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Company of Chaos - All Around Golarion
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<blockquote data-quote="Lwaxy" data-source="post: 5859123" data-attributes="member: 53286"><p>This afternoon, the group in the baron's keep finally managed to play again (the others are much further along so it was about time). The below battle took up the whole session but was worth it. I just hope I managed to do it justice as it was one of the best scenes we had yet and I am not that good at writing battles. </p><p></p><p></p><p>---------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>Never entered into the diary, but later told the rest of the group in quieter times:</p><p></p><p></p><p>"The horror of the scenery was unbelievable. Not due to the amount of death occurring or even the gore on the floor and the abandoned weapons lying around, mostly used. It was not the image of the guard captain standing over the fallen gnome or the tapestries on the wall depicting devils tearing each other apart with both spears and claws, or the fact that the light of the swinging chandelier overhead made them appear almost alive. Well, the latter had probably to do with it. But what made it all so terrible was the total, utter silence. The whole fight had been without any sound, the screams of agony and fear which must have originated in the throats of the dying were just never heard. There was no sound when a body dropped to the floor. The battle cries of attackers and defenders could only be imagined as they charged, eyes and mouth open, towards each other. By now, there was only the guard captain left, and he was now turning his attention away from the gnome and coming right towards me. </p><p></p><p>There is something to be said about attacking your enemy under any sort of silence magic. If you are quick, you can be done with it all and no one would be the wiser unless they happened to see you. Unfortunately, if you can't really surprise them, or they outnumber you – or both – then being unable to warn your friends or be warned is also a disadvantage. This was why I was on the floor with my back to the upturned table and a large gash at my left tight where my lifeblood was forming a puddle under me. The gnome, swinging from the chandelier at the time, had not been able to warn me. One of the Chelaxian bodyguards of the baron we were there to kill had been right behind me, and while he had forgotten that my smaller size meant he would have to guard lower and thus now added his blood to mine in his demise, he had still managed to render my left leg useless. </p><p></p><p>We had taken the wrong doors out of the two options left to us on the baron's keep's first floor. Instead of the library, where he had been eating breakfast, we had walked right into the guardroom where the guard captain was handing out daily assignments to a good sized group of guards we never managed to count. They fell silent in the middle of their business as the spell's area of affect hit them, too. And that was what saved us right then and there, because Lerrim's crossbow and a throwing dagger from Teltz and, of course, my small throwing axe killed 3 of them right away. But that was the only advantage we had before they started swarming all over us. </p><p></p><p>We still did well enough, as most of the guards didn't have all their weapons yet or were even all in their armor already. Lerrim was, to my surprise, quite good with a short sword. As most of them were evil, Desna helped me, too – luckily, thanks to my training, I do not need to call out aloud to invoke the benefits of her magnificent power. No, our luck turned when Teltz stumbled out of the door to avoid being slashed in two by the guard's captain. It brought him close to the door of the library. The area of effect of the silence on him spread to that room and its inhabitants. And despite a library being supposed to be silent, if you are silenced in the middle of your conversation with your bodyguards, you tend to notice. So all of a sudden, we also had the baron, his hellhounds and his Chelish lackeys to deal with. </p><p></p><p>The baron, so we knew, was a spellcaster, but he was useless in that regard thanks to not being able to talk. But the spell would wink out any minute, so Lerrim decided to do something about it first. Never mind the guard he had just somehow managed to down had given him a bad limb, which meant he was a lot slower than he would have usually been. His hate for anything devilish, especially this baron who was about to betray his own people, was too deep to care. Lacking any other weapon, with the last remaining knife he had still sticking out of the guard's throat, he resorted to taking the crossbow hanging his neck – that was his idea of having his hands free when needed – and banged it into the baron's knee. I remember the 'you can't be serious' look on the baron's face as he kicked Lerrim against the opposite wall. </p><p></p><p>I had no idea what the bard had done to suddenly change into a fire elemental form. I have since learned of his tattoos and the immense powers they hold. But back then, I was very much shocked. So was, good thing, the baron and