Vark sits high up on the steps while the group rests. He'd expended quite a bit of his arcane stores since charging up at the obelisk earlier, and there is no telling what they will find in the chambers ahead. His eyes slip closed as he begins to meditate. He begins by focusing on his own elemental spark. There in the darkness of his mind he can sense the storm clouds perpetually roiling deep within him. He concentrates harder and harder until... CRACK! A bolt of blue lightning strikes across his vision. The lightning is followed by the deep rumble of thunder, and a faint breeze begins to whip around the sorcerer as he channels the storm in his mind's eye. This continues for the better part of an hour as Vark slowly rebuilds his own elemental well. The whole time, the mage slips deeper and deeper into trance. There is no clear answer as to when his visualization shifts. There he is at the heart of the storm, thunder and lightning crashing around him, when he notices the temperature has risen. The frigid weather of his home has been replaced by warmth. Beads of sweat form on Vark's brow as the grey clouds around him darken into black smoke. There is quiet for a moment before another CRACK! This time the bolt tears horizontally through the clouds in brilliant crimson. The heat lightning seems more chaotic at first, but Vark quickly realizes there is order to it. Somehow there is rhythm there, like a beating heart... or like the pulsing of the ruby. The next flash reflects off debris that the clouds have picked up. Vark strains his eyes and eventually makes out shards of red crystals whirling around him. Where they bloodstones? Rubies? The warlock reaches out and snatches one of the stones from the air. He stares into it and is taken back to that first moment, atop the walls of that bandit camp. The swirling red is drawing him in, but now the movement is mirrored by something roiling deep in his chest. It's him, Matthew. Vark closes his eyes, feeling that power suffusing through his entire body.
When he opens them, he is back beneath the mountain. Vark stands with purpose, and his eyes once again glance to the red glow pouring through the archway. But first... those chests. By the time he walks down to see if Jex has opened the vessels he has already opened up his senses to the arcane auras they might have. A grin splits his face as he sees that not only are the chests open, but there is a hoard of glowing treasure laid out before him. Immediately he sets to work assessing each one, combining his arcane sight with his bolstered magical knowledge.
"This pendant is good for a healer, it can restore some of your divine power." he says, holding it up to Aiden. "These gauntlets also have some divine magic I think, but more uhm... offensive. Thurston you might get use out of them. Here you might like this too," he passes along the brass megaphone. "It'll make your voice louder. Better you have it then Jex." he says with a snicker. "Uhm if it's ok with everyone I think I'll keep this, it'll help with my offensive spells." he slips on the braided ring before moving on to the next item. "Oh Jex you should definitely take this bow, you're the best archer. Uhmm there's also this crossbow, it gets stronger if you use it against someone who just hurt you. Do you want that too? Or maybe Bründir would like it?" Finally he takes up the flat piece of wood and once again flashes a huge smile. "Oh wow! This is a magic bookshelf, I bet Seid will love it. I'm gonna hold onto it for him. Hmm what else..." he takes another moment to make sure he didn't miss any magical items. As his eyes pass over the bloodstone ring he stops like he's seen a ghost. He picks up the object and turns it in his hand, gently thumbing the place where one gem is missing. Was this yours? The question is addressed to the empty place where his patron once resided in his soul. Not expecting an answer, he slips the ring in his pocket where he once kept the bloodstone and turns to look at the others. "Well uhm, that's it. The other stuff is all mundane but it looks expensive."
Val glances over as she listens to Aiden, nodding slowly and grinning at the last sentence. "You speak as one from the frozen south, you speak like my brother. You would have liked him. He was the best of us." The grin fades slowly as her thoughts drifted away. "He was going to be our chief, you know. He would not want me to dwell on the failures of others. They are all good people, they are..." she stops and her eyes widen at the thought. "Well, they are my family now. We have our disagreements, but we always watch out for each other and I have never been afraid that they would not stand beside me when things became dangerous. Tell me, Aiden, do you seek to become a part of this group after this? Or are you more in it for the money?"
Taken aback by the last question, he takes a moment to clear his throat and think. Is that an invitation? he thinks, still surprised. He had to admit to himself, being a part of a group like these people would be a cut above the normal rough-cut, insecure, overly-masculine mercs that he had travelled with for the past few years. But they seem tied down to this Sheercleft of theirs. That's not the life I want.
