Session #99 (part i) (1)
The great disembodied hand moved over with great speed and shoved Martin the Green back towards the glass cases in one corner. The watch-mage lost his footing and slammed his head on a shelf on the way down. (2) He began to scamper desperately in the direction of the large table in order to get under it.
“Cordell!” Richard warned the heavily armored Librarian of Thoth, pointing right at the invisible Ratchis. “The half-breed is still right in front of you! Beware!”
Ratchis hurried past the Thothian and leapt up onto the long table to try to creep towards Razzle, but the table creaked beneath his heavy feet.
Gunthar finally got to his feet with the help of a
lesser restoration spell from Roland to get him over some of the exhaustion of coming back from death’s door. The Neergaardian, did not wait to catch his breath. He leapt at Razzle with swords flashing, but still was not fast enough, as the half-elf danced away from every blow.
Now under the table, Martin signaled for Bastian to get out of the chamber while he could, mouthing the word, “Hurgun”. The bearded warrior did just that, stepping through the black portal.
“D’nar! Let us switch foes!” Kazrack said, running from Razzle as fast as his
slowed body could carry him. The dwarf hurried across the room and tried to use a chair as a step up onto the table to cut across towards Cordell. However, the chair tipped forward from under him as he stepped and he came f lying down, slamming his face into the table before landing prone on the floor with the wind knocked out of him.
Ratchis made to leap off the table towards Richard when he felt an invisible force grab hold of him. Richard pointed out towards the portal to the right of the one Bastian had stepped out of and the half-orc was flung off through it. He fell down onto the metal grate-covered catwalk of the Control Room, but landed on his feet. Ratchis noted the blue-white spiral of the time elemental was spinning faster and pulsing more frequently. He leapt back through the portal.
Roland turned back to look at Norena, still in cheetah-form, as Razzle darted away from Gunthar’s fierce downward chops punctuated by the buzz of his whizzing shortsword. There was the sudden thump of Ratchis, still invisible, charging into the room leaping over the table to bring his greatsword down at Richard the Red. But the moment seemed stretched to Roland, almost as if reality itself bulged for in those seconds and the Bastite’s awareness was rubbed slowly across its rounded surface. He reeled.
Gunthar and Razzle seemed to slow down in time, their blurring swords slowing down as to become almost parody. Something was not right.
Richard the Red stumbled backward as his robe sleeve torn caught on Ratchis’ blade. Only the fact that Cordell suddenly appeared beside Ratchis from wherever he had been on the other side of the chamber, saved Richard. The half-orc’s sword shook under the weight of the Librarian of Thoth’s blow he barely parried, when he realized his invisibility would not help him this time. (3)
“How did you…?” Richard began, but stopped his query and his eyes widened as if he had caught sight of some horror only he could see. Meanwhile, the emerald watch-mage spun and swooned, choking up bile under the table. He felt his guts twisting in two directions. The crimson mage directed his great disembodied hand towards Ratchis and it shoved the half-orc back through the drawn screen used to divide up the chamber, tearing it. He fell to the ground.
Beneath the table, Kazrack stood and tried to tip it over, but the huge oak thing would not budge.
Ratchis rolled to his feet and hurried back towards Richard, coming around the table this time. However, once again the hand intercepted him and knocked him back onto his rear. Richard fled behind the still slow-moving Razzle, as Cordell stepped over and slammed Gunthar with his mace. The Neergaardian fell backward heavily. It was not until he was struggling to get back to his feet, shaking his head, disoriented, that he was moving at a normal speed again.
Kazrack hurried out from under the table and onto his feet. He suddenly had a strange sensation as if the world around him were slowing way down, and his momentum took him towards Cordell of Thoth. He drove the point of his halberd deep into the priest’s side, leaving a bloody rent in the man’s armor. Cordell staggered back, critically wounded (4), as everything turned back to normal for the dwarf. (5)
Coming out of his stupor, Roland slinked over to Gunthar and healed him once again. Across the room, Ratchis got to his feet and called to his goddess to close his wounds as well, but had barely done so when the hand shoved him back prone another twenty feet away.
Cordell spun around and Kazrack ducked to avoid the wide swing of the heavy mace. There was a crunching sound as the dwarf’s armor absorbed another blow, and then he spun away and around his larger foe. Suddenly, there was a blow that came seemingly from nowhere, as if the priest’s arm moved with blurring speed. Kazrack side-stepped to avoid another similar blow.