his two guards. Teltz started on the baron, who had the bright idea to back off into the guard room while I was sparring with the captain of the guard, a human of great skill. I dare say he was better trained and more experienced than me, and he was just being careful because he feared the power of Desna. Invoking the divine had already left him injured, and he could not know the extend of my divine connection. </p><p></p><p>Behind me, there was a greenish light and the hellhounds yowled. I had no idea then what happened to them but they were gone. </p><p></p><p>Back in the guard room, Teltz jumped at the bodyguard pushing himself in front of the baron. I could not see the other one. Somehow Lerrim had managed to climb on the chandelier despite bleeding from a head wound where he had hit the wall. From up there, he pelted the baron with crossbow bolts but most did not go through the magical protection the traitor had already active. Teltz set the bodyguard on fire just when I managed to drive the captain against the table, knocking it over in the process. There was still no sound, mind you, the burning bodyguard walked around screaming in silence while the smell of burning flesh poisoned the air. I really wished I could put him out of his misery, but a crossbow bolt from Lerrim did the job. The gnome had the decency to forget his main goal for a moment to end the poor soul's suffering. Although I suppose, he is now suffering far worse in hell. </p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, that was almost his undoing as Vendikon jumped up and clung to the chandelier with a silent shout, swinging it so hard that the gnome fell off, right on top of the burning corpse of the bodyguard. As he rolled off, I barely avoided losing an ear to the captain's sword. Teltz turned towards me but him being all fire himself I could not get his meaning. That was when the other bodyguard, who had come to after having been sleep powdered by the gnome earlier as we later found out, ran my leg through before I managed to do a lucky hit and kill him. The baron dropped, boots first, on Teltz's head and rendered him unconscious. This made the bard turn back into his normal form. It also brought the traitor right to where Lerrim was. </p><p></p><p>Through the onset of pain after the first shock, I saw the little fellow take a crossbow bolt – just the bolt – and jump at the baron. He stabbed him where it hurt a man most, and as the traitor went down I swear, this gnome thief tore him apart with hands and teeth. That was when the sound came back. The baron's cries lasted only a second though, as his voice drowned in his own blood. I will never forget that sound. </p><p></p><p>Seeing me incapacitated, the captain rushed over to save the baron. While he was too late, it did not help Lerrim who, all covered in blood and probably half insane of hate, was still crunched over his kill. The captain's sword ran him right through from his right shoulder to his right shin. The human actually flung him off his sword against the door, then went over to make sure he was dead. </p><p></p><p>So now he was coming towards me. I took me a moment to remember I could heal myself up. My hand over my own wound, I called on Desna once more. It did not heal me up all the way and I had lost some blood, but my leg was finally functioning again. I pushed myself up to meet the man's sword. Truthfully, I would probably have lost that fight, as the captain had the desperation of a man with no other option in his eyes and by now I was exhausted. I had been up all night, whereas the human had just started his day, had obviously had time to down a healing potion seeing how his injuries had gone away and most of all, had the hopes of reinforcements arriving anytime soon thanks to the noise we now made. </p><p></p><p>That was when a beam of a sickening green hit the man. There was an eerie flash and he seemed to burn from inside out. I could see his organs and then his skeleton as he dissolved into nothing, his face an expression of confusion, shock and finally realization. His sword clung to the ground as his grip loosened before he disappeared. </p><p></p><p>Lerrim's blood smeared face stared at me with a terrifying grin of both triumph and pain. Then the hand with the magic ring he had used dropped again, and his eyes went blank. I knew death when I saw it, but next to the sorrow I felt about losing out newest companion, I also had the feeling that, for reasons unknown to me, death was rather a relief for him. I never found out his story or what exactly he had been running from. But we always knew he was a troubled soul from the moment we decided to take him with us and then not lock him up for the theft he had done. I hope he found his peace. As I went to confirm he was dead despite of already knowing, I saw the burned out ring on his hand and realized he had saved me from the hellhounds before. I felt ashamed for not really trusting him. </p><p></p><p>I limped over to Teltz, expecting to see more guards come through the door at any moment. I laid hands on him and could feel the divine power restoring his vitality, but he was still well out, and that left me with a serious problem. The keep would