Rough for You
There's priest of Daeus standing before you, her eyes are gray and heavy with the weight of age that the rest of her seems not to bear. There's a certain agelessness about her that eludes you putting an exact age on her. She is very serious, and did not even offer you a smile of greeting. Instead she looks at you as if weighing each grain of sin on the scales of your heart. "You all know of Kol Demontry. Servant of the mistress of the Shard tower." This is not a question. Everyone has heard of the vampire. "Well, it seems that he's made a nest or something of the sort. Vampires attacked one of our priests as he went on a journey and we just got word via messenger about it. He is continuing his trials in the effort to gain the power to destroy the vampires, but we don't want to wait any longer to strike. So we've called you. If you don't think you can kill the abominations you're free to go now, but this mission is of the utmost importance and I implore you to do your able best to destroy him if he shows himself and his minions."
"If there are vampires to set aflame," rasps a ragged -- more so than usual, which is saying something -- Alba, bound up in a cocoon of hair and dangling from the ceiling. "Then I shall be extremely pleased. Little enough progress have I made on this damnable plague that I wish to murder *anything* I may be allowed to."
"A nest?" Durrankar says softly. He then looks up and tilts his head at Alba, but thumps his tail. "You and I are in agreement, Alba. We would have hurt him greatly if it wasn't for that idiot oruch."
Serene looks a little askance at Alba, then redirects her attention back to aged sunguard. "I will be pleased to assist in these creatures' destruction, venerable one, but vampires are crafty. Their ability to disperse is a hard one to counter." She turns her head to look fully at Alba and Durrankar. "Do either of you have a means to contain them if they do?"
Kira isn't pleased at this news. Quite the opposite, given both attack on the priest and the source. "Sadly, any that have been turned are already dead. The most that we can do is grant them the peace and rest they earned before this. Too many already suffer and die from this plague. The earlier we can bring an end to it, the better." She is a victim of it, or at least afflicted, herself, though her own symptoms have been kept to a minimum.
Her smile thins further at Serene's comment, to which she nods. "It is hard to keep them from floating away when they do that." She knows that from first-hand experience, unfortunately.
"...If the nest is set afire before they are knowing, it would be much more difficult to escape," Alba points out, as readily as one would suggest fetching an umbrella against the rain outside. Serene considers Alba's vampire solution, then finds herself nodding. "I am not opposed to such a tactic. So long as we are sure they have taken no victims that may yet be recovered." "Am I punching a vampire?" asks Boshter, happily.
"I like punching vampires! IO was trained by vampires to punch wizards, but mostly I punch vampires! Well, not /mostly/," continues the hobgoblin, putting a finger beside his nose in thought. "I also punch shadows, skeletons, zombies, ghouls, wraiths, and the occasional lich! They all punch very well." A nod.
"I will punch the vampire!"
"I would like this one to punch the vampire," Alba asides, nodding as if deep wisdom was spoken.
Durrankar hrfs at Boshter. "Boshter. Kol is keeping you from hugging people."
"If you need to," Kira nods to Boshter, somewhat flatly, "and you probably will."
"Having found their lair, it is hopeful that you will be able to locate their sleeping place and thus destroy it. Vampires can not live long without that which gives them the ability to heal their wounds and provides them respite from the sun." The priestess looks at you each in turn and nods as if at least for the moment satisfied with what she finds. She pulls a box from the table from her side and offers it to you. It's quite large, and she opens it briefly enough to show that it is filled with wooden stakes. "Blessed stakes. These will not break easily, and will kill any vampire that is hit in the heart with one. Though... we can not be certain how well they will work on this Kol creature. He seems to be unique among his kind. Take them and this map to the location of the nest."
This last is accompanied by her offering a rolled piece of parchment towards you, the load a little awkward in her hands.
Durrankar says, "I have a request, if at all possible."
"Yes," Serene says, her voice carefully controlled. Certainly she's not suppressing anything. Not at all. "We will... see to punching the vampires." Serene sighs, then listens to the rest of what the priest has to say, nodding as she files away what the elderly woman tells of how to permanently put the vampires down.
A lock of hair slithers out from the cocoon, wrapping around the bundle of stakes and waiting for the priestess to release them. "We are grateful for this assistance, priestess," she says with startling gravity. "We shall murder as many of these creatures as we are able, this I pledge." The fanged beast skull, crowned in jagged gold spikes, pokes out from within the cocoon, turning to Durrankar as if curious about his request.
"What is your request Durrankar?" The priestess looks at him at his mention of having such a thing.
Durrankar says, "I do not know if you have any such scrolls, but do you have any scrolls of protection against his ability to dominate the minds of others? After an....incident....in the city...I do not wish to repeat it."
