[on quinn's turn] Quinn knows that running off as fas at the half orc did is not wise, so he hustles down the hall in the direction he went.
Action, Quinn: double move toward where Caerth went until a foe is encountered, then exact "proper justice".
Action, player [me]: going grocery shopping, normal move [1/4 mile @ 2 miles per hour] attack grocery store
+50 att, 1d pocketbook damage, uber home.
Caerth curses as the ghouls close in on him, and Kangs mental anxiety is something he can do without.
Before he has a chance to switch to his trusted spear, the undead things are upon him. The half-orc is soon grateful for the tough rhino hide of his armor, because the ghouls have trouble penetrating it with their claws. He knows his luck won’t hold, and desperately slashes at the closest foe with the dagger.
The blow from the dagger penetrates deep into the ghoul. Caerth can tell it won't take much to put these undead things down. He's still outmatched. Then, he hears the sound of hoofbeats resounding on the cobblestone floor. The sound is coming closer and he knows the centaur is on his way.
As Angus passes Phar and the cultist, the foe tries to stop the centaur with a strike from his heavy mace. The attack doesn't even come close and by the time he's turned around, Phar has run off down the southern corridor.
"I'm going to help find the wizard," Phar says to Quinn as he runs by. "I'll leave that one to you." The paragon elf rushes north to stand ten feet from Maur. He holds up his bow with the light spell. "Let's find this bastard."
Quinn watches as the cultist at the other end of the corridor decides to move into the eastern corridor instead of towards him. Soon, both Timmins and Wieland can hear the man casting a spell, but they don't see him.
"Someone is casting a spell!" Wieland shouts, the need for silence forgotten.
The magic takes hold not on him or Timmins but on the cultist named Eike. He screams in fear. He begins shaking and looks like he's ready to run.
The acolyte on his knees looks up at Timmins and speaks. He barely acknowledges the other cultist who is now under the grips of fear. "Listen, I am not truly one of them. My name is Aries Zeidan and, yes, I have been living among these damn cultists for near a year now, but I was sent by by my masters to infiltrate this Cult of the Crow Goddess and put a stop to there evil ways. I am a member of the Soldiers of Iron."
"Quiet you," Timmins snaps. "I will not listen to any of your lies."
"You must listen to me!" The man yells. "Carnell is in great danger! The undead leader of this cult has planned for your return to this island! He knew you would come and has set a plan in motion to destroy Carnell while you are distracted here!" The man begins shaking in anger. "I did not have time to slip away and warn anyone! A flight of rooks is likely already upon the village! There are more than two dozen of them! Tarrak plans to let them cause havoc and then he and the other ghasts will slip into the village when the sun goes down! They wish to turn everyone in Carnell into undead beasts!"
"You need to be quiet," Wieland insists. He menaces the man with his sickle. "You will not help this Xander escape by distracting us."
"Xander is a wizard and thief," Aries says. "He's not going to stick around here and end up dead for Tarrak. He's isn't loyal to that damn ghast. The duergar is more like the hired help. His payment was to not be turned into a ghoul." He shakes his head. "And I have no love for the man. He's as vicious as they come. He might fireball you if he gets the chance."
"Muzzle that bastard," Aureus barks. "I can't hear a damn thing!"
"Stop talking!" Timmins snaps. He lifts his arm to strike out at the cultist with the flat of his blade.
OOC:
Rushed Diplomacy check. All the NPCs start out as Hostile, but they all become Indifferent to Aries with his roll. This doesn't include Aureus. Here is her Sense Motive (Hunch - DC 20) check. I will wait to roll a check for Phar to give @Neurotic to take the lead for this situation.
Angus hears, and understands, the sentence being within the range of his knowledge of Harqualian; he had been practicing this language for a few years, but there were many subtleties that still eluded him. But he understood this simple sentence, as well as the urgency it carried; so he obeyed it, without question.
His opponent, of course, took a swipe at him as he did so. Little coward. Angus made himself a mental note to deal with him later.
Angus says, "Aen meh Wae!"
Angus knew better than to go full gallop down the hallway, in an unfamiliar environment; but he didn't have to. His horseshoes, a coming of age gift from his father, made his cantor into an effortless endeavor, adding about three feet to every stride, allowing him to almost float or glide, at almost twice his normal speed.
As Angus reaches the end of the secondary hallway, he is surprised to see the ghoul, but the reaction is momentary, and fear doesn't enter into the equation at all. An ally was in danger, and that was that; ghouls be damned. Besides, they looked squishy enough to Angus...
Angus took a double move, 140 ft. to get here.
He will act again in round 16.
"No, do listen, we cannot afford not to and it will only delay the inevitable. If they are already on their way we cannot help them. But listen somewhere not here. Take them further down the hall, near that red light, and wait. I heard something I didn't in a long time. And some dwarf on dwarf action is in order. I will call out our invisible friend in dwarven, it will be a duel. You will NOT interfere. Now go!"
"Hear that, duergar? Xander? I'm from a fight with a prelate, minor lackeys, and your champion. Wounded, and spells spent. How about it. Duergar against Sonnthord, as it was throughout the ages. Your people think you a wizard. Here, you cannot easily fly. How about it? Or you could confirm the attack on human settlement and help us get there on time. I would vouch for you then, just another hostage forced to do labor."
Maur waits tensely, expecting fully to be attacked from invisibility cover as a means of accepting the challenge. But hoping still there may be some glimmer of dwarfanity in duergar who already showed he doesn't want to fight.
"As you wish, wizard."
He swings in the empty hall, going diagonally across space, stepping into it and reversing the swing on the next one.
In common: "Quickly now, clear the area. Go all the way back to that light. And take your blasted light with you."