not stop fighting just because the baron was dead, at least not that I would risk it. Our plan had relied on the bard song-porting us out of here back to the temple, but that was out of the question now. I could not carry him either way. Not knowing what else to do, I searched the barons body. Some scrolls and items and a spellbook later I still had no idea. I was unable to use any of the arcane scrolls and items, or even know what they did. </p><p></p><p>I managed to drag the bard through a door in the back of the guard room. A pair of bronze gargoyles with spiral horns and heavy protruding lower jaws squatted atop large marble plinths in alcoves in the southeast and southwest corners. For a moment, I feared they would come alive.Two doors in the north wall exited the wide chamber, the eastern one we had just come through. Two short staircases ascended to a landing where a single staircase between them continued to the next level. Narrow windows on the staircase looked look out onto the bailey below. I was looking for something to bolt the door with when it occurred to me it would be better to drag the torn apart body of the baron in here, too. If they knew the baron was dead there was no telling what they might do. </p><p></p><p>I heard shouting and footsteps on the other side, but had nothing to block the door with save the baron, so I used his body. I felt nauseated doing that, and it wasn't a very effective barrier either. But to my luck, no one came charging in. I heard shouts to find the baron and wails of panic, but that was it. A few minutes into the chaos, Teltz woke up. He needed a bit to shake off his confusion so I helped him up the stairs into what seemed to be an opulent ballroom or meeting room. It had wonderful panoramas on the walls but we didn't really care. Teltz regained his wits and performed the teleport song as soon as he could, only nodding when I told him of the gnome's fate. </p><p></p><p>We reappeared in an almost empty temple. The chaos in the keep seemed to spread quickly through the city. We heard a servant telling everyone outside – and there were lots of people outside despite the heavy snowfall – that something had invaded the keep and killed the devil followers. I peeked outside and heard the sound of fighting, saw the mob with pitchforks and other makeshift weapons go up to the keep to reclaim their land from the 'devil folks' – probably hoping to kill the baron himself. Well, they had to be disappointed there. </p><p></p><p>We cleaned ourselves up ignoring the ongoings. The people would know it had been us once they found Lerrim – lest they think the gnome had done it all by himself. Likely, we would not have much chance to rest for a while after they knew, so we tried to catch as much sleep as we could, although it was hunted by nightmares. "</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lwaxy, post: 5859123, member: 53286"] This afternoon, the group in the baron's keep finally managed to play again (the others are much further along so it was about time). The below battle took up the whole session but was worth it. I just hope I managed to do it justice as it was one of the best scenes we had yet and I am not that good at writing battles. --------------------------------------------------------- Never entered into the diary, but later told the rest of the group in quieter times: "The horror of the scenery was unbelievable. Not due to the amount of death occurring or even the gore on the floor and the abandoned weapons lying around, mostly used. It was not the image of the guard captain standing over the fallen gnome or the tapestries on the wall depicting devils tearing each other apart with both spears and claws, or the fact that the light of the swinging chandelier overhead made them appear almost alive. Well, the latter had probably to do with it. But what made it all so terrible was the total, utter silence. The whole fight had been without any sound, the screams of agony and fear which must have originated in the throats of the dying were just never heard. There was no sound when a body dropped to the floor. The battle cries of attackers and defenders could only be imagined as they charged, eyes and mouth open, towards each other. By now, there was only the guard captain left, and he was now turning his attention away from the gnome and coming right towards me. There is something to be said about attacking your enemy under any sort of silence magic. If you are quick, you can be done with it all and no one would be the wiser unless they happened to see you. Unfortunately, if you can't really surprise them, or they outnumber you – or both – then being unable to warn your friends or be warned is also a disadvantage. This was why I was on the floor with my back to the upturned table and a large gash at my left tight where my lifeblood was forming a puddle under me. The gnome, swinging from the chandelier at the time, had not been able to warn me. One of the Chelaxian bodyguards of the baron we were there to kill had been right behind me, and while he had forgotten that my smaller size meant he would have to guard lower and thus now added his blood to mine in his demise, he had still managed to render my