"I do not know," he says. "When I left the Norsan isles, I was trying to find my family. But that seems unlikely. Now I'm just trying to find...some sort of purpose."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Aiden Olrikson | Human | Tempest Domain Cleric of Thor
Val nods. "I was much the same. I left the mountains with nothing but my brother's hammer and what little I could carry on my back. Everyone I had ever known was dead or taken captive to slavery. I came north into the dwarven lands where I found nothing but scorn and contempt, the few who would hire me did not pay me as well as the other guards. So I keep moving until I came to Sheercleft. My first day in the village I hired on with Vark, Brundir, and some others who have since moved on. We met the others along this journey that I have taken. I do not care as much for the town itself, but my friends do and so that has become my purpose. Maybe I could find a home there one day, I do not know. But these fools need me to keep them alive. Without me they would all clearly die. Perhaps you could find purpose with us as well."
Aiden laughs. "I do not doubt that, Valaith. Not at all," he says with a smile.
He thanks Vark with a nod and examines the necklace -- a silver pendant in the shape of a heart cradled by wings. "I think I can work with this. Not exactly my style in terms of aesthetic, but it should work."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Aiden Olrikson | Human | Tempest Domain Cleric of Thor
Valaith grins and guffaws, leaning over to slap Aiden on the shoulders with one of her large hands. "I like you! Larkin would definitely have liked you."
Aiden smiles and nods at the goliath, hiding the wince that came with the pain of being playfully slapped by someone with her powerful build. "Well, it seems we have two choices in direction. I assume we go toward the red glow..."
A sheet of crimson energy spans the gap between the stone pillars that flank the entrance to the next room. On the far side, Vark sees the chamber from his vision. In the centre sits a broad square of shimmering ruby with brilliant lines of white tracing its blood red surface in complex geometric patterns. To the left stands a lone sarcophagus in an antechamber of sorts, beyond which are the windows that Vark must have spotted from the bridge. In the back, another passage leads of to the right.
“This is it.” Vark’s voice chimes from right behind Jex. He steps forward and with a casual grace reaches out to touch the barrier. His eyes go wide as his mind is filled with a stream of visions before the barrier fades. “Uhm- I-“ he shakes his head and blinks, dismissing whatever he was about to say. Then Vark sets his sights on the fabled codex, so close now. Like a moth drawn to a crimson flame, he proceeds.
As Vark enters the ruby's chamber, he hears a scraping sound to his left. The sound breaks the half-orc's trance-like fascination and he sees the sarcophagus's lid shift to the side, revealing a Dwarf clambering out of the stone box. The Dwarf is clad in plate armour and wields a long blade. He stares at Vark with eyes that burn with cold blue light.
Jex hears the grinding of the lid and slips out of his hidden spot in between the pillars of the room. Without a word, he channels power from the circlet he wears through his body and looses three blasts of fire at the armored figure. All three strike the dwarf in the throat, but the armor seems to soak up much of the damage. He slips back into his hiding spot and disappears once again.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Aiden Olrikson | Human | Tempest Domain Cleric of Thor
Valiath hears the grinding and turns to see the strange, clearly undead dwarf climbing from the stone tomb. With a ferocious shout, she rushes the armored dwarf as a spectral Larkin seems to almost leap out of her body mid-charge and matching her stride for stride! Rook held high, she goes to slam the hammer into their enemy, but an errant corner of the stone floor catches her toe and she stumbles, barely catching herself from falling upon her face as her weapon swings wildly about.
As Jex's flames cause blisters to erupt across the Dwarf's calcified skin, the armoured warrior brandishes his longsword and it blazes with radiant light, forcing everyone present to shield their eyes.
A storm begins to well up in Aiden's hands. Thunder rumbles and shakes the ground. Lightning flashes and arcs across his armor. His eyes turn a bright crackling blue as a howling wind fills the chamber. The cleric channels the storm into a concentrated blast of wind that sends the armored dwarf spinning to the floor. The wind is joined by a metal-on-stone scraping as the dwarf slides 15 feet back along the path of the wind, arms and legs waving in an attempt to free itself.
