Healing the Soul (ranger)

[Tassadar]

Spoiler

Chloe: HP = 35/80, PP = 47/73, EP = 16/79, Status = Definitely Not Fine, Pregnant, Puppeteer DC 55, Excited, broken leg means she cannot run any longer

Lord Aaron
Arkien the Lewd Faerie

Rolls

Spoiler

Resistance: Chloe rolls a natural 1... You have the worst dice luck. Of all time.

Chloe felt the tendrils of control constrict all the tighter the more desperate that her efforts to resist them became; it was like the harder that her will strained, the more she fell into it. Where she pressed with iron and stone, the whispering air of its control curled through every gap in her defenses to rest among her mind, forcing her body to act under its commands even as she remained a fully conscious prisoner in her own body. Chloe felt herself crawling forward, the agony of her deliberately broken leg ignored by the abomination that was controlling her body, but with one limb unable to support her weight the healer was forced to drag herself ever forward, ever closer to the unknowable horror that had been summoned to capture her.

Thread-like, translucent tendrils that glimmered like strands of moonlight floated towards her as she crawled closer to the abomination's main body, embracing her as Chloe crawled across the ground. The pale, otherworldly glow was brighter as they brushed across her skin, winding around her body in a manner that left her movements unimpeded but that left her skin tingling with an electric quality every time the thing's appendages brushed against her exposed flesh. With every passing moment she crawled closer, closer to the horror that had claimed control of her body, and every foot allowed her to see it more clearly. From afar the thing was almost invisible, but up close it came into focus; the floating monstrosity had a bell shaped body nearly as large as a small shack, and dangling beneath it were countless tiny tendrils like the ones embracing her and the ones used to control the creature's victims, but alongside them were about a dozen larger ones nearly as thick around as her wrist. It was those that began to coil towards her as she drew closer, waiting until they were within reach, a danger that came closer and closer with every passing second...

And then, just as they were about to touch her, about to coil around her limbs and lift up into their embrace, she heard Lord Aaron call; "Chloe!!!" A glowing orb of flame, about the size of a beach ball and with flickers of pure white among the smoldering orange, launched into the floating horror's main body. It exploded as soon as white-orange touched the transparent blue, flaring with fingers of consuming fire that ate through the being's flesh. Chloe felt its agony transmit directly into her brain as the flames consumed it, overwhelming even the pain of her own broken leg, and as the explosion flared down still the creature hovered over her. It burned, but it did not die... Not at first. A moment later, however, the remaining flames went from white-orange to deep, dark blue, flaring back to life and coiling in tendrils through the creature's body like a thing alive.

The blue fire weaved into the creature like growing strands of vines, and flares of bright white erupted resembling flowers as it dug through the monster's frame, illuminating darkening portions of its increasingly charred innards. The flames eventually took the form of a pair of rose bushes coiling through the creature's body, by which point the tendrils were flailing and Chloe's entire body was alight with white hot agony being poured into her mind through the creature's controlling tendrils. Luckily she didn't have to experience the whole of its end first hand, for the tendrils touching her burned away to nothing during its final moments. That allowed her to see the two burning strands rend to either side, tearing the creature in half and burning the last of its body away, leaving behind only a wreath of blue flame through which Arkien strode, her own frame wreathed in a layer of flickering blue that seemed to erupt from her right eye. The orb looked not so much covered in fire but as if it were formed from the blue flame that the faerie was controlling, and she strode through the burning remnants of where the controlling creature had been to stand over Chloe imperiously.

"Back to the cabin, now!" she commanded, and with an effort of will she caused Chloe's broken leg to seize painfully, the bones shifting back into their proper place, albeit not knitting together; she had set it so that Chloe could be healed, but not done it herself just yet.

