Round 5:
Two things happened at once: the High Priest, eyes glowing gold with power, would stand up and bellow out a HOLY WORD; Zoah would let out a shout and hurl his spear at the wounded initiate. About as soon as it left his hands, Zoah would feel rather as though someone had abruptly hit him with a stagecoach, tumbling backwards ankles-over-ass with a painful ringing in his ears. After a moment to shake the sudden impact off, and taking a deep breath, he'd scramble to his feet, filch a sword off of a dead body, and head right back into the melee, not noticing the sudden deafness or the bruises on his body as more than a buzzing noise and a dull ache. After a brief exchange of swordplay and suddenly feeling the floor get greased, the angel would step back slightly, putting the stone Shinpriest back in front of him and narrowing access to his party.
Myrln would barely have time to unleash his slippery spell before the HOLY WORD would smash against him. Unlike Zoah, this wouldn't quite be physical, aside from the sudden and abrupt HEADACHE FROM THE LOUD; instead, the part-fey would find the mana in his body beginning to grow unstable. With pure blind panicked thought, he would lock down his powers, and only then would he feel the pain hit his body like a lightning bolt through the bones, the scent of ozone and magic souring his nostrils. He'd murmur (presumably, at least, given how little he could hear) a prayer to his God, begging for help in the most amusing of manners.
Neun, from his position beside his companion, would feel as through a massive wave had just full-out dropped on him and
through him, knocking him down to the ground and sending a numb cold through his body. It would feel as though the fires within had all been extinguished, and steam would come forth from his mouth and nostrils, with the tang of sea salt, blood, and sulfur. After a moment to shiver and stagger to his feet, the dwarf would attempt a powerful spell, only to feel it fizzle. The cold within would slowly ease back, although it'd feel like cuddling up to a candle in the middle of a blizzard.
Of all of the party, it would hit Morgred the hardest: the skeletal necromancer would feel a sensation strongly resembling pain, dust flowing from its bones as tendons weakened. It wouldn't be long for the almost!pain to turn into full-out agony, incandescent white flames burning across the body and screaming through its mind. After taking an involuntary step backwards and falling to one knee thanks to a horribly-timed break, the party's black caster would put one frail hand to the ground, suck the mana from one of the ghouls that had closed rank around him, and throw it into the crypts, willing every last body it could sense to rise in the name of their master. After a moment, there would be the sound of squeaks and carapaces scuttling across the ground as hundreds if not thousands of rats, mice, beetles, and other forms of undead vermin would rush to the aid of their summoner.
Tarana, amusingly enough, would simply hear the priest shouting something like "JUSTICE" and feel a warm, happy sensation, almost as though she had gotten a nice big hug from someone she cared about. This wouldn't stop her from launching from the top of a Shinpriest into the crowd and backstabbing the initiate who was running the hell away from the group. At this, the warm sensation would fade slightly, and after planting a foot in the back of the stabbed initiate to recover her blade, everyone's favorite token good guy would jump back onto a contained Shinpriest and deliver a kick to the face, breaking his nose badly and causing the trapped man to slump over, knocked the fuck out.
Interestingly enough, several other folks in the crowd seemed to have been affected by the assault - one priest would immediately begin to vomit blood and collapse, a wicked and painful CRACK! echoing through the room when his skull impacted the ground. Yet another cluster would scream in agony, then fling out their hands, a spray of blood arcing through the air. For a brief moment, the symbol of Sanoci would shimmer, then explode, causing the entire room to be filled with a deep red fog, strongly smelling of iron. An arrow would
whizz right past Tarana's ear and punch through the throat of one of the Savokian imposters masquerading as an initiate. He would have time to look surprised, touch the quivering, feathery end of the arrow, form the word "Oh!" with his mouth, and then drop to the floor, life-blood slowly pumping out of the fatal wound.
Through the blood fog, it would be hard to tell what was happening but everyone on the battlefield with any sense at all for the divine would suddenly come to two conclusions:
1. The gods were now watching.
2. ...oh,
shit!
As the Shinpriest chanted something in a loud, guttural voice (which Zoah would recognize as a general blessing on Shin's warriors) and the surviving Corpriests cast their spells, there would be a sudden warm glow in the room, as through Coranthiir were pushing through the barriers to manifest. This would be countered almost immediately by a sensation of mirth and an echo of mocking laughter, which would even be heard by the deaf folks. Two of the Gods had made their moves.
Almost at once, Myrln would find himself overflowing with mana, feel the particular tingling sensation of a magic shield, notice the weight of armor on his body, sense his perception of time slowing down, and a feeling of overconfident, highly amused bravado. Tarana would also feel the shielding sensation, while everyone else in the party save for Morgrod would also feel their time-sense getting just a bit slower. The wolves would wade into the combat, going past Zoah, and would rapidly devour the bodies of the fallen, muscles flowing across their bare skeletons. Each wolf would suddenly gain nearly seventy pounds of muscle mass, their reconstituted eyes gleaming with a savage, dark intelligence as the ghouls around Morgrod gave hissing moans to indicate their displeasure.