"Stay down," Aiden says, his voice carrying through the storm, eyes still crackling with lightning.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Aiden Olrikson | Human | Tempest Domain Cleric of Thor
The Dwarf's image shimmers and flickers and suddenly he's back on his feet and right where he started, staring down Valaith with the same cold blue eyes. Moving with uncanny speed, the warrior thrusts out an arm at the goliath, striking her in the chest with a pulse of radiant light.
Valaith takes 22 radiant damage to vigour, reduced to 18 by DR -> 48/45 Vigour
Vark spins to face the noise, Path Maker at the ready. The others are quicker to react, and as they charge in and unleash a barrage of fire and storm, Vark’s attention turns back to the thrum of the ruby. Everything within him yearns for it, like there is a part of his own soul contained within. His mind goes back to that day beneath Sheercleft when he was first filled with that fiery power. Then again to the obelisk hours before this moment, charging him like an arcane battery. This is what they had come here for, and this was the last obstacle in their way. It will not be easy, but Vark has a hunch that the rush of power from this codex might turn the odds in their favor. He nods as his mind is made up, then vanishes in a burst of cloud. When he reappears twenty feet away he is already sprinting, drawn towards the ruby with magnetic force. As he closes the gap he drops to his knees and slides the last couple feet across the stone, red sparks flying in his wake. With a final crack of lightning his palm slams down onto the codex.
A circle of white runes immediately lights up around Vark's hand as the half-orc makes contact with the glistening surface of the ruby. Shadows flitter in the translucent depths of the gemstone and four additional lines of gleaming alabaster symbols illuminate, peeling out like ribbons across the surface of the codex. Each series of runes begins from the circle around Vark's palm, the first running out from his middle finger, with the other three all at right angles to one another. All over the surface of the ruby, grooves in geometric patterns begin to shine with the same bright white light and, moments later, the grating of stone-on-stone echoes about the chamber as the square begins to rise up out of the ground, revealing itself to be an enormous crimson cube.
Vark's eyes mist over red and his neck arches up to the ceiling as he communes with the codex. He sees the ages and the planes spread out before him - more knowledge and experiences than his limited mortal brain can possibly comprehend. He sees a great scaled serpent, followed by a red-skinned humanoid with horns, glowing eyes and a perfectly trimmed beard, dressed all in red and black. He sees a great subterranean city with iron walls, its walls manned by beautiful humanoids with raven black wings. He feels the codex reach out to him, tendrils of its power snaking across the surface of his brain and entangling themselves around his heart as it attempts to bond with its new host. It probs and probes as though seeking acceptance.
The dwarf's long blade flashes gold and, moving with unexpected speed, he delivers a rapid sequence of blows to Valaith. Valen leaps into action, clutching at his holy symbol as he absorbs some of the punishment that Valaith is taking.
Valaith takes 33 slashing damage and 62 radiant damage to vigour and 5 radiant damage to wounds, reduced to 33 slashing and 50 radiant by DR, reduced to 16 slashing and 50 radiant by resistance, reduced to 13 slashing and 39 radiant by Benevolent Sacrifice, reduced to 8 slashing and 36 radiant by Stone's Endurance -> 4/45 Vigour, 13/18 Wounds, 5 Bleed
Thurston roars and charges into battle alongside Valaith, dealing a devastating uppercut with Rikkazarik that almost knocks the Dwarf's head from its shoulders. The guardian of the vault reels backwards, toppling to the floor, but not before he unleashes his own riposte in another burst of golden light that draws the will to fight from the Norscan.
Thurston takes 17 radiant damage to vigour, reduced to 9 by DR -> 14/40 Vigour
Valen's action.
Hurry up behind Valaith to tend to her wounds, Valen reaches out to the goliath, chanting a prayer to stem the bleeding.
The Dwarf heaves and struggles to push itself up from the ground, but Thurston is relentless with his hammer, taking the chance to strike again at the strange unliving creature.
The dungeon shakes and a ghostly Dwarven apparition appears behind Valen, but the paladin is fast enough to evade its touch before it disappears once more.