"He's a vampire. Of /course/ I will have to punch him," says Boshter, happily. "I am told a fist through the heart is a very good way to end a vampire!" A pause.
"Actually, I am told that is a relatively good way to end anyone."
Kira visibily winces, both at the implications of Durrankar's request and Boshter's imagery. "I hope that we don't encounter any mind influences like that." Obviously, she is not the most educated on vampires, despite knowing of Kol and The Plague.
"I have some protections against that," Serene informs the Sith-Makar. "Both prayer and my proximity. But it cannot hurt to have more, if there is more to be had."
"We have several such scrolls prepared, but they are not inexpensive to make." The implication is there. If you want the scrolls they have them made but at a price. "There is little aid we can offer you, indeed it is /your/ aid that we seek."
As the scrolls are given to Durrankar, he starts handing them to different members of the group. it's somewhat ovbious what he has in mind, but he still speaks it when all the scrolls are handed out. "Protection from Evil scrolls. If any of us fall under the way of Kol....Another of us takes the scroll out and release him from the spell. Serene doesn't get one, because of her blessings." he then looks to Serene. "Lets kill a vampire."
"I like this plan," Alba says, as the scrolls disappear behind her blood-colored chain draping. "Excited I am, to be a part of it. Let us murder *all* the vampires."
Serene smiles at Durrankar... mark the day, for her smile is actually showing teeth. "Almost as good as killing demons." The smile fades as she turns back to the priest. "I have confidence this nest will be purged. And light willing, this Kol will be there to join its demise."
"Headbutting demons is very important," agrees Boshter with Serene. "I headbutted a demon so hard once that he exploded!"
A pause.
"Or maybe they all do that." Another thoughtful look.
Kira nods as she takes the scrolls and tucks them into her robes for easy reach, if needed. Of course, she hopes they won't be needed at all, but best to be prepared. Her smile is far more dim than Serene's, but she is ready.
The vampire nest is located just outside the city. It's very closeness makes you uncomfortable. It looks from the outside like a hole in the ground. One with a door long overgrown with ivy and grass. Almost you don't find it because of how well it blends in with the nature around it, but the map is well detailed and after a bit of searching around there it is. It's a small door, almost gnome-sized, and it doesn't look like its been opened in a good long time.
"Hrn," says Alba, crouching in the air above the door. "Single entrance. Likely difficult to open. Mislike the idea of entering thus, do I... How impatient are we to murder the dead again?"
"Strange that it's this close to the city. Seems he must keep in close proximity to his food." Durrankar then looks to Alba. "Claustrophobic?"
Kira's lips purse. "So close? This is very worrisome... If this is the only entrance, it doesn't look like they use it. Maybe there's another? Even if it's one they have to ... cloud through?"
"I have doubts that it is the only entrance. Likely they have a bolthold," Serene suggests, looking at the door with a great deal of distaste of her own. Silver is with her, having carried her to the lair... the thought of leaving him behind isn't one she enjoys.
"I have brought my vampire fighting helmet!" Boshter says, "You put it on the vampire and he loses all his power!" Boshter is holding a 'helmet'.
It is not actually a helmet. It is a colander. He is holding it by the handles and seems very pleased with its...vampire...fighting...abilities. Earnestly.
"Allergic to poor tactics, I," Alba rejoins.
Serene's fingers clench around her sword hilt. No, she very much is not imagining using it right now. It's more like a stress ball. She looks at Boshter, considers saying something, then just shakes her head. Probably deciding that it's best to just let him be him. "I dislike walking into traps. But sometimes it is necessary to hunt the creature in its hole."
Durrankar lets out a bit of steam from his nose. "We could see if there is a trap in there...."
Kira looks to Boshter and blinks. "That takes away their power? We have several of those in the temple... maybe I should have brought one, too..." Then there's the matter of a trap. "The only way to know is to go, and we need to stop them..." She makes for the closed door to open it. She isn't afraid, of course. For better or worse.
"It is a door. We must immediately destroy it or risk being stuck here for all eternity!" Boshter announces, clearly worried about it. He clutches his vampire-defeating colander even more tightly.
GAME: Kira rolls strength: (16)+2: 18
The door gives Kira a bit of trouble, firmly remaining in place for a long moment before there's the snapping of the vines holding it in place and then it sort of creaks open. Rusted hinges that haven't been used in forever. The little doorway needs a little more urging to open completely and when it does all you see is a tiny empty room beyond the door. It's very dark inside, and the room isn't much taller than the doorway itself which given its size will prove something of a difficulty for the taller members of your group to enter.
GAME: Serene casts Magic Circle Against Evil. Caster Level: 20 DC: 25
As Kira works at breaking open the door, Serene takes hold of her goddess's symbol and casts a prayer over Alba. The paladin is /mostly/ sure that Alba isn't evil, so is fairly confident it will work. "Please let your light shine upon this one and deliver her from evil, Dreamer."