Round 6:
The wolves split and flanked the group as the two free Shinpriests cursed, ignoring the party in favor of the heretical Savokians who had infiltrated the meeting. Given the choice of enemies, those who were known enemies of their chief God were the first targets. Unfortunately for them, the fog being so thick, the priests simply vanished from sight. Everyone who could hear would hear steel ringing as at least one priest encountered the fakers. Neun, now burning with his usual inner magma, would unleash the flames through the fog, burning away a good bit of the mist and scorching everyone past Zoah, who would duck as one fireball came a little too close for comfort. Unfortunately, neither the second nor the third spells would do much damage, aside from demolishing the magical shields that had been preventing more damage.
As the blood fog thinned, the remaining Corpriests were revealed to have formed a small, tight group with the High Priest at the center, weapons at the ready to strike at anyone in range. The Shinpriests were busy attempting to slaughter the Savokians, without much luck - the drilled techniques were matched by the ferocity of their opponents, and the floor being slippery was forcing both groups to be extra damned careful with their footwork. Through the eyes of its wolves, Morgred would note that he could take the opportunity to hamstring the Savokian priests, and could
possibly sacrifice a wolfghoul in a kamikaze towards the cluster of priests. Zoah would have an opportunity to regain his spear, while Myrln would ready a counterspell.
For one brief moment, there was a lull in the combat. The Corpriests were perfectly willing to remain on the defensive, with the non-stuck Shinpriests fighting the Savokians and the one who was stuck still struggling to break her bonds. Cracks were starting to appear in the stone, and she did
not look happy, eying Tarana as though the priest were contemplating ramming a pointy object somewhere the sun didn't shine.
Round 7:
[Your turn, guys.]
[Tarana 28 HP / 17 MP (Mage Shield)
Myrln 17 HP / 37 MP (Deaf, Shin's Armor, Mage Shield, Shin's Blessing, Pantxike's Pranks, Magic Conduit,)
Neun 11 HP / 30 MP (Hard of Hearing, Shin's Blessing)
Zoah 11 HP / 24 MP (Deaf, Shin's Blessing)
Morgrod 21 HP / 33 MP (Hard of Hearing, Holy Agony)
Swordsman 1 - Mostly Healthy / Mostly Full
Archer 1 - Mostly Healthy / Full
Archer 2 - Mostly Healthy / Mostly Full
Ghouls 1-5 - Mostly Healthy / Primed
Animated Wolves 1-12 - Full Health / Full
Savokian Priest 1 - 34 HP / 5 MP (Deaf, Stunned, Shin's Blessing)
Initiate of Savoki 1 - 12 HP / 1 MP (Deaf)
High Corpriest - 41 HP / 20 MP (Shin's Blessing, Holy Conduit)
Corpriest 1 - 29 HP / 13 MP (Shin's Blessing)
Corpriest 3 - 16 HP / 13 MP (Shin's Blessing)
Corpriest 4 - 18 HP / 13 MP (Shin's Blessing)
Corpriest 6 - 27 HP / 13 MP (Shin's Blessing)
Corpriest 7 - 31 HP / 13 MP (Shin's Blessing)
Corpriest Initiate 6 - 15 HP / 5 MP (Shin's Blessing)
High Shinpriest - 54 HP / 10 MP (Shin's Blessing)
Shinpriest 5 - 33 HP / 20 MP (Shin's Armor, Shin's Blessing)
Shinpriest 4 - 8 HP (Stuck) (Armor, Shin's Blessing)
Shinpriest 5 - 17 HP / 20 MP (Shin's Armor, Shin's Blessing)
Shinpriest 3 - KO'd
Shinpriest 2 - KO'd
Initiate of Savoki 2 - DEAD!
Savokian Priest 2 - DEAD!
Corpriest Initiate 1 - DEAD! (Consumed)
Corpriest Initiate 4 - DEAD! (Consumed)
Corpriest Initiate 7 - DEAD! (Consumed)
Corpriest Initiate 8 - DEAD! (Consumed)
Corpriest Initiate 9 - DEAD (Consumed)
Corpriest Initiate 10 - DEAD! (Consumed)
Corpriest 5 -DEAD!
Next round, battlefield will be aligned with the Golden Family (Coranthiir, Illeni, Vijer, etc)
In 2 rounds, the battlefield will be aligned with Coranthiir.
In 4 rounds, lesser divine minions will arrive.
The following gods are meddling: Shin, Pantxike, Coranthiir
The gods who are watching are: Chelan, Mingan, Liagora, Eyilana, Darsh, Savoki
Author
Topic: Adventuring Party, Act 1: A Tale Of Two Hamlets (Read 38143 times)