Vark sits high up on the steps while the group rests. He'd expended quite a bit of his arcane stores since charging up at the obelisk earlier, and there is no telling what they will find in the chambers ahead. His eyes slip closed as he begins to meditate. He begins by focusing on his own elemental spark. There in the darkness of his mind he can sense the storm clouds perpetually roiling deep within him. He concentrates harder and harder until... CRACK! A bolt of blue lightning strikes across his vision. The lightning is followed by the deep rumble of thunder, and a faint breeze begins to whip around the sorcerer as he channels the storm in his mind's eye. This continues for the better part of an hour as Vark slowly rebuilds his own elemental well. The whole time, the mage slips deeper and deeper into trance. There is no clear answer as to when his visualization shifts. There he is at the heart of the storm, thunder and lightning crashing around him, when he notices the temperature has risen. The frigid weather of his home has been replaced by warmth. Beads of sweat form on Vark's brow as the grey clouds around him darken into black smoke. There is quiet for a moment before another CRACK! This time the bolt tears horizontally through the clouds in brilliant crimson. The heat lightning seems more chaotic at first, but Vark quickly realizes there is order to it. Somehow there is rhythm there, like a beating heart... or like the pulsing of the ruby. The next flash reflects off debris that the clouds have picked up. Vark strains his eyes and eventually makes out shards of red crystals whirling around him. Where they bloodstones? Rubies? The warlock reaches out and snatches one of the stones from the air. He stares into it and is taken back to that first moment, atop the walls of that bandit camp. The swirling red is drawing him in, but now the movement is mirrored by something roiling deep in his chest. It's him, Matthew. Vark closes his eyes, feeling that power suffusing through his entire body.
When he opens them, he is back beneath the mountain. Vark stands with purpose, and his eyes once again glance to the red glow pouring through the archway. But first... those chests. By the time he walks down to see if Jex has opened the vessels he has already opened up his senses to the arcane auras they might have. A grin splits his face as he sees that not only are the chests open, but there is a hoard of glowing treasure laid out before him. Immediately he sets to work assessing each one, combining his arcane sight with his bolstered magical knowledge.
"This pendant is good for a healer, it can restore some of your divine power." he says, holding it up to Aiden. "These gauntlets also have some divine magic I think, but more uhm... offensive. Thurston you might get use out of them. Here you might like this too," he passes along the brass megaphone. "It'll make your voice louder. Better you have it then Jex." he says with a snicker. "Uhm if it's ok with everyone I think I'll keep this, it'll help with my offensive spells." he slips on the braided ring before moving on to the next item. "Oh Jex you should definitely take this bow, you're the best archer. Uhmm there's also this crossbow, it gets stronger if you use it against someone who just hurt you. Do you want that too? Or maybe Bründir would like it?" Finally he takes up the flat piece of wood and once again flashes a huge smile. "Oh wow! This is a magic bookshelf, I bet Seid will love it. I'm gonna hold onto it for him. Hmm what else..." he takes another moment to make sure he didn't miss any magical items. As his eyes pass over the bloodstone ring he stops like he's seen a ghost. He picks up the object and turns it in his hand, gently thumbing the place where one gem is missing. Was this yours? The question is addressed to the empty place where his patron once resided in his soul. Not expecting an answer, he slips the ring in his pocket where he once kept the bloodstone and turns to look at the others. "Well uhm, that's it. The other stuff is all mundane but it looks expensive."
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Val glances over as she listens to Aiden, nodding slowly and grinning at the last sentence. "You speak as one from the frozen south, you speak like my brother. You would have liked him. He was the best of us." The grin fades slowly as her thoughts drifted away. "He was going to be our chief, you know. He would not want me to dwell on the failures of others. They are all good people, they are..." she stops and her eyes widen at the thought. "Well, they are my family now. We have our disagreements, but we always watch out for each other and I have never been afraid that they would not stand beside me when things became dangerous. Tell me, Aiden, do you seek to become a part of this group after this? Or are you more in it for the money?"
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
Taken aback by the last question, he takes a moment to clear his throat and think. Is that an invitation? he thinks, still surprised. He had to admit to himself, being a part of a group like these people would be a cut above the normal rough-cut, insecure, overly-masculine mercs that he had travelled with for the past few years. But they seem tied down to this Sheercleft of theirs. That's not the life I want.