"So and so," Alba sighs, as the door is opened. "...Then perhaps may I suggest that we who may fit with less difficulty enter first? Easier to pull, than to push." Her arms disappear under her drape, and fiddle with something at her back. One sharp tug, and her entire skeletal system seems to gelatinize, leaving her wobbling in place. "My thanks, again," she says, and wibbles down the hole.
GAME: Durrankar casts Greater Scrying. Caster Level: 18 DC: 24
Kira is recovering from heaving open the door. She isn't large nor strong, and blinks as Alba... wibbles(?)... "That was ... different....”
"Well done," says Boshter, pounding Kira on the back once before he proceeds to follow the others inside.
"You shall recover in time, Kira." Durrankar says as he begins to chant....and his staff's eyes begin to glow. But then....he unties the pink and white polka dot bow from the staff's mouth. 'Finally! I have a lot of...' "Focus, Tyrannix. Focus on Alba. Make sure no harm comes to her....and warn her if there is danger." '....right.'
GAME: Alba rolls perception: (18)+14: 32 GAME: Durrankar rolls perception: (5)+28: 33 GAME: Boshter rolls Perception: (13)+23: 36
Serene pats the side of Silver's head a few times, then strokes his beak. "You will not be following me in, my friend. I promise I will call you if I have need and there is... more space." She gives Silver's head a gentle shove then, dodges a nip, and then the griffon takes off. Serene watches him for a few seconds, then turns to the hole, considering those who slithered or otherwise forced their way inside. "I had thought to wait for Alba's return and Durrankar's report... but... Boshter." The name isn't said like a curse, not at all.
As Alba... wibbles into the room and Boshter crawls in after her, Durrankar's magical force follows them into the room; allowing him to see what's happening. It seems to be a plain dirt room until you reach the other side, and there's another tiny door. This one looks exactly like the first only rather than being overgrown by vines this one is overgrown by roots. Yet as Alba skitters closer her shadow stretches out longer than it should, twisting the wrong way until its rising before her into the shape of a shadow demon. Even as it does, Boshter's shadow does the same thing leaving you facing two of these twisted dark forms.
Kira staggers some from Boshter's passing, parting pat, then nods to Durrankar so as not to interrupt his chanting. She looks down into the doorway to see what she can see, which may not be much in the dark.
'Alba!' Tyrannix's voice can be heard in Alba's....mind. Who knows HOW many voices are in there, but Tyrannix comes across clear as day. "Shadow Demons are in the pit with you! Durrankar's on his way, but...he can't talk in his current form!"
Meanwhile, Durrankar turns into a skeet....and crawls his way in....hopefully the shadow demons won't notice.
GAME: Alba rolls will: (17)+13: 30
GAME: Serene rolls will: (16)+30: 46
GAME: Durrankar rolls will: (18)+22: 40
GAME: {*} Kira rolls will: (15)+19: 34
The demon's stand between you and the doorway. One of them speaks in an eldritch tounge that skitters along the edges of your hearing, waving a hand at Alba to dissipate the magic circle that protects you all from evil's grasp. Meanwhile the other begins to radiate darkness. Colors dance on its form and then suddenly explode into visions of nightmarish things. Things that howl and whisper at the back of your mind and beg you to join the darkness... lest you be devoured by it. These visions fade quickly however for those of stout will, and leave only the two demons to face in the wake of that imagery.
GAME: Boshter rolls will: (9)+13: 22 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d10: (6): 6 GAME: Serene rolls strength: (2)+5: 7
Serene's eyes widen at the mental assault, then narrow... she immediately steps up next to Kira and reaches for Boshter. She grabs one of his feet, but her grip slips and she stumbles back. Then she stars at her hands.. and her expression seems mildly perturbed.
Boshter blinks his eyes.
He stares for a moment, then places the colander over his own head, "GET OUT," he roars, loudly, flailing.... as much as he can.
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+21: (17)+21: 38 GAME: Alba rolls intimidate: (12)+17: 29 GAME: Alba rolls intimidate: (12)+17: 29 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+23: (20)+23: 43
The warning was a timely one; glancing over her shoulder, Alba has just enough time to mark the demons' presence, when one reaches out to strip the paladin's spell from her. The Witch undulates backwards, a pinprick of blood-red light shining from one of the cavernous eye sockets of her bestial mask, creating a transient, but *very* noticeable, sense of doubt and hesitation in the offending demon's eye. As the miasma utterly fails to cow her, she turns her attention to its fellow. "Distract *me?* Seek to strip *me* of my power? Through *fear,* tha drip-trousered slugbrain? *Insulted,* I. Peel your face and *wear it for a hat,* I."
-TBC