Moonstone Absconded (Part 2)
Log Info
- Title: Moonstone Absconded (Part 2)
- GM: Aftershock
- Place: The Felwood
The priestess Aki directs you to the Felwood. A place known for it's haunted nature and deeply disturbing fauna... and forestry. A place that few dare tread and that when it is done; it is done carefully. As you follow the guideposts of the priestess into the forest, the trail of the elemental you are following grow weaker, and weaker, and weaker. Eventually they start to trail off entirely.
At the point at which you start to run out of guideposts from the Seeress, you come upon stone ruins in the forest. A bridge before you long since dilapidated by the axis of time stands broken between you and the ruins of what looks to be what was once a village. A small, muddy stream lies under the bridge, and a steep downhill trek muddy and thickly mired.
To the right of the bridge a small sign stands in stone. It says only: R-m-v--n. A testament to what once stood here? A warning? Something.
GAME: Magpie rolls perception: (17)+13: 30 GAME: Dirk rolls knowledge/local: (6)+3: 9 GAME: Dirk rolls Perception+6: (13)+21+6: 40 GAME: Carver rolls perception+4: (15)+18+4: 37 GAME: Corey rolls Perception: (18)+22: 40 GAME: Corey rolls Knowledge/Local: (18)+8: 26
Dirk's heart sinks into his boots as he sees the trail is leading the party into the Felwood. He pulls the collar of his cloak a little tighter and swallows hard as they pass into that cursed forest. "Stay close, Lulu," he mutters softly to his little white-faced scops owl. Lulu hunkers down in the pocket sewn into the lining of his cloak, barely visible save for her two big golden eyes that stare out from underneath. She doesn't need to be told twice.
Dirk leads the way as best he can. Tracking an elemental is unfamiliar for him. Fortunately, the forest is far from unfamiliar--even a darkling wood like the Felwood. But eventually, even his keen skills lose the trail, even as the party rolls up on those stone ruins. He gives that bridge a hairy eyeball, tipping back his tricorne. "Och. I expect that'll give way if ye breathe hard on it," he grumbles softly. His gaze gets drawn to the faded sign. He headtilts, giving his beard a thoughtful tug. "R em vee en... wait... Ram... Rim... Rem... Rimevien...? Wasn't there a town out this way called Rimevien? Bah, I cannae recall..."
His ears perk, and he wheels around, snapping up his thunderbelcher. He peers out into the gloom with narrowed eyes. "Careful, mates. We're nae alone out here," he growls quietly.
Carver has spent more than some time in the Felwood, enough that its dread has dulled, conditioned to general anxiety. Failure and triumph both had been tasted amongst the still-twisted trees, and so she is careful and diligent. In her kinesia and awareness of the world beyond. She follows Dirk, astride her horse once more, Deathless's ears twitching at every sound. It is difficult to not feel like prey here. Carver lays a sympathetic hand on her friend's neck.
"I do not know this town. Nor if that is a warning or not... but if the elemental is here, then it was likely bid to be here. So." She reaches beneath her furs, finding where the vial is, grasping for luck. Just as the flicker of motion as her twisting her head to try and track. Fast. Dirk's warning comes out first so she turns slowly to make sure all angles of approach are covered.
While Magpie's heart doesn't have to sink quite as far as Dirk's, it likewise plummets as the Felwood begins to make its presence known. She has had more than her share of adventures in this blighted wood, and while some of them were at least generally amusing, all of them definitely ranked 'too interesting to want to repeat.'
And yet, here they are.
"...And if the elemental was called here," she says, picking up the thread of Carver's thought, "then it was either a really, really powerful summon... Or something dear to it that needed it. Being the Felwood... it really, really could be either."
At Dirk's warning, Corey has rapier in hand as he walks carefully up to the front of the formation. "Rimevien," he says gently. "A town so cursed that it was abandoned. Allegedly, three sisters were the cause of this curse, and they stand guard to this day--cursed here to do so, actually, on account of the evil they did."
Which means the paladin of Gilead has his silver eyes narrowed as he looks front and to the right. He focuses his gaze, and he frowns all the deeper. "There's evil afoot here," he says. "And I'm not referring to the entire Felwood. Whatever's up ahead isn't going to be nice to us. But it is going to be something I can take care of."
So he looks over his shoulder and smiles. "So don't worry, everyone. I'll make sure we get out of this safe and sound!" He advances to the edge of the bridge, peering down into the swampy stream.