"I do not know," he says. "When I left the Norsan isles, I was trying to find my family. But that seems unlikely. Now I'm just trying to find...some sort of purpose."
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Aiden Olrikson | Human | Tempest Domain Cleric of Thor
Val nods. "I was much the same. I left the mountains with nothing but my brother's hammer and what little I could carry on my back. Everyone I had ever known was dead or taken captive to slavery. I came north into the dwarven lands where I found nothing but scorn and contempt, the few who would hire me did not pay me as well as the other guards. So I keep moving until I came to Sheercleft. My first day in the village I hired on with Vark, Brundir, and some others who have since moved on. We met the others along this journey that I have taken. I do not care as much for the town itself, but my friends do and so that has become my purpose. Maybe I could find a home there one day, I do not know. But these fools need me to keep them alive. Without me they would all clearly die. Perhaps you could find purpose with us as well."
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
Aiden laughs. "I do not doubt that, Valaith. Not at all," he says with a smile.
He thanks Vark with a nod and examines the necklace -- a silver pendant in the shape of a heart cradled by wings. "I think I can work with this. Not exactly my style in terms of aesthetic, but it should work."
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Aiden Olrikson | Human | Tempest Domain Cleric of Thor
Valaith grins and guffaws, leaning over to slap Aiden on the shoulders with one of her large hands. "I like you! Larkin would definitely have liked you."
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
Aiden smiles and nods at the goliath, hiding the wince that came with the pain of being playfully slapped by someone with her powerful build. "Well, it seems we have two choices in direction. I assume we go toward the red glow..."
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Aiden Olrikson | Human | Tempest Domain Cleric of Thor
Jex nods.
"Should I go ahead again?"
He looks a little apprehensive this time, but does disappear off once again.
A sheet of crimson energy spans the gap between the stone pillars that flank the entrance to the next room. On the far side, Vark sees the chamber from his vision. In the centre sits a broad square of shimmering ruby with brilliant lines of white tracing its blood red surface in complex geometric patterns. To the left stands a lone sarcophagus in an antechamber of sorts, beyond which are the windows that Vark must have spotted from the bridge. In the back, another passage leads of to the right.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
“This is it.” Vark’s voice chimes from right behind Jex. He steps forward and with a casual grace reaches out to touch the barrier. His eyes go wide as his mind is filled with a stream of visions before the barrier fades. “Uhm- I-“ he shakes his head and blinks, dismissing whatever he was about to say. Then Vark sets his sights on the fabled codex, so close now. Like a moth drawn to a crimson flame, he proceeds.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
As Vark enters the ruby's chamber, he hears a scraping sound to his left. The sound breaks the half-orc's trance-like fascination and he sees the sarcophagus's lid shift to the side, revealing a Dwarf clambering out of the stone box. The Dwarf is clad in plate armour and wields a long blade. He stares at Vark with eyes that burn with cold blue light.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Jex hears the grinding of the lid and slips out of his hidden spot in between the pillars of the room. Without a word, he channels power from the circlet he wears through his body and looses three blasts of fire at the armored figure. All three strike the dwarf in the throat, but the armor seems to soak up much of the damage. He slips back into his hiding spot and disappears once again.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Aiden Olrikson | Human | Tempest Domain Cleric of Thor
Valiath hears the grinding and turns to see the strange, clearly undead dwarf climbing from the stone tomb. With a ferocious shout, she rushes the armored dwarf as a spectral Larkin seems to almost leap out of her body mid-charge and matching her stride for stride! Rook held high, she goes to slam the hammer into their enemy, but an errant corner of the stone floor catches her toe and she stumbles, barely catching herself from falling upon her face as her weapon swings wildly about.
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
As Jex's flames cause blisters to erupt across the Dwarf's calcified skin, the armoured warrior brandishes his longsword and it blazes with radiant light, forcing everyone present to shield their eyes.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
A storm begins to well up in Aiden's hands. Thunder rumbles and shakes the ground. Lightning flashes and arcs across his armor. His eyes turn a bright crackling blue as a howling wind fills the chamber. The cleric channels the storm into a concentrated blast of wind that sends the armored dwarf spinning to the floor. The wind is joined by a metal-on-stone scraping as the dwarf slides 15 feet back along the path of the wind, arms and legs waving in an attempt to free itself.