 

[ranger]

OOC

Spoiler

Yeah dice have always hated me.

action

Spoiler

Chloe uses healing touch to mend her leg

Chloe inevitably clawed forward her mind a prisoner in her body. As much as she wanted cry out, and sob she couldn't. Tears ran down her face, born of both fear and pain. Pulling her naked body threw dirt, twigs, and rocks where only minor pains compared to her self inflicted injury. Ever closer she got till the massive form of the creature came into view. Oddly enough it reminded her of the jelly fish one of her professors had spoke about, even its tendrils seemed to act in a similar way to catch it prey. Though this creature was far more insidious. It was so close now, its large moved to embrace her and deliver what ever final fate awaited her. With out a doubt it would be no simple death. As the creature began to lift her up she tried close her eyes, but found that it wouldn't let her. Not even that comfort would be allowed to her. Just then almost distant she heard her name called out. White orange fire erupted into the creature, the cascading colors of blue orange and white dancing across Chloe's skin as she writhed in excruciating pain. Her mind went blank as she convulsed in a silent scream. Thankfully the tendrils burned away dropping her to the ground. The small drop and the fresh jolting of her broken limb did little to clear her head of the agony she still felt. Still with the direct connection with the beast severed her head began to clear as the things final end came to be. As the blue fire vines erupted into white hot roses Chloe couldn't help but think it was the most beautiful thing she had yet seen with her eyes. Chloe watched as the creature was torn in twain only to have Arkien step threw glowing blue fire in one eye. Stepping over to Chloe she ordered her back to the cabin and with out so much as a warning shifted her leg back into position. Chloe cried out sharply her voice finally able to find itself. Her tears flowed freely. Still she was in danger and threw gritted teeth she cast her magics, something simple that would at least let her stand and walk. Once able she would head back to the cabin making sure to fetch her robe to cover herself, to maintain some modesty, all the while if Arkien kept with her she would steal glances to make sure that it was Arkien not the empty eyed horror that had plagued her mind.

 

[Tassadar]

Spoiler

Chloe: HP = 80/80, PP = 47/73, EP = 12/79, Status = Mostly Fine, Pregnant, Excited,

Lord Aaron
Arkien the Lewd Faerie

Rolls

Spoiler

Casting: Success.
Healing: 1 + 4 + 10 + 2 = 17, 17 x 4 = 68 HP restored, back to full HPs

Chloe's magics surged down her broken leg to reknit the bones, and luckily because of her own skill in healing it had been a perfectly clean break in the first place. Pain faded quickly, the relief allowing the naked mage to stand comfortably as her self inflicted injury was undone with a minimal expenditure of energy. Arkien followed her, and none of Chloe's aside glances would suggest that the faerie had become the empty eyed horror that the creature she had destroyed had shown to the healer. If Chloe didn't, Arkien would scoop up Chloe's dress along the way back to the cabin, by which point Chloe could move comfortably without even a trace of a limp, though by now her energies were heavily expended.

Lord Aaron kept by the door, looking around frantically while they approached the field of incinerated corpses, and swept after Chloe as soon as she was back in the relative safety of the cabin. He was sweating, and his eyes continued to dart around nervously while Arkien followed them in at a calm, steady gait comprising of long, graceful strides. The faerie noblewoman might have been going on a pleasant afternoon hike rather than following the half-panicked, hasty spellcasters into a cabin following a tumultuous battle taking place of the dead of night... Were it not for the fierce scowl on her face and the ambient fiery glow still lightly emanating from one of her eyes anyway.

"That was the majority of the creatures summoned into the village," Arkien replied coldly, looking to the window that Lord Aaron had been guarding before Chloe had been enthralled. The shrubbery beyond it was burned down, and the grass had been scorched away revealing blackened earth littered with lumps of ankle deep and roughly person - if a very very thin person - shaped chunks of jelly-like black ooze. "There are others, hiding among those who managed to hide, but they aren't coming here yet... The next wave may be more direct," she continued in a dispassionate voice, though Lord Aaron sighed and momentarily looked very weary and sad.

"I was hoping they would try that from the start... There are already so many dead, who knows how many more hurt..." He murmured softly, shaking his head and wiping sweat from his brow. Arkien handed Chloe her discarded clothes offhandedly, the faerie's formerly amorous nature currently fully reversed as she hardly offered the nude magus' busty frame a glance. "How are your reserves? Have you the energies left for another bout? They may try for a prolonged siege if they wish not to go for a straight fight, weaken the flow of energies in the area and make magic cost more," Arkien asked, looking to Chloe specifically.