GAME: Dirk rolls knowledge/religion+6: (20)+3+6: 29
Carver and Deathless stride up to where the incline leads below, the rotten bridge now a stopgap. Hmm. A quiet measure of the distance across is given, considering her options, buoyed by the confidence in which the paladin speaks. "If it follows, it follows. We have a purpose though and I do not think some predatory creature is it." If it wishes to become their enemy? Well, did you hear Corey? They'll be fine.
She steps forward and her sure-footed beast seems hardly concerned by the incline... and in fact, it almost appears to be enchanted. Her hooves stick like a spider to their web, and like a spider, a climb is no hindrance to a spider-horse.
Dirk's eyes narrow in the gloom as he peers down the barrel of his thunderbelcher. He moves ever so carefully forward a step to get a clearer view. He sucks in a soft breath. "Naga," he says quietly. "Dead naga. Be mindful, friends." He pulls back the hammer of his thunderbelcher with his thumb. As he does, the golden ivies filigreed into the stock light up with soft traces of sunlight, and golden dwarven runes begin glowing softly down the barrel. "Mind where ye put yer feet," he growls quietly. "Felwood's lousy with bogs an' quicksand. Not tae mention whatever else those filthy snakes have done here." He starts making his way down the incline, giving the swampy stream a hairy eyeball. "Right. Nothin' for it," he grumbles. He starts carefully attemping to make his way across, to the other side.
Corey is a dutiful friend and ally. The moment his friends start going into the swamp, so does he, taking a position of front-facing-enemy... Or, well, based on what he's pretty certain is the front. "I heard a sound like stone across scales, so maybe we're dealing with... more naga? Or something that killed the naga."
The paladin of Gilead frowns a little. "Or both," he says. "Traitors and all that."
"I mean, mud for a stream, rocks everywhere, and even the dirt looks dirty," Magpie mutters, "I can see an Earth Elemental feeling like it's found its people?" TOddling to the edge of the incline, then peering down, the gnome sighs, and hitches up her robes...
...completely uselessly, it turns out, for her attempt to inch down the side immediately becomes a barely-controlled careening that ends in the soggy splat of thigh-high boots managing to still not be tall enough to keep muddy water from seeping in.
"...Now this isn't the worst decision I ever made," the sorceress says after a moment of horrified silence. "...But it's swiftly gettin' up there-- wait scales? What? Better-not-be-dragony who?"
In the distance one can hear voices. Though the distance makes it hard to determine what exactly the voices are saying. Female voices though. Chanting? Perhaps. That sounds ominous.
GAME: Carver rolls perception: (9)+18: 27 GAME: Magpie rolls perception: (6)+13: 19 GAME: Dirk rolls Perception+6: (9)+21+6: 36 GAME: Corey rolls Perception: (7)+22: 29 GAME: Carver rolls spellcraft: (20)+7: 27 GAME: Corey rolls Spellcraft: (14)+19: 33 GAME: Dirk rolls Spellcraft: (9)+11: 20
Carver hesitates as the wind brings something new. Not the stench of stagnation. Nor the acrid lingering burn of fel, that once completely owned the forest. This is gentle chimes of voices, and tempting as it would be to not take it as a threat? Everything here is a threat.
She cusses as she recognizes some of these words, of the incantation. Not enough to imitate but enough to make a guess. "Witches. The naked eye can no longer see them." She spreads a little from the others, to not make easy targets.
Dirk carefully steps forward into the swamp. His beard bristles, and he lets loose a soft grunt as he sinks to his knees in the gloppy mire. "Bah!" He presses his foot down firmly to make sure that there's at least something solid underneath, before lifting his other foot out with a schlooorp. He sets it forward, once again testing the ground before continuing his crossing. He pauses halfway through though when he hears that chanting. "What the..." His eyes get wide, and then narrow. "Ah, shit! Someone's gone invisible on us, friends!" With a soft grunt, he starts hurriedly working his way across the bog, eager to get to the other side where he can move more freely.
"I saw that too," Corey remarks to Dirk, his brow furrowing even more seriously. The Warden frowns as Carver gets a small distance away, but it makes sense for her position and tactics. Instead, he advances forward in front of Dirk, rapier remaining up.
"Come out! Do not cower behind your invisibility. If you are seeking to be freed from your curse, then I think we can provide." Corey smiles grimly. Maybe Karasu's rubbing off on him.
Look, Magpie was a little bit distracted by all the water leakin in around the margins, which managed to be just unpleasant enough that the chanting barely registered as more than another sound of the Felwood. Birds sing? Well, Fel birds might chant prayers to Ug'qual'toth the Ever Stabbing, who knows?
But then multiple cries of 'Invisibility!' raise, and Magpie's head snaps up, eyes wide. "...Evil witches cursed to keep the town's remains for all time, huh? Uh... well I mean, if they wanna stay invisible, I... might have a fix or two. None of em are real easy on the... um... everything. Locality? That, not easy on the locality."
The sound of voices is getting slowly closer. Slowly. The first spell is being clearly followed by a second. More and more ominous. Yet nothing strikes you out of the dark.
GAME: Carver rolls perception+4+6: (18)+18+4+6: 46
"Body of water up here." Carver says, "Deeper than any puddles." Other chanting. Great. Hate witches. Hate them a lot. She forces her breathrate down, controlling how much reasoning she loses as adrenaline begins to mainline through the veins. Danger close? Yeah, you betcha.
"Why would it have ripples?"
GAME: Magpie rolls spellcraft: (8)+19: 27 GAME: Dirk rolls spellcraft: (9)+11: 20 GAME: Corey rolls Spellcraft: (5)+19: 24
"....Okay so they're the get-in-your-face-and-eat-it kind of witches, I guess," Magpie sighs, squelching toward the far edge of the embankment and drawing her crossbow. "That's a combat-support spell; they're gonna be nastier and bitier and probably uglier."
In her other hand, a thin wand slips out from under her bracer into her hand, and with a muttered word she taps herself on the forehead, sheathing herself in shimmering purple force.
GAME: Magpie used a Wand of Mage Armor.
The sound of Carver's words make Cor'ethil straighten up a little. He casts his silver gaze back in her direction. "I'll come check it out," he calls over to her.
Which means he wades over to her in the process, a bit of a slower process than he'd like, but he's a sildanyari man in heavy armor (albeit mithral) and wearing magic boots to make him speedier. There's only so much that can be done. "Yeah, I hear it too, Magpie," Corey remarks. "I don't like it one bit. Stay behind me!" He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if something bad happened to Magpie.
Dirk is not liking the way things are going. "There anything we can do 'bout this?" he asks as he schlurrps and schlorrps his way through the mud. "Urf... I cannae shoot what I cannae see!" He strains towards the far bank--solid ground is so close! Because he's a sitting duck down here in the bog.
GAME: Carver rolls spellcraft: (3)+7: 10 GAME: Carver rolls reflex: (16)+15: 31 GAME: Aftershock rolls 9d6: (38): 38
Carver exhale is perfectly timed. The smell of everything? Replaced by the sharp pop of ozone. She actually was already moving when she heard this new chanting, expecting something, hanging sideways off Deathless saddle. When she pops back up, fresh war paint of crimson swathes her left eye, the very same eye now bloodshot and bugging wildly.
GAME: Carver casts Hunter's Eye. Caster Level: 12 DC: 15 GAME: Dirk casts Hunter's Eye. Caster Level: 14 DC: 16
Dirk finally drags himself out of the mud with a last sickening schluupp. He pants for breath, reaching up to wipe sweat from his brow. But then, suddenly, surprise lightning bolt. "HEEK!" He ducks to the side on reflex. He looks to make sure his comrades haven't been hit by the bolt, before turning his gaze back to the ruins. "Right, fuck this," he growls. He strides forward, picking his way through the underbrush with practiced ease. As he goes, he digs into his hip satchel for a strand of stinging nettle. He passes the herb before his eyes. "O Blessed Lady, I ask fer sight beyond sight," he mutters. The Green Word answers Their ranger's plea--though once They do, Dirk immediatly wishes They hadn't. His face goes white as his beard as he beholds the horrific sight. "Beards o' me fathers!" he whispers tightly. He hunkers down, gripping the stock of his thunderbelcher, ready to fight this blight upon Ea's face.
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+14: (10)+14: 24 GAME: Dirk rolls fortitude+2: (17)+17+2: 36
A wad of liquid, viscus and green launches out of thin air at Dirk and lands on his hand. It doesn't seem to bother the tough old dwarf though.
And so it begins. The Warden of Gilead strides forward, rapier in hand, and at the end of his stride, Corey stands resolute, reciting a prayer that he has known for many years in his Warden training.
- "Exceedingly sharp, bane to dark:
- I call on Cen to bring the spark." <Celestial>
His rapier glows softly with enhanced vigor, and Cor'ethil smiles as brightly as his blade. "Don't worry!" he calls out to his allies. "We'll get through this! I'll make sure of it!"
Then he smiles more grimly. "Now come and get me, evil!" he taunts.
GAME: Carver rolls weapon12 -3-2+6+1: (18)+21+-3+-2+6+1: 41 GAME: Carver rolls weapon12-3-2+6+1: (20)+21+-3+-2+6+1: 43 (THREAT) GAME: Carver rolls weapon 12-3-2+6+1: (13)+0+-3+-2+6+1: 15 GAME: Carver rolls weapon12-3-2+6+1-5: (17)+21+-3+-2+6+1+-5: 35 GAME: Carver rolls 2d8+6+6+1d8+6+6+1d8+6+6: (3)+6+6+(1)+6+6+(8)+6+6: 48 GAME: Carver rolls weapon12-3-2+6+1: (2)+21+-3+-2+6+1: 25 GAME: Carver rolls weapon12-3-2+6+1: (1)+21+-3+-2+6+1: 24 (EPIC FAIL)
Carver knows of other threats, but she can see just the one. Deathless rears up with a striking flare of runes, then slams down just as Carver draws her arrows and sends them flying into the ugly, horrendous cursed sister. One of three wasn't it? Two confirmed to be near, witches of whatever that town Dirk claimed this to once be.
Arrows work all the same, whatever these abomination's tragic backstory might be.
Carver and Dirk can see the third sister slithering forward fast and furious, heading straight toward Carver who attacked her so viciously. She hisses loudly, but the sound echoes through the ruins making it hard to tell where it came from.
GAME: Magpie rolls perception: (4)+13: 17 GAME: Magpie casts Haste. Caster Level: 13 DC: 21
Muttering, grumbling, and squelching, Magpie clambers up the steep embankment on the other side of the muddy river. Oh the sisters thought they were cursed before? ...Well yes, they were, but now they're even more cursed. With ants in their underwear, worms in their every meal, and bugs nesting in their every pillow, and a hundred more petty tortures, before the gnome finds her footing atop stable ground.
Taking in the lay of battle in a moment, she sees a battle-ready Carver, a terrified Dirk, and a glowing Corey. ...Two of these things are as they should be, and Magpie scoops mana from the very air, gathering it into a double-handful of clay made of the roots of all creation. Bringing the clump up to her mouth, she utters the eldritch Words of Power:
- 'GET A WIGGLE ON!'
Folding the mana over and around the words, she rears back, and looses a multicolored ball of light directly at Dirk's head, the energy splattering outward in a vaguely clockwork-shaped burst, accompanied by the sound of ticking.
GAME: Dirk rolls shoot+6: aliased to Ranged+2-4+6: (17)+18+2+-4+6: 39 GAME: Dirk rolls shoot+6: aliased to Ranged+2-4+6: (10)+18+2+-4+6: 32 GAME: Dirk rolls shoot+6-5: aliased to Ranged+2-4+6-5: (20)+18+2+-4+6+-5: 37 (THREAT) GAME: Dirk rolls shoot+6-5: aliased to Ranged+2-4+6-5: (14)+18+2+-4+6+-5: 31 GAME: Dirk rolls shoot+6-10: aliased to Ranged+2-4+6-10: (6)+18+2+-4+6+-10: 18 GAME: Dirk rolls dmg+6+2d6: aliased to 1d12+2+8+6+2d6: (5)+2+8+6+(11): 32 GAME: Dirk rolls dmg+6+2d6: aliased to 1d12+2+8+6+2d6: (8)+2+8+6+(2): 26 GAME: Dirk rolls dmg+6+2d6: aliased to 1d12+2+8+6+2d6: (11)+2+8+6+(3): 30 GAME: Dirk rolls dmg+6+2d6: aliased to 1d12+2+8+6+2d6: (3)+2+8+6+(5): 24 GAME: Dirk rolls dmg+6: aliased to 1d12+2+8+6: (9)+2+8+6: 25 GAME: Dirk rolls dmg+6: aliased to 1d12+2+8+6: (5)+2+8+6: 21 GAME: Dirk rolls dmg+6: aliased to 1d12+2+8+6: (9)+2+8+6: 25 GAME: Dirk rolls Perception+6: (10)+21+6: 37 GAME: Carver rolls perception+6+4: (7)+18+6+4: 35
Dirk sucks in a deep breath as the hideous undead monstrosity approaches. He swings up his thunderbelcher and sights down the barrel. That's when he feels Magpie's Words of Power invoke gnomish might upon him. "All right, you nasty bitch! HAVE SOME O' THIS!" CHK-BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! His hands become a blur as he racks and shoots, his movements sped by Gnomish Words. The barrel strobes like flashes of sunlight as his weapon kicks in his grip. All four shots slam into the undead naga, blasting chunks and viscera all across the ruined stones. The thing topples over into so much smoking meat. "HAH! HOW D'YE LIKE THA--" Sadly, the old snowbeard's mirth is short lived. He cuts off, then squints as he peers closer. Sees that the globs of rotten meat are still moving, flopping and flailing. His face goes from red to white. "Oh, piss up my arse," he squeaks.
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+13+3: (3)+13+3: 19 GAME: Carver rolls knowledge/religion+6+6: (4)+12+6+6: 28 GAME: Carver rolls knowledge/religion+6+6: (16)+12+6+6: 40
Carver gives a horrible Dranish war cry, blowing air so fiercely between gapped teeth that it imitates a banshee. Deathless's ears fold back at the sound, but the speed at which the horse suddenly bounds into is breathtaking, as the Alhuui breed earns that little boast Carver is so fond of. Fast as the wind. She blows past everyone and then right up the very wall of the crumbling masonry.
She fires. An arrow plants right near Corey, where she knows the enemy to be. "THERE!" It's for Dirk and Maggie's benefit, those bright red feathered fluttering for something to aim at.
GAME: Corey rolls Perception: (3)+22: 25 GAME: Corey rolls Perception: (3)+22: 25 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+13+3: (11)+13+3: 27
"Very good work!" Cor'ethil compliments his allies quite soundly on the matter of the combat. One down, and... some quantity remaining. He can still hear scales nearby, so Cor'ethil goes looking, and...
"I can't see anything." Corey frowns. "This is going to be just like that one time, isn't it." If only Karasu were here to use his keen senses.
He's so lost in his frowning and missing Karasu that he completely misses the invisible entity trying to swipe at him. Cor'ethil sighs. "Oh well. Maybe I'll see something soon! And then I will get to do the work of Gilead." Oh, he's smiling again at the thought of that.
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+13+3: (10)+13+3: 26 GAME: Carver rolls perception+4+6: (5)+18+4+6: 33 GAME: Magpie rolls 3d6: (8): 8 GAME: Magpie rolls 3d6: (12): 12 GAME: Magpie rolls 3d6: (5): 5 GAME: Magpie casts Ball Lightning. Caster Level: 13 DC: 22 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+12: (9)+12: 21
Magpie's head whips round as Carver calls out the location of the enemy, and... ...With invisible enemies, her options are few... quasi-illusory fireball? No, too much danger of friendly not-fire. Lightning needs to be aim--AHA.
Digging a ring of iron out from a puch, she rolls it between her hands, muttering something in an ear-cramping tongue, heat and friction sending purple-green sparks flying from between her hands... until the chanting comes to a crescendo, and a trio of crackling, hissing spheres of riotously-colored electricty explode into being at the place Carver had pointed out.
Lightning sizzles, flesh sears, and Magpie grins with the smug satisfaction of a job well done.
GAME: Dirk rolls Perception+6: (1)+21+6: 28 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Dirk rolls Perception+6: (17)+21+6: 44 GAME: Dirk rolls shoot+6+1: aliased to Ranged+2-4+6+1: (5)+18+2+-4+6+1: 28 GAME: Dirk rolls shoot+6+1: aliased to Ranged+2-4+6+1: (1)+18+2+-4+6+1: 24 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Dirk rolls shoot+6+1: aliased to Ranged+2-4+6+1: (5)+18+2+-4+6+1: 28 GAME: Dirk rolls shoot+6+1-5: aliased to Ranged+2-4+6+1-5: (7)+18+2+-4+6+1+-5: 25 GAME: Dirk rolls shoot+6+1-10: aliased to Ranged+2-4+6+1-10: (5)+18+2+-4+6+1+-10: 18 GAME: Dirk rolls dmg+6+2d6: aliased to 1d12+2+8+6+2d6: (11)+2+8+6+(4): 31 GAME: Dirk rolls dmg+6+2d6: aliased to 1d12+2+8+6+2d6: (10)+2+8+6+(7): 33 GAME: Dirk rolls dmg+6+2d6: aliased to 1d12+2+8+6+2d6: (10)+2+8+6+(5): 31 GAME: Dirk rolls dmg+6+2d6: aliased to 1d12+2+8+6+2d6: (6)+2+8+6+(7): 29
Dirk shakes his hand, getting the last of the nasty green glop off of it. "Nasty buggers," he grumbles, wiping his hand off on the seat of his pants. He's a sturdy old dwarf, the toxin has no chance against his dwarfliness. But now, there's Carver marking a target for him, and Magpie kindly using more of those fantastic Gnomish Words to outline the beast in beautiful wreaths of lightning. Up comes his thunderbelcher. CHK-BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! He fires off another salvo of blazing radiance. The invisible beast staggers under the hail of blessed gunfire, and it too is toppled into so much rotting meat. "WHO ELSE WANTS SOME?!" he roars, racking the slide of his weapon to eject smoking shells, still faintly glowing as they tinkle to the ruined stones.
GAME: Corey rolls Perception: (2)+22: 24 GAME: Corey rolls Perception: (9)+22: 31 GAME: Corey casts King's Castle. Caster Level: 15 DC: 18
Cor'ethil looks over to Dirk, about to applaud the man for his good shooting, but then... He spots it. The shimmering edge of a being shrouded in invisibility.
And it's almost about to eat Dirk.
This will not stand. Corey breathes in, and he says, "Castle the king." In truth, Cor'ethil's first great love was chess. And in chess, the rook protects the king by castling to swap places. It's said in the same devotional tone as his prayers, and he says, "Please, o Stag--"
He takes a step.
The next step sees him landing where Dirk once stood, and he wheels around to the invisible woman who must be fighting him. "Me!" he demands, holding up his glowing rapier. "Not him! Not anyone else! Me!"
GAME: Carver rolls perception+6+4: (18)+18+6+4: 46 GAME: Carver rolls +roll weapon12-3-2+6+1: (10)++0+-3+-2+6+1: 12 GAME: Carver rolls weapon12-3-2+6+1: (17)+21+-3+-2+6+1: 40 GAME: Carver rolls weapon12-3-2+6+1: (8)+21+-3+-2+6+1: 31 GAME: Carver rolls weapon12-3-2-5+6+1: (12)+21+-3+-2+-5+6+1: 30 GAME: Carver rolls weapo12-3-2-10+6+1: (1)+weapo12+-3+-2+-10+6+1: -7 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Carver rolls 2d8+6+6+4d6+1d8+6+6+2d6+1d8+6+6+2d6: (7)+6+6+(16)+(4)+6+6+(7)+(6)+6+6+(7): 83
"This land is cursed!" Carver says, both the ranger and Deathless now perched proudly on the ruins of one building. Stone masonry crumbles under the weight but holds for now, perhaps thanks to the very magic of stagnation that holds the sister's prisoners here. "They will recover endlessly to fight us until what holds them is destroyed or this land cleansed in some way!" The hail of blistering thorns that are her arrows never stop singing, the red arrows glowing with a soft holy enchantment that means for these undead? They may recover but it's still going to hurt.
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+14+3: (15)+14+3: 32 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+14+3: (1)+14+3: 18 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Aftershock rolls 4d6: (10): 10
A beam of red light emits from within the invisible shroud that Corey can see. It lashes out just in time to catch the paladin rather than the man he means to protect. The flames of the spell burn him, but not Dirk.
Not Dirk.
GAME: Magpie rolls perception: (4)+13: 17 GAME: Magpie rolls perception: (19)+13: 32 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+12: (8)+12: 20 GAME: Magpie rolls 3d6: (9): 9 GAME: Magpie rolls 3d6: (12): 12 GAME: Magpie rolls 3d6: (8): 8
Several things happen all at once. Dirk shoots the undeath out of yet another naga, then winks out of existence, to be replaced by Corey, who is challenging... something. A twisted, blurred outline?
No. An invisible.
Stabbing a finger out, Magpie levels a command. Not in Gnomish, not in Arcane, just a command, of the sort that Dirk himself would recognize, and appreciate.
"GET'M BOYS."
And like overly cheerful puppies, the varicolored balls of lightning bumble and tumble their way toward Corey's foe, and like all puppies do, climb all over whatever they find to contact, and lick it to death.
Only this time... actually to death.
There's a rumble from the earth, a quake. The ground shakes uncontrollably and the three naga become stone. Writhing, moving, stone. Their bodies turned to earth by some force that you do not know until... Part of the ground rises up as well, forming a massive elemental that grinds and rumbles at you.
Things just went from bad, to worse.