footed (0 rnds active)
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4 Namira 1 Flat-footed (0 rnds active)
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Encounter 2
===================== Current Initiative Order - Round 5 =====================
---Init--Name------------AOO-Notes--------------------------------------------
15 Nels 1
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14 Acedia 1
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14 Ezil 1
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12 Corpse Armour 1
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10 Namira 1
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10 Lanier 1
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>> 8 Braelnoir 1 <<
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| Name | CHP (T) | HP |
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| Braelnoir.....| 41 | 41 |
| Ezil..........| 41 | 41 |
| Lanier........| 36 | 45 |
| (C) Spud......| 32 | 32 |
| Namira........| 21 | 21 |
| Nels..........| 45 | 45 |
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