 

[ranger]

Chloe slipped her robes back on, trying to focus on the now not what had happened a moment ago. There would be time for that later if she survived. "My reserves are low I can muster maybe one or two intermediate spells." She looked away disappointed in herself mostly for falling to the enemy and spending so much energy on an attack that failed. Tighting her first Chloe let out a deep breath and sat down trying to calm herself and to clear her thoughts of all the people she had just incinerated. "What are we going to do about those trapped in Ice we should clear them before more of those things come back.

 

[Tassadar]

Spoiler

Chloe: HP = 80/80, PP = 47/73, EP = 12/79, Status = Mostly Fine, Pregnant, Excited,

Lord Aaron
Arkien the Lewd Faerie

Lord Aaron drew a vial filled with blue liquid from his belt as Chloe reported that she was low on energy. "Take this then, but be more careful. That's the only one I had left on me," he said, offering her the drought that might restore her energies. (Chloe gets an EP restore potion that will restore 50 EP.)

"They should still live," Arkien remarked flatly when Chloe brought up the people that she had trapped in ice, "but going to help them will take time, Time that we may not have before-" an otherworldly chittering howl interrupted the faerie, a siren call that was answered by others in numerous similar unnatural cadences. "-more of them are upon us. They will be desperate now," Arkien finished despondently. "We should at least try; Chloe, can you manage any minor area spells that would warm those people up from afar without hurting them?" Lord Aaron said, turning to Chloe and ignoring Arkien's sour look.

 

[ranger]

Chloe drank the potion as she thought about how she could help those outside. None of the option at her disposal seemed to be viable. She though perhaps summoning a salamander might work as she lacked the ability to control her offensive magic, but that would take far to long and deplete her already diminished reserve. Her more large range spell would heal those trapped but wouldn't free them. None of the option seemed to be good. "I'm sorry Lord Aaron I lack the precision for such a feat." Chloe looked down disappointed in herself. "Maybe they will be ignored since they are already down." Even as she said it she knew from what Lord Aaron had told her that such thoughts were naive at best. Forcing back her tears Chloe moved to the front door and reset her flaming mine trap and any others before the next wave approached them.

 

[Tassadar]

Spoiler

Chloe: HP = 80/80, PP = 47/73, EP = 60/79, Status = Mostly Fine, Pregnant, Excited, one flaming mine by the front door.

Lord Aaron
Arkien the Lewd Faerie

Lord Aaron didn't miss a beat; "Then you've gotta cover the windows while I try to get those people out of there. The enemy might not care about 'em, but left like that they might freeze to death." He pointed with his staff towards the window he'd been guarding back when the strange creature had pulled Chloe out of the house, "there are others beside it. I'll keep an eye on the door while I'm working." He went to the window immediately, while Arkien winked at Chloe and murmured; "Back outdoors for me~ Do be a dear, and don't get yourself disemboweled!"

The faerie vanished in a puff of fresh snow that melted as it touched the ground, leaving Chloe to start working on defending the cabin; first she placed a mine by the door, replacing the trap that had gone off earlier... She couldn't avoid seeing the charred bodies that had resulted from her first defensive measure. With that partly replaced, however, she would have to figure how she wanted to spend her time between watching the various entrances into the cabin.

(Chloe is taxed for time here; trap spells take a full minute to cast instead of a round. You have to pick now how long she wants to spend on dropping mines and how vigilant she wants to be checking each of the windows. There is the one to the right, the two next to each other in the back of the house, and the one that Lord Aaron is looking through to do his work in trying to unfreeze people. There is also the door next to the window that Lord Aaron is at.)

 

[ranger]

Chloe had seen much in time, from the horrors of the invaders to the corpse ridden church. Her own handy work still always turned her stomach. She gritted her teeth and placed the first mine. Turning her attention to the other locations. First thing she did was prop a chair against the door hopefully wedging it for now. If nothing seemed able she would at least lock it again and then place a mine at the double windows as they seemed the longest of the two places she would have to keep a look out at being at the back of the house. The rest of her time was split mostly between watching the windows closes to Lord Aaron.

Action Clarification.

Spoiler

Chloe would place a chair against the front door. If nothing was intimidate at hand she would just lock it. The only other mine she would place would be at the double windows at the back of the house. The rest of her time would be spent moving between the windows.

 

[Tassadar]

Spoiler

Chloe: HP = 80/80, PP = 73/73, EP = 60/79, Status = Mostly Fine, Pregnant, Excited, one flaming mine by the front door and one by the back windows.