left leg useless. We had taken the wrong doors out of the two options left to us on the baron's keep's first floor. Instead of the library, where he had been eating breakfast, we had walked right into the guardroom where the guard captain was handing out daily assignments to a good sized group of guards we never managed to count. They fell silent in the middle of their business as the spell's area of affect hit them, too. And that was what saved us right then and there, because Lerrim's crossbow and a throwing dagger from Teltz and, of course, my small throwing axe killed 3 of them right away. But that was the only advantage we had before they started swarming all over us. We still did well enough, as most of the guards didn't have all their weapons yet or were even all in their armor already. Lerrim was, to my surprise, quite good with a short sword. As most of them were evil, Desna helped me, too – luckily, thanks to my training, I do not need to call out aloud to invoke the benefits of her magnificent power. No, our luck turned when Teltz stumbled out of the door to avoid being slashed in two by the guard's captain. It brought him close to the door of the library. The area of effect of the silence on him spread to that room and its inhabitants. And despite a library being supposed to be silent, if you are silenced in the middle of your conversation with your bodyguards, you tend to notice. So all of a sudden, we also had the baron, his hellhounds and his Chelish lackeys to deal with. The baron, so we knew, was a spellcaster, but he was useless in that regard thanks to not being able to talk. But the spell would wink out any minute, so Lerrim decided to do something about it first. Never mind the guard he had just somehow managed to down had given him a bad limb, which meant he was a lot slower than he would have usually been. His hate for anything devilish, especially this baron who was about to betray his own people, was too deep to care. Lacking any other weapon, with the last remaining knife he had still sticking out of the guard's throat, he resorted to taking the crossbow hanging his neck – that was his idea of having his hands free when needed – and banged it into the baron's knee. I remember the 'you can't be serious' look on the baron's face as he kicked Lerrim against the opposite wall. I had no idea what the bard had done to suddenly change into a fire elemental form. I have since learned of his tattoos and the immense powers they hold. But back then, I was very much shocked. So was, good thing, the baron and his two guards. Teltz started on the baron, who had the bright idea to back off into the guard room while I was sparring with the captain of the guard, a human of great skill. I dare say he was better trained and more experienced than me, and he was just being careful because he feared the power of Desna. Invoking the divine had already left him injured, and he could not know the extend of my divine connection. Behind me, there was a greenish light and the hellhounds yowled. I had no idea then what happened to them but they were gone. Back in the guard room, Teltz jumped at the bodyguard pushing himself in front of the baron. I could not see the other one. Somehow Lerrim had managed to climb on the chandelier despite bleeding from a head wound where he had hit the wall. From up there, he pelted the baron with crossbow bolts but most did not go through the magical protection the traitor had already active. Teltz set the bodyguard on fire just when I managed to drive the captain against the table, knocking it over in the process. There was still no sound, mind you, the burning bodyguard walked around screaming in silence while the smell of burning flesh poisoned the air. I really wished I could put him out of his misery, but a crossbow bolt from Lerrim did the job. The gnome had the decency to forget his main goal for a moment to end the poor soul's suffering. Although I suppose, he is now suffering far worse in hell. Unfortunately, that was almost his undoing as Vendikon jumped up and clung to the chandelier with a silent shout, swinging it so hard that the gnome fell off, right on top of the burning corpse of the bodyguard. As he rolled off, I barely avoided losing an ear to the captain's sword. Teltz turned towards me but him being all fire himself I could not get his meaning. That was when the other bodyguard, who had come to after having been sleep powdered by the gnome earlier as we later found out, ran my leg through before I managed to do a lucky hit and kill him. The baron dropped, boots first, on Teltz's head and rendered him unconscious. This made the bard turn back into his normal form. It also brought the traitor right to where Lerrim was. Through the onset of pain after the first shock, I saw the little fellow take a crossbow bolt – just the bolt – and jump at the baron. He stabbed him where it hurt a man most, and as the traitor went down I swear, this gnome thief tore him apart with hands and teeth. That was when the sound came back. The baron's cries lasted only a second though, as his voice drowned in his own blood. I will never forget that sound. Seeing me incapacitated, the captain rushed over to save the baron. While