"Stay down," Aiden says, his voice carrying through the storm, eyes still crackling with lightning.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Aiden Olrikson | Human | Tempest Domain Cleric of Thor
The Dwarf's image shimmers and flickers and suddenly he's back on his feet and right where he started, staring down Valaith with the same cold blue eyes. Moving with uncanny speed, the warrior thrusts out an arm at the goliath, striking her in the chest with a pulse of radiant light.
Valaith takes 22 radiant damage to vigour, reduced to 18 by DR -> 48/45 Vigour
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Vark spins to face the noise, Path Maker at the ready. The others are quicker to react, and as they charge in and unleash a barrage of fire and storm, Vark’s attention turns back to the thrum of the ruby. Everything within him yearns for it, like there is a part of his own soul contained within. His mind goes back to that day beneath Sheercleft when he was first filled with that fiery power. Then again to the obelisk hours before this moment, charging him like an arcane battery. This is what they had come here for, and this was the last obstacle in their way. It will not be easy, but Vark has a hunch that the rush of power from this codex might turn the odds in their favor. He nods as his mind is made up, then vanishes in a burst of cloud. When he reappears twenty feet away he is already sprinting, drawn towards the ruby with magnetic force. As he closes the gap he drops to his knees and slides the last couple feet across the stone, red sparks flying in his wake. With a final crack of lightning his palm slams down onto the codex.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
A circle of white runes immediately lights up around Vark's hand as the half-orc makes contact with the glistening surface of the ruby. Shadows flitter in the translucent depths of the gemstone and four additional lines of gleaming alabaster symbols illuminate, peeling out like ribbons across the surface of the codex. Each series of runes begins from the circle around Vark's palm, the first running out from his middle finger, with the other three all at right angles to one another. All over the surface of the ruby, grooves in geometric patterns begin to shine with the same bright white light and, moments later, the grating of stone-on-stone echoes about the chamber as the square begins to rise up out of the ground, revealing itself to be an enormous crimson cube.
Vark's eyes mist over red and his neck arches up to the ceiling as he communes with the codex. He sees the ages and the planes spread out before him - more knowledge and experiences than his limited mortal brain can possibly comprehend. He sees a great scaled serpent, followed by a red-skinned humanoid with horns, glowing eyes and a perfectly trimmed beard, dressed all in red and black. He sees a great subterranean city with iron walls, its walls manned by beautiful humanoids with raven black wings. He feels the codex reach out to him, tendrils of its power snaking across the surface of his brain and entangling themselves around his heart as it attempts to bond with its new host. It probs and probes as though seeking acceptance.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
The dwarf's long blade flashes gold and, moving with unexpected speed, he delivers a rapid sequence of blows to Valaith. Valen leaps into action, clutching at his holy symbol as he absorbs some of the punishment that Valaith is taking.
Valaith takes 33 slashing damage and 62 radiant damage to vigour and 5 radiant damage to wounds, reduced to 33 slashing and 50 radiant by DR, reduced to 16 slashing and 50 radiant by resistance, reduced to 13 slashing and 39 radiant by Benevolent Sacrifice, reduced to 8 slashing and 36 radiant by Stone's Endurance -> 4/45 Vigour, 13/18 Wounds, 5 Bleed
Thurston's action.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Thurston roars and charges into battle alongside Valaith, dealing a devastating uppercut with Rikkazarik that almost knocks the Dwarf's head from its shoulders. The guardian of the vault reels backwards, toppling to the floor, but not before he unleashes his own riposte in another burst of golden light that draws the will to fight from the Norscan.
Thurston takes 17 radiant damage to vigour, reduced to 9 by DR -> 14/40 Vigour
Valen's action.
Hurry up behind Valaith to tend to her wounds, Valen reaches out to the goliath, chanting a prayer to stem the bleeding.
Valaith recovers 1 vigour -> 5/45 Vigour, 13/18 Wounds
The Dwarf heaves and struggles to push itself up from the ground, but Thurston is relentless with his hammer, taking the chance to strike again at the strange unliving creature.
The dungeon shakes and a ghostly Dwarven apparition appears behind Valen, but the paladin is fast enough to evade its touch before it disappears once more.
Jex's action.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva