Ela makes her way through the window with the grace that comes naturally to her kind, surveying the room and finding the interior of the church in shambles, with overturned and broken benches littering the dusty floor. A claw-scarred alter broods to the left, 30ft in front of her, in front of which kneels a wild-haired man in filthy priest robes, chanting hoarsely. (Dm description integrated into post)
She pauses and looks the man over while listening into to his chanting, realizing the chant is being said like one to Chauntea, and noticing the man is almost certainly alive she hesitates, drawing her bow and readying her arrow but holding her fire. Ela stays in the shadow of one of the benches in the church in a crouch, staying in hiding and waiting for her party to come in on their own.
Is that Chauntea? Andur thought to himself, before lifting his hand, gesturing to Miri.. and stepping into the church. He held his sword at the ready, not raising it to cut down the churchmen, certainly, but something about this didn't make sense. Why Chauntea? Why unguarded? He had to take a closer look at what was going inside -before- he'd take action. He didn't even call out to the priests.. trusting any potential guards of them to have the sense to recognize him as not undead, as he stepped within modeartly close distance of the priests... He was hoping Ela did not decide to shoot prematurely, but perhaps his arrival could help with that, as well.
At the sound of the door opening, the priest continues to chant, but slowly rises. Ela notices he clutches a crumbled page in one hand. He turns, looking towards the entrance. Andur sees the priest, dishevelled hair, tormented gaze. "You can't take my son from me!" he screams.
Ela kept her bow knocked and aimed at the priest, but waited for her party to make a move, the man was clearly mad or tormented, perhaps both. She hoped her companions could do something for him, maybe calm him down, if not she was ready to act though.
".. Right." Andur sighed, inwardly, switching the grip of his blade subtly. "We're looking for two armored servants of the Lightbr-... no.. no..." He narrowed his eyes, as a troublesome idea crossed his mind.
"... please let me be wrong." He mused. "Others tried to take your son away from you, am I wrong? Two strangers, not from here.. I'd like to know what happened to them." He declared, lifting his blade.. and interposing it between him and the priest.
Miri Evenwood, the Helping Hand HP: 37/38, AC 16 (Mage Armor), Passive Perception: 16 SP: 5/6 Spells: 1st Lvl: 2/4; 2nd Lvl: 3/3; 3rd Lvl: 2/3 Active Effects: Mage Armor
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Miri also follows behind Andur...she keeps her driftglobe on her hand, which lights as a torch. However her eyes can see further ahead in the dark.
It looked like the man was half crazy...grief stricken. Someone had to calm him down.
"Let me..." she whispered to Andur, stepping to the side to make herself visible.
"We do not wish to harm your son, or take him away. Who would do such a thing?" she called ahead in a comforting tone.
"Compose yourself...you have to stay composed, if you want to help your son. Explain us the situation...maybe we could help somehow." she offered.
If Miri had to guess, the man had lost his son, and he had tried to bring him back. He had dabbled in necromacy, and here were the results. Still, Miri would prefer to calm him down and make him see the error of his ways, rather than slaying him...
The priest clutches the crumbled page, eyeing the two intruders into his church with a mad light dancing in his gaze. Gloomily lit by a dozen candles, Miri's driftglobe now adds its light to the interior, luckily it does not reach far enough to reveal the hidden Ela. The priest begins to read from the page. “Rakskin morukunja lish-gjagg-” vile words from a vile tome, forbidden magic.
The instant the priest started chanting the elf released her arrow, firing a well aimed shot at the priest from her concealed position. After loosing her shot she ducks back behind the bench for partial cover to any ranged attack while drawing another arrow from her quiver and making her way to the window.
The elf hops out again to seek cover from any reprieve by the spellcaster, running as far towards the entrance of the church as she can before she takes time to slow her breathing and hide in the mist again.
The arrow catches the priest in the shoulder, biting deep. He wares armour, sewn hides, not match for sharpened steel. Yet in his insanity, he barely seems to notice the pain, eyes turning to stare at the elf as in dreaming. He pauses, tongue tied, but only for a second, then he continues chanting. An accusatory finger raises, pointing at the elf, but when she dives out the window, away from him, he instead turns to the original intruders. “-jin tors uchak nirex'alyy!” he declares, and a waves of dark energy sweeps along the church. Mirri and Andur see the ruined benches, the dirty walls, the gaping hole in the floorboard, and then that energy, shimmering, conjuring skulls, then it hits, blighting their skin and threatening to break their spirits.
In the wake of the dark wave, something is roused, as the pair hear shambling, scratching and a moan from the doors to their side.
Andur crossed his arms infront of him, as if to defend against the wave of unholy energy.. he was as successful as he could be, although it still felt as if he had drank too much the night before. ".. Whatever you once were, now you hold knowledge too dangerous to be left alive." Andur declared, readying his blade.. and rushing forwards, raising it to strike down the priest, shouting: "Be redeemed by my steel!"
Miri Evenwood, the Helping Hand HP: 32/38, AC 16 (Mage Armor), Passive Perception: 16 SP: 5/6 Spells: 1st Lvl: 2/4; 2nd Lvl: 2/3; 3rd Lvl: 2/3 Active Effects: Mage Armor
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Miri moves towards the hole even as the things attack the doors at her side. She stops, looking down...
"Ah, there is...a thing...down there...!" she exclaims, and casts a spell at it.
"May the pain of the whip cleanse your body, and your soul with it!" she chants, as a spectral whip appears, attacking the creature that was in the basement.
As the floor was creaking dangerously, Miri decides to play it save, and rushes to hug the wall next to the altar. "Andur, be careful!" she shouts!
[The spiritual weapon attacks at 17, and if it hits it does 10 force damage to the creature below.]
Seeing that the priest is beyond help, Andur charges forwards, greatsword ready. Balancing on the edge of the pit, and almost certain he sees something down there, in the corner of his eye, he almost misses, but luck or fate guides his hand and cuts down the priest, severing that useless hide armour. The madman dies with little more than a wet gurgle. It was the kindest thing that could be done. Miri runs forwards peering down into the whole, and seeing something moving. She invokes the weapon of her goddess, and sees it connect, but it unable to judge how bad the hit was, nor does she wish to stay, jumping back up and making for the wall.
"We have new toys to play with, come, let's greet them,"a slurring, slobbering voice speaks from below, like someone choking on mud. "Oh yes dear," a shriller, cleaner voice, distinctly feminine answers. Movement follows from below, and shortly after, as if in sync, two of the doors towards the front open, producing a skeleton and a zombie, the latter practically falling apart, dragging a leg, stomach torn open, three fingers missing. The zombie shuffles slowly towards Andur, the skeleton is quicker, goes for Miri, claws extending for her soft, warm flesh.
Andur took little pleasure in cutting down an old, crazed man -he'd have to snatch that page before it fell into more false hands, whatever it was- He took even less pleasure in realizing this was far from over. "Enough of this!" He declared. "This ought to be a place of final peace and holy. You are not welcome here." He raised his greatsword, focusing, before striking at the skeleton, once more spectral warriors appearing, shielding Miri from the skeleton, if Andur's greatsword managed to hammer down upon the creatures ribs. "Step forth yourselves, or do you fear life and light so much you know only to send half broken remains?"
(raging as bonus, moving up to the skeleton along the pit, then striking it, 15 to hit, 12 damage! - Used Reckless attack this turn-)
Miri Evenwood, the Helping Hand HP: 32/38, AC 16 (Mage Armor), Passive Perception: 16 SP: 4/6 Spells: 1st Lvl: 2/4; 2nd Lvl: 2/3; 3rd Lvl: 1/3 Active Effects: Mage Armor, prone
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Miri mentally ordered the whip to return and strike the skeleton right next to her, hoping it would be enough to finish it off.
She then rushed behind Andur, at the edge of the hole, kneeling to look down, ignoring the zombie...noticing four figures moving toward the stairs leading upwards, she prepared to strike them. They were responsible for this whole mess, she was sure of it...
"Fire shall cleanse your sins..." she pointed with her finger, and her love manifested in the form of a small, flaming sphere, that shot forward in the hole...exploding in a massive fireball, to hit the creatures, the stairs, and the upper side of the floor.
'Maybe it will collapse on their damned heads' Miri wished. However now she was in a somewhat vulnerable position herself...
[Bonus action Spiritual weapon 20 Attack 9 Force Damage on the skeleton, Empowered Fireball 34 damage]
Ela jumps back up through the window, surveying the situation with her keen elven vision. Spotting the zombie threatening to move towards miri she raises her bow and draws back the string, aiming for the head of the foul undead as she lets loose an arrow. She knows her aim will guide her true, moving to take cover behind the skeleton by one of the dilapidated benches.
Ela pops through the window, lithely avoiding the broken shards of glass that lines the edges. A quick assessment of the situation, she is sure Miri and Andur can deal with the skeleton, and so instead aims at the zombie. Her arrow connects in the side of the head with enough force to break the dead bones. It collapses into an unmoving pile. The elf's companions efforts to feel the skeleton are met with results, Andur throwing himself into the attack and rewarded with the crunch of an arm bone, whilst Miri summons up her Goddess's whip, which cracks against the undead's skull, leaving its mark, however they are not able to fell the undead, which lashes back with its one good arm, slashing across Andur's muscular chest, claws leaving a trail of faint red.
Perhaps part of the reason the skeleton survived was Miri's only half paying attention to it, as she is more concerned with noises coming from the cellar below. Peering down, she sees four shapes: two shambling, armoured forms on the stairs, in front of them a bulging, pale corpse-thing, swelling with muscle, skin ripping, in some places bursting, and towards the bottom of the stairs a red eyed, lithe undead with ruffled strands of wispy, pale hair. Miri blasts them all with holy fire, and in the enclosed space there is not much they can do to avoid it. They all burn, the shoulder of the pale, bloated thing at the front bubbling with black flesh. "Oh, a another witch, I will enjoy playing with you. Stay there," the glowing eyed one taunts in her feminine voice, waving her hand and sending several small darts towards her, that rip her flesh, but fortunately do not penetrate that deep.
Then the undead at the front throws its body forwards, and there is the sound of splintering wood. The four undead move up, out of sight.
Combat map:
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Ela: 24 - Uninjured The things beneath the floor: 18 - Lightly damaged? Andur: 8 - Slightly Injured, open
Miri: 7 - Slightly injured, prone Skeleton: 6 - Badly damaged
You take 9 points of slashing damage from the skeleton's claws. Make a fortitude save.
You take 10 points of force damage from the spell.
"Hold on Mirri, I know that expression, you're going to.." And with that, Andur covered his Eyebrows. Perhaps it was that gesture that left him a little too open to the skeleton. Of course, he could take some damage, and it was again but a shallow scratch that just helped to reveal his well-trained body beneath.. and mess with some of his clothing!... but even a scratch of the creatures was dangerous, he had learned. He focused and growled, forcing the accursed filth of the skeletons claw fromout his wound by tensing up.
"So, what are we dealing with, Mirri?.. " Andur questioned, the fire illuminating.. something down there.. he pondered and readied his sword. He really was not happy about the things that might be coming... just what advanced undead had this foul priest conjured?
"Come and be purified by Sword and Fire!" He challenged.
Ela quickly drew another arrow from her quiver, shifting her aim to the beat up skeleton and loosing her shot to hit the creature's spine, aiming to end it's miserable existence so she can prepare for the attack from below.
She quickly made her way to hop back out of the church and hide outside in the mists
Andur exhaled, seeming to focus, calm himself.. he had to be calm about this, even if the hairs on the back of his neck stood up at whatever undead.. things would come.. Still, looking at the doors ahead, and at the hole, he had a sudden idea..
He exhaled, restoring his focus, and rested the heft of his sword downwards in his left, his right coming up, to, of all things,.. present a piece of butter, freshly sliced, with a slight chomp taken out of it by his crab. Twirling his hand in a careful circle, he readied himself, chanting soft words under his breath.. there was a chance the female sounding undead could recognize his spellcasting.. that's why he'd delay it until the last possible moment.
And when, if the undead tried to fall upon them, he'd give a thumbs down, smirking and commenting: "If she's a witch, then what am I? Back into your hole you go!" Before unleashing the last syllables of his spell and flicking his hand forwards.
Readied:
As soon as he spots at least two of the undead moving out of the doors, he'll cast a Grease Spell, targeting the ground as soon as they try to move onto it. If Andur can hit all them undead in one go, he would move the spell to do that, but preferably, create a no-go zone between the doors and the hole to slow them down and trip 'em up before they can interact with our faces.
Dc 11 Dexterity save.
(Ending my Rage as a bonus action, then using a move action to pose dramatically.. then readying an action!)
Miri Evenwood, the Helping Hand HP: 22/38, AC 16 (Mage Armor), Passive Perception: 16 SP: 3/6 Spells: 1st Lvl: 2/4; 2nd Lvl: 2/3; 3rd Lvl: 0/3 Active Effects: Mage Armor, prone
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Miri looked as the undead left the room underground, rushing up the stairs...
"Very well...." she said, standing up and moving to the side.
"Ready yourselves...they are coming up."
When the door opened, the undead team would be greeted by yet an other fireball...
Ela'nyya Aefnee'al, The Silver Arrow