he was too late, it did not help Lerrim who, all covered in blood and probably half insane of hate, was still crunched over his kill. The captain's sword ran him right through from his right shoulder to his right shin. The human actually flung him off his sword against the door, then went over to make sure he was dead. So now he was coming towards me. I took me a moment to remember I could heal myself up. My hand over my own wound, I called on Desna once more. It did not heal me up all the way and I had lost some blood, but my leg was finally functioning again. I pushed myself up to meet the man's sword. Truthfully, I would probably have lost that fight, as the captain had the desperation of a man with no other option in his eyes and by now I was exhausted. I had been up all night, whereas the human had just started his day, had obviously had time to down a healing potion seeing how his injuries had gone away and most of all, had the hopes of reinforcements arriving anytime soon thanks to the noise we now made. That was when a beam of a sickening green hit the man. There was an eerie flash and he seemed to burn from inside out. I could see his organs and then his skeleton as he dissolved into nothing, his face an expression of confusion, shock and finally realization. His sword clung to the ground as his grip loosened before he disappeared. Lerrim's blood smeared face stared at me with a terrifying grin of both triumph and pain. Then the hand with the magic ring he had used dropped again, and his eyes went blank. I knew death when I saw it, but next to the sorrow I felt about losing out newest companion, I also had the feeling that, for reasons unknown to me, death was rather a relief for him. I never found out his story or what exactly he had been running from. But we always knew he was a troubled soul from the moment we decided to take him with us and then not lock him up for the theft he had done. I hope he found his peace. As I went to confirm he was dead despite of already knowing, I saw the burned out ring on his hand and realized he had saved me from the hellhounds before. I felt ashamed for not really trusting him. I limped over to Teltz, expecting to see more guards come through the door at any moment. I laid hands on him and could feel the divine power restoring his vitality, but he was still well out, and that left me with a serious problem. The keep would not stop fighting just because the baron was dead, at least not that I would risk it. Our plan had relied on the bard song-porting us out of here back to the temple, but that was out of the question now. I could not carry him either way. Not knowing what else to do, I searched the barons body. Some scrolls and items and a spellbook later I still had no idea. I was unable to use any of the arcane scrolls and items, or even know what they did. I managed to drag the bard through a door in the back of the guard room. A pair of bronze gargoyles with spiral horns and heavy protruding lower jaws squatted atop large marble plinths in alcoves in the southeast and southwest corners. For a moment, I feared they would come alive.Two doors in the north wall exited the wide chamber, the eastern one we had just come through. Two short staircases ascended to a landing where a single staircase between them continued to the next level. Narrow windows on the staircase looked look out onto the bailey below. I was looking for something to bolt the door with when it occurred to me it would be better to drag the torn apart body of the baron in here, too. If they knew the baron was dead there was no telling what they might do. I heard shouting and footsteps on the other side, but had nothing to block the door with save the baron, so I used his body. I felt nauseated doing that, and it wasn't a very effective barrier either. But to my luck, no one came charging in. I heard shouts to find the baron and wails of panic, but that was it. A few minutes into the chaos, Teltz woke up. He needed a bit to shake off his confusion so I helped him up the stairs into what seemed to be an opulent ballroom or meeting room. It had wonderful panoramas on the walls but we didn't really care. Teltz regained his wits and performed the teleport song as soon as he could, only nodding when I told him of the gnome's fate. We reappeared in an almost empty temple. The chaos in the keep seemed to spread quickly through the city. We heard a servant telling everyone outside – and there were lots of people outside despite the heavy snowfall – that something had invaded the keep and killed the devil followers. I peeked outside and heard the sound of fighting, saw the mob with pitchforks and other makeshift weapons go up to the keep to reclaim their land from the 'devil folks' – probably hoping to kill the baron himself. Well, they had to be disappointed there. We cleaned ourselves up ignoring the ongoings. The people would know it had been us once they found Lerrim – lest they think the gnome had done it all by himself. Likely, we would not have much chance to rest for a while after they knew, so we tried to catch as much sleep as we could, although it was hunted by nightmares. " [/QUOTE]
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