Okay then, Quaen will delay until Grant acts, then pop a Kelgore's Grave Mist in the direction he shoots, best as she can guess their position with the LoS she has. No change in actions.
__________________ I hate to interrupt, but I believe we're being followed. The Mimes on the street corner. No, don't look. ~ Mycroft, Broken Diamond
Proud supporter of Dreamscarred Press and Untapped Potential, New Horizons in Psionics. Get it now! It's the best 5 dollars you'll ever spend.
(Adele will climb up ahead of Horace, and I'm going to retroactively assume she identified the dolgrims for you, because I don't want to keep coming up with different ways to say 'mystrey monster'.)
Grant seeing the creatures, lets out a warning, "We've got trouble!", as a shot cracks out from his pistol. Unfortunately, it went well wide of the lead dolgrim, and he fell prone. Grant, you shoot then dive prone, you don't shoot while you're diving prone. That only works in bad plays.
Turning sharply at the warning, Quaen wastes absolutely no time. Pulling out a palmful of gave dirt, the elf pulls at the dark energies mirrored at the core of her own mortal light, as she was taught to draw upon in Aerenal. Quickly flickering her free hand in a tight and efficient series of arcane gestures, the dirt evaporates and disappears, leaving a faint blue glow in a vauge undefined shape before fading. Though she was only guessing at where to place her spell, she guessed fairly accurately, centering its area of effect almost exactly on the dolgrims' hiding spot, and leaving a clear area on the ledge for Grant. Almost simultaneously, an unnatural chill surrounds the squat abominations, thin mists descending to cloak them in fatigue and wintery death. Each of the four arms loosen and slacken, as strength and vitality are leeched from their bodies.
Grant sees one of the monsters fall from Quaen's spell, and the others are badly injured.
Moving away from her exposed position next to the corpse, Qauen manuvers for better cover against the crossbows' deadly barrage, drawing her revolver as she does so. Unless the monsters walk up to the ledge, she won't have a shot at them, but three others have to climb up ahead of her.
Adele makes her way up the rope rather quickly (accellerated climb) and takes a quick step to the side. Horace does the same. Doc, who's not the skilled climber that the two of them are, elects to climb at a normal rate, and is halfway up the rope when the surviving dolgrims act.
One fires a bolt at Adele, and manages to hit her before she's moved away from the rope (5 dmg). One takes a shot at Horace, which goes well wide and lands harmlessly on the ground below. And one passes just over the head of the prone Grant.
After the creatures one of the creatures drops in the mist, Grant knows that the mist isn't just a magical fog, it was hurting them as well. I think I'll just hang out here until...WHOA!...Grant sees the crossbow bolt narrowly miss, he decides to remain on his belly for a moment. Thinking of something better than just lying there, he pulls out his shield trying to cover himself as best he can from the oncoming rain of crossbow bolts.
ooc
Remain prone and ready shield, AC 18, 22 vs ranged weapons.
Grant waits for the expected rain of crossbow bolts, but it never falls. Seconds after he raises his shield, the other three fall to the ground in the lingering effects of Quaen's spell.
Grant stands up and gingerly brushes the dust from his fine clothes. After retrieving and reloading his pistol, he looks at the lingering mist, "Quite the spell, where did you learn that one?"
After he is suitably ready to move on, Grant begins looking around the room, careful not the go into the dangerous fog. He concentrates on the power of The Silver Flame, slowly scanning the area as he walks for any lingering effects of evil.
ooc
Detect evil as I look around. Search +0(aiding another if another does this)
Finishing his climb, Doc raises an eyebrow at the spell as it begins to dissipate. He looks appraisingly at the elf a moment, but says nothing. He then returns to the business at hand. "Khyber taint around here for sure. We must make haste to ensure the sanctity of the airship and the safety of her crew."
OOC: Spellcraft check to ID the spell. If he takes 10, he'd (normally) be able to identify it, thus his reaction above.
__________________ stonegod -- LEB judge and spawn of Khyber since 2005 (Blog)
He concentrates on the power of The Silver Flame, slowly scanning the area as he walks for any lingering effects of evil.
ooc
Detect evil as I look around. Search +0(aiding another if another does this)
ooc
Grant doesn't detect any evil auras in the immediate area. The twisting stone tunnel walls keep him from seeing all the way out to the end of a 60' cone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc
OOC: Spellcraft check to ID the spell. If he takes 10, he'd (normally) be able to identify it, thus his reaction above.
OOC
I thought about adding an 'obscure spell' modifier to the spellcraft DC for this, but decided against it, so you recognize the Kelgore's Grave Mist spell.