Martin by this time had gotten over his nausea and reached out from under the table to cast
greater invisibility on Kazrack, and the dwarf tried to return the Thothian’s blows, but missed.
“Gunthar, Get up!” Roland admonished the Neergaardian. Disoriented, Gunthar stumbled towards Razzle, but Norena leapt between them, hissing. She clawed at Gunthar.
“Norena! You should try to talk your companions out of these ruinous acts!” Roland said to her with a snarl, showing his gleaming white fangs.
“
Nubes de Foetor! Richard the Red crushed a hard-boiled rotten egg in his hand and cast the crumbled bits in Ratchis’ direction. A noxious green cloud burst into being around the Friar of Nephthys, and bloomed out to catch Martin as well, still under the table. He choked up more bile. Ratchis scrambled to his feet and out of the cloud, holding his breath.
Cordell stepped in close to Kazrack and brought his heavy mace down, but the dwarf hooked his halberd on the leather loop on the weapon’s end and flung it off to land on the table. The priest had been in mid-swing, and losing his balance was plummeting to the floor when he disappeared in a flash of blue and white light. Letting a deep breath escape, and still feeling the sting of Razzle’s wounds, Kazrack looked over at the swordsman. Razzle was still moving so slow he was hardly moving at all, and every now and again the air around him sparkled blue-white. Kazrack called to Rivkenal to heal some of his wounds.
Smearing vomit in a long trail, Martin pulled himself down to the other end of the long table to escape the cloud. He looked up to see Sergio searching Logan’s corpse over by the portal.
The great hand tried to push Ratchis back into the cloud, but this time the Friar of Nephthys was ready and putting his shoulder into it, held his ground. He rolled away from the hand as he heard Richard say, “I am sorry, Ratchis…” followed by, “
Sagitta Igneus! Three fiery bolts came flying from the watch-mage’s hand. The half-orc dove out of the way of the first, but unfortunately it sent him flying right into the other two.
“Aaaaugh!!!!” The still invisible Ratchis hollered as he swatted the flames out. He continued his roar as he charged across the room, driving Richard back again. The watch-mage cried out and blood ran down his arm as he fell. For half-a-moment, Ratchis felt the world around him slow and sparkle with a blue and white sheen. He was confused, and when he suddenly realized he might get to strike Richard as the watch-mage was struggling to get back up the moment had passed. (6) Gunthar, however, did not hesitate. Having been
restored by Roland, he left the still frozen Razzle and leapt over, stabbing out with his short sword. Richard rolled, but felt the bite of the blade. Richard cried out as the Neergaardian’s longsword caught him on the forearm.
“No offense, guy,” Gunthar quipped as he readied to strike again, but he was forced to turn away as Norena leapt at him from behind. He noticed Razzle up in his face and reeled as the rapier’s basket hilt struck him on the bridge of the nose. Gunthar felt the thin blade’s sting twice more. Richard hurried behind the swordsman.
“How is it that everyone was moving so fast?” Razzle asked.
“No, you were moving slow!” Roland replied.
“Ha ha! A Greyish Brother never moves slow!”
Kazrack stepped in to draw the enemy Bastite off, the point of his halberd scratching a deep wound in her flank.
“Where are the… Augh!” Cordell of Thoth suddenly reappeared near to where he was when the battle began, which unfortunately for him, was where the
stinking cloud now hovered.
“Norena, I have refrained from using tooth and claw out of respect for my fellow priest, but your failure to keep to our agreement requires chastisement,” Roland said, as the black panther priest leapt on the smaller tawny cheetah. He worried her for a moment, but she escaped his grip and spun around roaring.
Hoping that Norena could not see him as readily as Richard the Red did, Ratchis chopped down on Norena scoring a deep wound. Again, he saw the moment unfold and he thought he might have a chance to act in the space between moments, but he his reason was too slow recognizing it to get his body to act. However, Gunthar stabbed her deep with his shortsword and the cheetah fell over, unconscious. Roland sniffed her and noted she was not bleeding out. In fact, her wounds had already started to close on their own, albeit so slowly that it would be some time before she would wake up from such severe wounds. Left to her fate, she would not die. (7)
Cordell came around the table once again, wiping bile from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. Be brought his shield to bare and swung at Gunthar, who leaped out of the way toward Martin the Green, who was now just getting over another bout of nausea caused by the time fluctuations. He was still on his knees beneath a corner of the table. The watch-mage spoke an arcane word and touched his companion, and suddenly Gunthar was invisible.