As a move action cast bless into the hammer (I need to check Ordained champion, it may be limited to damage spells)
OOC:
Maur will wait only seconds for the answer and then attack the square "north-west" of him, 5' steps inside and attack the one 'north' of that one.
Assuming there is no answer, obviously
He is not sure about the professed attack on the town but is willing to listen if for no other reason than it would be expensive NOT to. Sense Motive: 1D20+10 = [2]+10 = 12
He takes a swipe at Eike as she runs, simply for the sake of simplicity, NON-LETHAL
As Angus reaches the end of the secondary hallway, he is surprised to see the ghoul, but the reaction is momentary, and fear doesn't enter into the equation at all. An ally was in danger, and that was that; ghouls be damned. Besides, they looked squishy enough to Angus...
[/spoiler]
"No, do listen, we cannot afford not to and it will only delay the inevitable. If they are already on their way we cannot help them. But listen somewhere not here. Take them further down the hall, near that red light, and wait. I heard something I didn't in a long time. And some dwarf on dwarf action is in order. I will call out our invisible friend in dwarven, it will be a duel. You will NOT interfere. Now go!"
Meridith nods in assent. She moves away from Maur and the others towards Timmins and Wieland.
"I will not run from a fight," Brutus proclaims. The brash youngster wishes to prove himself alongside the dwarf.
Phar looks at Maur and shakes his head. "I hope you know what you're doing." The paragon elf ends his light spell once Meridith has found her way to Timmins and Wieland. He stands and waits, silently. The red glow gives him some light to see but not much.
"Damn it!" Aureus snaps. She turns and glares at Maur. "I know you think you should lead this fight, but Phar and I have been dealing with this damn place long before you showed up!" Her ears twitch in annoyance. "But if you want to get yourself killed, be my guest, but don't treat me like I'm some invalid or your servant!"
OOC:
Brutus refuses to give up his position. Since Meridith didn't act this round, I'm going to let her take a single move action, and push her down in the initiative order to behind Maur and Quinn but before the duergar.
Phar can discontinue the light spell as a free action, if I'm remembering correctly. He cannot move until next round, and he may choose not to do so.
Since Aureus already moved 10 feet this round and made unsuccessful Spot and Listen checks, she really shouldn't be able to move again as I didn't have her ready an action.
Neurotic said:
"Hear that, duergar? Xander? I'm from a fight with a prelate, minor lackeys, and your champion. Wounded, and spells spent. How about it. Duergar against Sonnthord, as it was throughout the ages. Your people think you a wizard. Here, you cannot easily fly. How about it? Or you could confirm the attack on human settlement and help us get there on time. I would vouch for you then, just another hostage forced to do labor."
Maur waits tensely, expecting fully to be attacked from invisibility cover as a means of accepting the challenge. But hoping still there may be some glimmer of dwarfanity in duergar who already showed he doesn't want to fight.
"As you wish, wizard."
He swings in the empty hall, going diagonally across space, stepping into it and reversing the swing on the next one.
The duergar says nothing. He only waits and listens for his chance. He grins as the light goes out. Once Maur is done swinging his hammer at empty air, Xander makes his move. He dashes away from the half-ogre pup and the strange canine female who he can now tell isn't a gnoll. The two of them got way to close for comfort. He foregoes silence for speed and the one called Aureus hears him, but it's too late to stop him.
"Damn, I hear him!" Aureus growls.
"Even I heard that, but I still can't see him," Brutus says quietly. "Show yourself wizard!"
"With pleasure," Xander says. He stops, drops his axe, and turns and Maur can hear the duergar casting a spell. "You want a fight, Sonnthord. You're going to have to survive my magic and then catch me first!"
In the darkness, Aureus watches as a glowing bead streaks out towards her. "Brutus, watch out!"
"Damn wizards!" The half-ogre says.
"Fireball!" Phar yells. "Take cover!"
The fireball goes off right in front of Aureus. She quickly puts herself in the corner of the corridor where the wall and floor meet. Her quick reflex and natural abilities keep her from getting roasted. While Brutus and Phar aren't as lucky, the two of them manage to avoid the worst of the blast.
The flames crawl along the walls down the corridors to engulf the Timmins.
"Look out!" Meridith yells to the old warrior but it is too late. Timmins uses his shield to block some of the flames but is still singed.
"Damn wizard! Brutus yells. He looks like he's going to throw his axe again but instead he prepares to charge forward.
Maur will wait only seconds for the answer and then attack the square "north-west" of him, 5' steps inside and attack the one 'north' of that one.
Assuming there is no answer, obviously
He is not sure about the professed attack on the town but is willing to listen if for no other reason than it would be expensive NOT to. Sense Motive: 1D20+10 = [2]+10 = 12
He takes a swipe at Eike as he runs, simply for the sake of simplicity, NON-LETHAL
OOC: Since Aureus is the second square you want Maur to attack, I'm going to say he attacks the square behind Angus instead. In the end, it doesn't really matter as Xander wasn't even close to any of those squares.
Sense Motive result: Maur isn't believing anything the cultist is saying at this point. It sounds like a desperate bluff by a man who doesn't want to get gutted in the "here and now" or be hanged later back in Carnell.
Maur rushes after the wizard suddenly visible "I knew it! Rush toward the back as I told you. NOW! Wizard, Phar, if you can make me go faster, please do so."
"And now something completely unexpected wizard."
Maur rushes after the wizard. While another might think him charging the wizard, at the last moment, just before they collide Maur shimmers and disappears, appearing a moment later right behind the duergar.
The ghoul that moved around Caerth goes down with one stab from Kang. It topples to the floor. The second strike with the weapon cuts a deep hole in the next ghoul's gaunt torso. The blad comes back with black ichor on it.