Gingerly climbing up after Doc, Quaen looks at Grant strangely for a moment giving an articulate shrug. "I recieve periodic instruction from Aerenal. It is what I do."
Walking up to the dead Dolgrims, she begins to search the frozen bodies with the familiarity of a graverobber. "I agree with Doc. We need to find the airship as quickly as possible, before more scavengers like these show up. It's far from safe, even for a group such as ourselves..."
__________________ I hate to interrupt, but I believe we're being followed. The Mimes on the street corner. No, don't look. ~ Mycroft, Broken Diamond
Proud supporter of Dreamscarred Press and Untapped Potential, New Horizons in Psionics. Get it now! It's the best 5 dollars you'll ever spend.
Grant nods at Quaen. "No worries it was just quite effective, and I've never seen it in my days of fighting." Grant contiues to look around the area for any possible exits in the upper area.
ooc
The dead dolgrims should detect as a lingering effect of evil as per the detect evil spell, unless I am mistaken(purely for smite evil purposes). If the humans below were undead and killed recently they should also have an aura. Were there no exits from this room? Treasure tally: 4 morningstars, 4 spears, and 4 light crossbows. There's roughly 180 gp in mixed coinage and notes among the humans.
I forgot about the lingering aura effects. The dead bodies you found when you came in radiate no auras; the dolgrims you just killed radiate a dim evil aura. There is an exit to the north, it's just that the tunnel curves sharply beyond the room, so you can't easily see around the corner.
Quaen
The recently killed dolgrims have nothing on them save for their weapons. You do notice sword cuts and gunshot wounds on some of them; they were clearly in a fight recently, before your spell killed them.
Horace looks at the bodies with disdain, spitting on the floor at the smell of them. "Reckon I'll see what's up ahead."
OOC: Horace will scout around for an exit, then move silently down it with rifle drawn. Sorry I've been out of touch; we went out of town for a wedding and I forgot the laptop. Doh!
__________________ Originally Posted by Piratecat:
See, that's the thing. A half-vampire gelatinous cube ninja of legend is patently absurd. An unkillable blob of midnight slime that haunts the crevices of an ancient inn, that leaves slime-covered and blood-drained carcasses behind it as it slinks back into the shadows, is just plain scary.
If you're trying for style without player metagaming, change physical appearance and never label anything. As the Shaman and other folks illustrated, everything can be more frightening when you don't know what the heck you're facing.
OOC: Horace will scout around for an exit, then move silently down it with rifle drawn.
OOC: You couldn't see this from the lower level, but there's an obvious exit to the north. It's just that tunnel curves sharply not far from the room, so you can't see where it goes from where you are.
Horace will sneak down the tunnel to the north, gun drawn, loaded and ready.
__________________ Originally Posted by Piratecat:
See, that's the thing. A half-vampire gelatinous cube ninja of legend is patently absurd. An unkillable blob of midnight slime that haunts the crevices of an ancient inn, that leaves slime-covered and blood-drained carcasses behind it as it slinks back into the shadows, is just plain scary.
If you're trying for style without player metagaming, change physical appearance and never label anything. As the Shaman and other folks illustrated, everything can be more frightening when you don't know what the heck you're facing.
Horace moves back down the corridor, and hides, taking up a position with his rifle aimed at the cave entrance. "Movement, comin' this way. Get yerselves ready!" he hisses in a low voice.
__________________ Originally Posted by Piratecat:
See, that's the thing. A half-vampire gelatinous cube ninja of legend is patently absurd. An unkillable blob of midnight slime that haunts the crevices of an ancient inn, that leaves slime-covered and blood-drained carcasses behind it as it slinks back into the shadows, is just plain scary.
If you're trying for style without player metagaming, change physical appearance and never label anything. As the Shaman and other folks illustrated, everything can be more frightening when you don't know what the heck you're facing.
Grant stands across from Doc, behind the wall near the curving entrance to the tunnel, out of sight of anything that comes through the tunnel. His rapier is readied for a thrust toward's the enemies kidney.
Spoiler:
Move to near entrance. Flanking with Doc if possible, and ready attack for when easily recognizable enemy to come through.
Doc, Grant, Horace, Quaen, and Adele take up positions on either side of the tunnel entrance, with Horace discretely looking around the corner, rilfe in hand.
Horace is the first to see the newcomers, no doubt drawn by the noise from Grant's pistol shot. Three large men, similar in appearance to the dead humans below, though armed with rilfes instead of pistols, round the corner and come into view.
Grant holds his position, at first unaware what is happening, until he sees the tatooed men. He leans back against the cool stone of the cave wall, still ready to thrust his rapier when the men come closer to investigate.
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