“Ha ha! You think my skills are such that your being invisible would hinder me!” Razzle laughed, as he danced over whipping his sword back and forth. “I laugh at you both!” He whipped his sword catching Ratchis in the upper arm.
“Richard! I have wait so long to bring justice to you at the end of my halberd!” Kazrack cried, charging at the crimson-robed mage. Richard stumbled backward, barely avoiding being skewered, but his robes were torn and bloodied.
Once again the great hand shoved Ratchis away from the fight, but the hulking half-orc spun away from it and brought his sword down on Cordell’s shoulder from behind. Crunching the armor there painfully. The Librarian of Thoth, spun away from his invisible opponent, forgetting about Gunthar, who cut deep across the back of the priest’s thighs. Cordell of Thoth fell the ground, unconscious.
“I’m buzzing like a hummingbird! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!” Razzle sang and suddenly moved with great speed, winding amid combatants unscathed to spin around on the other side of the table. Deprived of his guardians, Richard was driven further back by Kazrack’s attempted savage blows. The dwarf tried to hook the watch-mage’s ankle with his blade, but the mage was too quick to leap.
“Come on! You have them on the proverbial ropes!” Sergio encouraged back in his not-so-neutral corner.
“
Laxo veneficus!” Richard the Red chanted carefully, dancing back and forth to avoid Kazrack’s pole-axe, and suddenly Gunthar and Ratchis were both visible, and Roland felt his
divine favor wash away. The
stinking cloud disappeared.
The Bastite pounced at Richard, but the watch-mage stepped aside deftly to put the panther between him and Kazrack, but Gunthar stepped into the gap on the left, driving Richard back further to the corner across from Sergio’s.
“Richard, your companions are falling,” Roland hissed, as in the corner Sergio took up an encouraging tune. “You may wish to consider surrender. I, for one, would argue for clemency for you…”
Once again, Ratchis was invisible at Martin’s word, but as the half-orc approached, Richard cast the same spell on Razzle. The swordsman had come rushing back in to draw off the Keepers of the Gate. Suddenly, Richard disappeared and re-appeared on the far side of the room. He looked as confused as the others.
Ratchis surged forward swinging wide in the general area he had last seen Razzle, but felt contact with nothing. Once again he sensed that time was slowing around him, and this time he was ready. To everyone else he seemed to disappear for a moment and re-appear right next to Richard the Red. But to the Friar of Nephthys, it was as if he were charging through a blue-white-tinted frozen world. Unfortunately, the watch-mage became aware at the last moment, and ducked the blow.
“Come on, Martin! Make me invisible again!” Gunthar complained, as Sergio ran over and leapt atop the table to dance as he continued his song. He directed certain lyrics at certain party members to praise their deeds, and they felt their limbs lighten.
“I can’t. I am all out,” Martin replied. Gunthar opened mouth to make some remark, but suddenly he movements once again slowed way down. His voice escaped him like a dull rumble in his lungs. Cordell’s unconscious form disappeared in a flash of blue-white light.
Kazrack’s
slowed stubby legs took some time to carry him back around the table to thrust his halberd at Richard once again. Meanwhile, Roland lagged behind sniffing the air for Razzle’s scent.
“
Cuspis ut mihi gresu vobis gelu! Richard the Red chanted loudly as he crush a small crystal cone in his hand. A blast of violent cold came out of his fingers point blank on Ratchis and Kazrack. Shivering and covered in bits of ice, his bones aching from the cold, Ratchis side-stepped and brought his sword down on the watch-mage. The two combatants became a blur, with blue-white color trails of their deadly dance. Richard stumbled back with worry on his dirty face. However, before Ratchis could bring down a killing blow, he cried out feeling the bite of Razzle’s invisible sword.
“Ha! You cannot defeat a Greyish Brother!” Razzle voice floated out of thin air. The half-orc was forced to retreat from the melee to ask his goddess for healing.
Richard took the moment’s respite to turn to Kazrack, leaping deftly once again to avoid the tripping attack of the dwarf. He cast another spell, but it was not clear what it was. Kazrack brought another wide chop around, but a nip at his hand with an invisible rapier, caused him to draw back and close his guard, wary of the swashbuckler.
Roland noticed that Gunthar’s rapier wounds were still bleeding steadily despite the blonde warrior’s status, so once again he cast a spell of curing.
Bastian came stumbling back into the room. He had been frozen in the limbo of time in the paneled walls of the Library Chamber, what seemed only a few moments from his perspective, but he was still curious what was taking so long.
“Martin! Where are you? I thought you were coming!” He called.
“Martin is under the table,” Roland informed Bastian. “And beware, both Ratchis and Razzle are invisible somewhere in this room.”
Richard the Red took advantage of the momentary distraction and fled back across the room once again. “You might want to know,” he announced, taking a swig of a something and throwing the glass vial down. “There is someone else invisible in this room as well.” Ratchis gave chase, drinking down another flask of the
Blood of Ashronk.
Kazrack cried out as the felt many stinging blows at weak points in his full plate mail armor. Now even more blood was pouring out beneath the heavy and binding metal and leather. “Lady, I am about to fall from my wounds. Please close whatever you can that I might still prevail before I fall…” He had withdrawn to cast. Roland pawed over and cast
shield of faith on the dwarf.
Richard smirked as a crossbow quarrel skittered across the floor fired from under the table. Bastian walked over to the table and squatted down, keeping one hand on the surface to steady himself. “Come on, Martin! We need to get the Book out of here!”
“The enemy of your former companion is here,” Richard said, pointing to the raised area in the far corner, where a smaller dining table stood for more intimate gatherings. “One of the monks is there!”
“Nephthys, this may be my final battle. I call on you to heal me one last time…” Ratchis prayed softly, hoping Razzle would not hear him.
“Where did that portal lead to?” Martin asked Bastian, crawling in that direction.
“It looked like the place you described when talking about killing the demoness,” Bastian replied. “I think you called it the Library. We should go… Agh!”
“You are not going anywhere!” Razzle laughed. Bastian felt the rapier cut through his boot and deep into his foot. He hobbled back and raised his shield. (8)
There as a flash of blue-white light and Richard, Razzle, Martin, Bastian and Gunthar seemed
dazed. Cordell re-appeared. Roland took the moment of distraction to cast
cure moderate wounds on Kazrack.
“Quick! While he is distracted!” Ratchis cried, and he and Kazrack were moving to finish the battle when the entire chamber jerked, sending the half-orc off his feet. A humming sound began to build. The sound surrounded them, coming from all directions. Even their skin began to hum.
“This is not good,” Martin the Green said, as the chamber shook again.
There was a blast of blue and white light once again, but then everything was black.
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Notes:
(1) This session was played on November 12th, 2005.
(2)
DM’s Note: Bullrushing has a knockdown score as a weapon or many spell attacks have, depending on the attacker’s size. See the Aquerra.wiki for info on
Knockdown.
(3)
DM’s Note: Cordell figured out where Ratchis was standing due to Richard’s indication, and succeeded on hitting despite a 50% miss chance.
(4)
DM’s Note: Hit points are divided into fourths with each fourth corresponding with a health condition we use to describe hit point loss without use of actual numbers.
Critically wounded corresponds with less than one-fourth hit points left.
(5)
DM’s Note: Each round everyone was making Will saves to resist the fluctuations of time. Those who failed were unable to act for one or more rounds (depending on how poorly they failed). Those who made the save had a chance to take advantage of ‘pockets of time’ by making and Intelligence-based Reflex save, allowing for additional partial actions, and with a good enough roll, a full action.
(6)
DM’s Note: Ratchis failed his Int-based Reflex save for an opportunity to take extra actions on his turn.
(7) You can read about
Regenerate Critical Wounds, here:
http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Spell+-+Regenerate+Serious+Wounds
(8) Bastian suffered the following critical hit effect: Foot Wound, Speed Reduced to ½. Save vs. Knockdown. For more info on Piercing Weapon Critical Hit Effects, see
http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Critical+Hit+Results+-+Piercing