Lord Aaron
Arkien the Lewd Faerie

Rolls

Spoiler

Perception: 23 with a natural 1 vs 23 on not a natural 1, I feel I have to give it to the roll that wasn't a nat one. Fortunately, they go for the back door and the first wave dies to the mine.

Lord Aaron will join the defense in two rounds, he has finished thawing people out. For now.

The following few moments were tense as Lord Aaron tried to thaw out the people that Chloe had frozen and she guarded the cabin's other entrances, leaning a chair against the front door and locking it to make it more difficult for anything that came up to enter - at least by any conventional means - before going to patrol the other windows. Another mine was placed near the back windows, but for several minutes Lord Aaron was free to cast minor fire spells over at the frozen people in the open field in front of the cabin while Chloe kept a lookout.

It wasn't until the back mine went off that she caught any sign of hostiles, however; the thunderous boom and rush of heat signaled that her trap had gone off more prominent than the mental tic that the spell had expended itself. Rushing to it, she found a pair of charred corpses that looked like they might once have been dogs, but their abdomens looked like they'd been bloated only to deflate. There wasn't much time for her to examine the things, however; already another pair of the things were bounding around the garden walls.

They looked... Like normal dogs. Both were larger breeds, possibly used for hunting or shepherding or perhaps even trained for battle. One had short brown fur with black splotches, and the other was a longer furred, fuzzy breed with a long, narrow snout. It might have looked like they were rushing toward her to play were it not for their blood-dripping maws and maddened looks in their eyes. Both sported unnaturally bloated bellies hanging beneath them, and it was hard to tell if they were jiggling from their bounding motions or if something was pressing against the stretched skin from within, as if trying to get out; they would be at the window in seconds, and Chloe had only a few moments to do something about it before they were likely going to be leaping at her through the glass.

 

[ranger]

As the explosion near the back window's echoed out Chloe gasped in surprise before heading that way. The still smoking ravaged corpses lay near the windows. It was then a strangled grunt caused her to look up as two more of the poor things came bounding around the garden wall. They were almost like the dog from the city, but this bloated belly.... Her eyes narrowed so that was the plan. It was the limit of her talents in fire magic but it seemed to prove the most effective against these things. Besides she was putting these poor things out of their misery. Letting loose her magic threw one of the shattered pains her fireball went forth. Thankfully the two animals had stayed together.

Actions

Spoiler

Chloe casts fireball threw a broken window pane (assuming some broke doing the mine explosion) if not cracking the window to do so. I would be a shame to blow myself up now.
Fireball level 3 Fire (ball) 20bc and 4 ep for (1d6 + 1 +6)*3 damage

 

[Tassadar]

Spoiler

Chloe: HP = 74/80, PP = 73/73, EP = 56/79, Status = Mostly Fine, Pregnant, Excited, one flaming mine by the front door, clothing at 5/25 TP

Lord Aaron
Arkien the Lewd Faerie

Rolls

Spoiler

Casting: Success.
Attack: Both are hit.
Damage: 5 + 1 + 6 = 12, 12 x 3 = 36 damage, not enough to drop them.

They do a strange attack...
Perception: She fails one, succeeds on the other.
Attacks: Both miss, but being AoE they still deal partial damage. One was a sneak attack, so dealing essentially half damage.
Damage: 26/4 = 7, and 25/2 = 13, becomes 0 and 6 respectively after armor reduction, also reduces her robes to 5/25 TP

Sanity Checks: Success, success.

Quickly smashing out a pane of the window, the smoke from the plants charred by the magical trap that had just incinerated the first wave of dogs wafting into the room wasn't enough to distract Chloe from her spellcasting even though fire magic wasn't an element that she was particularly familiar with. The orb of flame hurled in between the charging dogs and exploded, the brilliant flash lighting up the night, but the two dogs charged through the sudden burst of fire anyway. Their flesh was blackened, their remaining fur still aflame, but they came on silently anyway, seemingly feeling no pain. They jumped, crashing through the window and shattering it entirely, forcing Chloe to back away from the window lest she be showered in glass. Up close she could see something squirming inside the bloated belly of the nearer of the two, the flesh distorting unnaturally as something seemed ready to tear its way out at any moment.

