ELIAS tries a little Prestidigitation on the Not-So-Frail Old Woman. It doesn’t seem to care.
MISTYNIP hits it with a Guiding Bolt. It begins to holler and scream in a hideous screech as though it is being suddenly tortured for every death it has caused. The image of the old woman fades. You see a gaunt thin young woman, totally naked, covered head to toe in drying matted blood. It dies.
The last BANE CULTIST drops his mace and surrenders.
VICTORY!
(DM NOTE: Targeting the Woman’s robes with the light spell would have failed.)
Khessa pats Mistynip on the shoulder: "Good job! You gave her the end she deserved".
The blonde arcane warrior then turns to everyone: "Congratulations to all of you too! You were truly awesome! Now... I think that most of the Cultists are now defeated, but there's no point in taking any risks! We're at the end of our strength. We need to rest - completely".
[[ OOC: Khessa is of course proposing a Long Rest ]]
"This area is finally secured" the tall adventuress considers. "Let's search these last rooms, just to see if they contain anything useful to us. Then we take the prisoner to the torture room and tie him to the chair he must have loved using on the others and rest there, taking guard shifts - the only 'visitors' can come from the same door we entered from at the beginning... it should be easy for anyone to monitor it. Once we've finished resting, we can interrogate the prisoner and resume exploring the last remaining areas, to be sure we've done a thorough cleanup".
“Yay, the bad-tasting baddie is gone! Yes, a good long rest would be good. I can take first shift watching, if others need a break.” Rosebud appreciates removing the cultists and their leaders from the cycle of life - of all the animals in the world, only humans appear to have developed the capacity and willingness to torture each other.
In the northernmost room the lone sarcophagus is slightly over halfway filled with blood. You see blood marks on the left side of the sarcophagus where the gaunt thin woman emerged from what appears her bloodbath. Behind the sarcophagus to the north, you will see a black robe and a pair of soft black leather boots. The woman was still carrying one of her curved long knives. The other is about ten feet behind with the light still upon it.
The middle room was Bane's Rest. You will find the usual five sets of chainmail, five maces, five longbows, with a large stock of arrows. Combined the Bane Cultist had 120sp and 30gp.
The southernmost room you will see four flickering torches in wall sconces illuminate this crypt, the middle of which is occupied by an open stone sarcophagus. The sarcophagus bears no carvings or other ornamentation but is full of humanoid skulls and bones. Six dusty bedrolls lie on the floor around it.
As the party searches through the bones and other things in this room, from somewhere behind, you hear the scraping of stone and then the splash of water.
Khessa has just finished dividing all the money found on the Cultists [[ OOC: (120sp and 30gp) / 5 = (24sp and 6gp) for each one of us ]] and was waiting for Elias, if able, to decree the items as magical or mundane, when she hears the scraping of stone and then the splash of water.
"Damn!" the blonde arcane warrior curses in a low voice, so that her companions can hear her, but not the authors of the noise "Yet another fight incoming!? I don't know if we can face it... but, on the other hand, I don't know if we can avoid it either!"
The tall adventuress quickly ties the prisoner with her rope and demands, holding the Greataxe menacingly above his head: "Keep in mind that if anything goes wrong you'll be the first to die. There was no water around here. Where did that noise come from? Was there a secret passage? And who usually stays there? Hurry up and answer - or I'll assume you don't want to cooperate - and we'll do without you".
Elias speaks up at the sound of grating stone, didn't the young lady we rescued say something about hear grating stone close to the room she was being held in? Possible secret door?
Khessa sighs: "Oh, welll... Your choice, I guess - though I believe it was a bad one" and brings the heavy blade of her Greataxe firmly down on the prisoner's neck - probably beheading him. "But all in all, after everything I've seen you and your friends do, maybe you didn't deserve better" she concludes, as the dead body falls.
With a likely hostile encounter imminent, the blonde arcane warrior does not think it wise to have to deal with an uncooperative prisoner. At the first opportunity, he might have tried to hinder the party - who, on their last leg as they are, do not need any further disadvantages.
"It must be as you say, Elias..." the tall adventuress admits "And I fear we have no choice but to go and see. I will try to go ahead, changing my appearance to that of our beloved Mistress of Souls. If I bring the skeletons with me, no one should doubt me. Perhaps I can send the people we are about to meet on a false trail... or lead them into a trap".
After KHESSAneatly executes her prisoner, she leads the Army of Darknessin the direction of the noise. She takes on the appearance of the Mistress of Souls.
You see a place where there is an open stone door. It was closed before but appears to be left open. Beyond is a watery room.
You can barely hear the sounds of battle and a call for assistance. It is coming from the left.
(Current map updated with location of secret door. A new map will be linked in the OOC thread.)
Khessa doesn't really know what to think... 'a call for assistance'? Is it some other faction, different from the Flaming Fist, that has independently invaded the den? Is it some prisoner who has managed to free himself and fight back? Is it animosity between the three factions of the Cultists that has finally resulted in open war?
"Make sure you stay out of sight" the tall adventuress advises her companions. "Just follow me from a distance; I hope it sufficies".
The blonde arcane warrior nevertheless enters, calm, preceded by her two undead infantrymen, as if she were at home there and follows the noises, ready to demand explanations as Mistress of Souls.
“Uhmm, the big buxom blond who now looks like the hag we just killed is leading us through a secret door to what sounds like a battle. Not a real improvement on her look, but I’m no fashion expert. I wonder whose side we will be on. I’ve never been in a real battle before. I wonder if we will get a flag or a symbol to fight for. I hope it is a butterfly. I like butterflies since they are so colorful. This is really quite the day,” says Rosebud as she steps nonchalantly over the just-beheaded cultist’s head that has just stopped rolling around. She uses her Natural Recovery to regain a spell slot (ooc: back to 2 spell slots) and follows Khessa’s instructions to not follow too closely.
sounds good, I've got a spell that'll help carry the spoils if you'd like me to cast? Will only take about 10 mins or so. Elias looks to the pile of armor and arms.
REYA allows ROSEBUD another ride through the two-foot-deep watery muck. (Difficult Terrain)
Beyond the hall, a flooded chamber opens up with rough-hewn steps climbing to the south, north, and northeast. The floor buckles up above the water line in the middle of the room, forming a small island. Corpses and doused torches float in the water around the island, atop which two men circle each other with weapons bared. One of the men — a tall, unarmored brute with a greatclub and a scarred face — towers above his opponent but is gravely wounded. The smaller figure is muscular and bare-chested. He clutches a bloody dagger in one hand and a torch in the other and has no flesh covering his skull. (D-Dead tokens are locations of floating corpses.)
Your approach is noticed by the brute with the greatclub, “Good. Flennis I need your help. The Bhaalist have conspired with my brothers and betrayed me.”
(It looks like we have lost Mistynip and Rosaline. I went ahead moved tokens on the new map.)
"I've always thought, that the Bhaalists are unreliable. Why trust living assassins, who can betray at any moment, when the undead are just as effective - but faithful forever?!" Khessa replies, while approaching, in her best Flennisish voice (the other, focused on surviving, shouldn't pay too much attention to every detail of her voice anyway) - and concludes "By the way, I was coming to you with some pleasant news... which will be a nasty surprise for this turncoat! New Myrkul recruits!" she raises her voice, for the benefit of the party "To me! It's time to harvest Bhaalists' souls for our lord!"
[[ OOC: Khessa would like then to attack the Bhaalist (glad to be able to fight him with the help of a strong fighter like the ohter must be, considering the surrounding carnage) - and unleash the Army of Darkness too. Shall we roll for initiative? ]]
While the 'new Myrkul faithfuls' arrive, 'Flennis' approaches and replies: "Perhaps you will soon have a chance to repay me. Do you know of any special reason why your brothers finally decided to rid themselves of you?"
"However," the magically disguised blonde arcane warrior observes matter-of-factly "now that we are with you, it is best that we pursue the assassin. If we do not finish him off now, who knows when you may find him behind your back? Lead us, quickly, before he can go too far".
Skeleton 1 Bow Attack: 6 Damage: 4 (piercing)
(Mistynip still has actions at the end of Round Eight.)
ROUND EIGHT (COMPLETE)
ELIAS tries a little Prestidigitation on the Not-So-Frail Old Woman. It doesn’t seem to care.
MISTYNIP hits it with a Guiding Bolt. It begins to holler and scream in a hideous screech as though it is being suddenly tortured for every death it has caused. The image of the old woman fades. You see a gaunt thin young woman, totally naked, covered head to toe in drying matted blood. It dies.
The last BANE CULTIST drops his mace and surrenders.
VICTORY!
(DM NOTE: Targeting the Woman’s robes with the light spell would have failed.)
Khessa pats Mistynip on the shoulder: "Good job! You gave her the end she deserved".
The blonde arcane warrior then turns to everyone: "Congratulations to all of you too! You were truly awesome! Now... I think that most of the Cultists are now defeated, but there's no point in taking any risks! We're at the end of our strength. We need to rest - completely".
[[ OOC: Khessa is of course proposing a Long Rest ]]
"This area is finally secured" the tall adventuress considers. "Let's search these last rooms, just to see if they contain anything useful to us. Then we take the prisoner to the torture room and tie him to the chair he must have loved using on the others and rest there, taking guard shifts - the only 'visitors' can come from the same door we entered from at the beginning... it should be easy for anyone to monitor it. Once we've finished resting, we can interrogate the prisoner and resume exploring the last remaining areas, to be sure we've done a thorough cleanup".
“Yay, the bad-tasting baddie is gone! Yes, a good long rest would be good. I can take first shift watching, if others need a break.” Rosebud appreciates removing the cultists and their leaders from the cycle of life - of all the animals in the world, only humans appear to have developed the capacity and willingness to torture each other.
In the northernmost room the lone sarcophagus is slightly over halfway filled with blood. You see blood marks on the left side of the sarcophagus where the gaunt thin woman emerged from what appears her bloodbath. Behind the sarcophagus to the north, you will see a black robe and a pair of soft black leather boots. The woman was still carrying one of her curved long knives. The other is about ten feet behind with the light still upon it.
The middle room was Bane's Rest. You will find the usual five sets of chainmail, five maces, five longbows, with a large stock of arrows. Combined the Bane Cultist had 120sp and 30gp.
The southernmost room you will see four flickering torches in wall sconces illuminate this crypt, the middle of which is occupied by an open stone sarcophagus. The sarcophagus bears no carvings or other ornamentation but is full of humanoid skulls and bones. Six dusty bedrolls lie on the floor around it.
As the party searches through the bones and other things in this room, from somewhere behind, you hear the scraping of stone and then the splash of water.
(What do you do?)
Khessa has just finished dividing all the money found on the Cultists [[ OOC: (120sp and 30gp) / 5 = (24sp and 6gp) for each one of us ]] and was waiting for Elias, if able, to decree the items as magical or mundane, when she hears the scraping of stone and then the splash of water.
"Damn!" the blonde arcane warrior curses in a low voice, so that her companions can hear her, but not the authors of the noise "Yet another fight incoming!? I don't know if we can face it... but, on the other hand, I don't know if we can avoid it either!"
The tall adventuress quickly ties the prisoner with her rope and demands, holding the Greataxe menacingly above his head: "Keep in mind that if anything goes wrong you'll be the first to die. There was no water around here. Where did that noise come from? Was there a secret passage? And who usually stays there? Hurry up and answer - or I'll assume you don't want to cooperate - and we'll do without you".
Elias speaks up at the sound of grating stone, didn't the young lady we rescued say something about hear grating stone close to the room she was being held in? Possible secret door?
The BANE CULTIST spits towards KHESSA.
Khessa sighs: "Oh, welll... Your choice, I guess - though I believe it was a bad one" and brings the heavy blade of her Greataxe firmly down on the prisoner's neck - probably beheading him. "But all in all, after everything I've seen you and your friends do, maybe you didn't deserve better" she concludes, as the dead body falls.
With a likely hostile encounter imminent, the blonde arcane warrior does not think it wise to have to deal with an uncooperative prisoner. At the first opportunity, he might have tried to hinder the party - who, on their last leg as they are, do not need any further disadvantages.
"It must be as you say, Elias..." the tall adventuress admits "And I fear we have no choice but to go and see. I will try to go ahead, changing my appearance to that of our beloved Mistress of Souls. If I bring the skeletons with me, no one should doubt me. Perhaps I can send the people we are about to meet on a false trail... or lead them into a trap".
With that, Khessa magically takes on the guise of the Mistress of Souls and, preceded by the Army of Darkness, goes to investigate these new noises.
After KHESSA neatly executes her prisoner, she leads the Army of Darkness in the direction of the noise. She takes on the appearance of the Mistress of Souls.
You see a place where there is an open stone door. It was closed before but appears to be left open. Beyond is a watery room.
You can barely hear the sounds of battle and a call for assistance. It is coming from the left.
(Current map updated with location of secret door. A new map will be linked in the OOC thread.)
Khessa doesn't really know what to think... 'a call for assistance'? Is it some other faction, different from the Flaming Fist, that has independently invaded the den? Is it some prisoner who has managed to free himself and fight back? Is it animosity between the three factions of the Cultists that has finally resulted in open war?
"Make sure you stay out of sight" the tall adventuress advises her companions. "Just follow me from a distance; I hope it sufficies".
The blonde arcane warrior nevertheless enters, calm, preceded by her two undead infantrymen, as if she were at home there and follows the noises, ready to demand explanations as Mistress of Souls.
“Uhmm, the big buxom blond who now looks like the hag we just killed is leading us through a secret door to what sounds like a battle. Not a real improvement on her look, but I’m no fashion expert. I wonder whose side we will be on. I’ve never been in a real battle before. I wonder if we will get a flag or a symbol to fight for. I hope it is a butterfly. I like butterflies since they are so colorful. This is really quite the day,” says Rosebud as she steps nonchalantly over the just-beheaded cultist’s head that has just stopped rolling around. She uses her Natural Recovery to regain a spell slot (ooc: back to 2 spell slots) and follows Khessa’s instructions to not follow too closely.
sounds good, I've got a spell that'll help carry the spoils if you'd like me to cast? Will only take about 10 mins or so. Elias looks to the pile of armor and arms.
REYA allows ROSEBUD another ride through the two-foot-deep watery muck. (Difficult Terrain)
Beyond the hall, a flooded chamber opens up with rough-hewn steps climbing to the south, north, and northeast. The floor buckles up above the water line in the middle of the room, forming a small island. Corpses and doused torches float in the water around the island, atop which two men circle each other with weapons bared. One of the men — a tall, unarmored brute with a greatclub and a scarred face — towers above his opponent but is gravely wounded. The smaller figure is muscular and bare-chested. He clutches a bloody dagger in one hand and a torch in the other and has no flesh covering his skull. (D-Dead tokens are locations of floating corpses.)
Your approach is noticed by the brute with the greatclub, “Good. Flennis I need your help. The Bhaalist have conspired with my brothers and betrayed me.”
(It looks like we have lost Mistynip and Rosaline. I went ahead moved tokens on the new map.)
"I've always thought, that the Bhaalists are unreliable. Why trust living assassins, who can betray at any moment, when the undead are just as effective - but faithful forever?!" Khessa replies, while approaching, in her best Flennisish voice (the other, focused on surviving, shouldn't pay too much attention to every detail of her voice anyway) - and concludes "By the way, I was coming to you with some pleasant news... which will be a nasty surprise for this turncoat! New Myrkul recruits!" she raises her voice, for the benefit of the party "To me! It's time to harvest Bhaalists' souls for our lord!"
[[ OOC: Khessa would like then to attack the Bhaalist (glad to be able to fight him with the help of a strong fighter like the ohter must be, considering the surrounding carnage) - and unleash the Army of Darkness too. Shall we roll for initiative? ]]
When Elias can see the foe, within 60 ft, he'll cast mind sliver for 2 pts, Int save DC 13. In his best "butler" voice, you rang madame?
As soon as the skull-faced man sees Flennis, he disengages and heads to the north leaving the heavily injured hulking brute.
"Flennis, your timing was good. I think you may have just saved my life, " the heavily injured hulking brute says.
(DM NOTE: For purposes of this PBP system, I wanted everyone to at least see the adversaries. Some of these encounters clearly works best ftf.)
(Khessa and Elias would not have been able to engage the skull-faced man. He moves really fast. Map updated again.)
DM ROLL 9
While the 'new Myrkul faithfuls' arrive, 'Flennis' approaches and replies: "Perhaps you will soon have a chance to repay me. Do you know of any special reason why your brothers finally decided to rid themselves of you?"
"However," the magically disguised blonde arcane warrior observes matter-of-factly "now that we are with you, it is best that we pursue the assassin. If we do not finish him off now, who knows when you may find him behind your back? Lead us, quickly, before he can go too far".