The further one landed first, and the second that it did the thing exploded violently. Chloe was showered with charred flesh and splintered bone, cutting into her skin, bruising her, and tearing portions of her protective robes. The sudden shower of gore didn't surprise her so much that it would keep her from instinctively curling up to take less of a shower from the second explosion that came the moment the nearer dog landed, allowing her to weather the second exploding dog somewhat better. What was left in the place of the two dogs couldn't possibly have physically fit inside of them, but that was only the beginning of the alien visage of the horrid things. Each was about up to Chloe's belly button in height, and given that they were headless and their legs were less than a foot long much of that bulk was in their rotund torsos, their fronts nearly twice as big around as Chloe would have been were she curled up in the fetal position and their back ends barely a foot across. Tentacles stretched from the maws dominating the front of their features, which took up nearly the entirety of the largest portion of their body and was a black conal hole lined with teeth. Their massive frames were support on spindly, two jointed legs that looked far too small to support them, much less propel them. Their skin other than what passed for a mouth was multicolored but with no sensible pattern to it, colors blending into one another or swirling randomly without obeying the natural color wheel that she might be used to.

The two creatures turned towards her, emitting a loud, ululating cry that reverberated through her head like it was a distant echo raised ti impossibly high volumes.

 

[ranger]

Chloe's head screamed in pain or was it her.. she couldn't tell. Still she manged to hold her mind a bit longer. Smoke filled the room and gore covered the walls. Just like her time in the desecrated church from long ago. The smell... the sounds, the memories. A bit of primal fear crept up in her a smoldering determination. "JUST DIE!" bringing up her hands she called forth magical flames to scorch her enemies. Though given their attack she had trouble focusing the energies forth. Hands forward fingers spread she willed magic fire forward.

Action

Spoiler

Chloe attempts to cast an empowered, intensified Flaming Hands. BC 16 (from damage) level 1 Cone 11ep 2d6 + 2 +6/12 (not sure if the mind part of the spell is doubled as well) * 3

 

[Tassadar]

Spoiler

Chloe: HP = 74/80, PP = 73/73, EP = 56/79, Status = Mostly Fine, Pregnant, Excited, one flaming mine by the front door, clothing at 5/25 TP

Lord Aaron
Arkien the Lewd Faerie

Rolls

Spoiler

Casting: Success.
Attack: Both are hit.
Damage: 6 + 2 + 6 = 14, 14 x 4 = 56 damage, Chloe discovers that when these things break out of a host body, they are unaffected by any damage that said host body took.

They use Leap Glomp, but both miss. I lost the rolls but remember the results. I also lost half finished fluff text and am very salty about it! That's why this took so long and is sort of lame.

Lord Aaron arrives to help!

With a wave of her hands and a defiant shout, Chloe sent flames washing over the unnatural things. The brief flash of intense flames blocked her view of them, but not the change in tone of their nonsensical howls. When the flames cleared, however, the creatures were not charred cinders but merely sported a different set of colors on their chaotic hides... At least at first glance, as a moment later it seemed as if their silhouettes were... Melting, or disintegrating, or perhaps both at once.

The two things leaped directly at her, one at a time, tentacles extending to try and grasp at the mage's limbs. Fortunately for her, Chloe was able to scramble aside and avoid even a touch from either of them, and as they landed and turned back towards her another boon came; Lord Aaron stepped out of the side room where he'd been trying to free the townsfolk trapped in their icy prisons, his staff raised and fire already forming around the head of it as he came to Chloe's aid.

 

[ranger]

Spoiler

ouch I know what thats like to lose a well-crafted text. Still with as many threads as you run Tass Im just glad you remember little ol me. I have to say these things are terrifying as I imagine Chloe's position. Also, I'm starting to think these things have some sort of hide that shifts to resist magic.

A lump rose in her throat. The Creatures didn't seem at all harmed by her magic. She tried not to focus on their every shifting skin which made her own crawl on its own accord. Keeping distance from these things was getting all the more impossible as she prepared let lose another flaming spell. Just then much to her relief Lord Aaron arrived his magic staff at the ready. The area was close quarters so flamming hands were off the table, she didn't want to risk hitting Lord Aaron. Bringing forth her right hand she began to conjure the fire for her next spell.

Action

Spoiler

Chloe attempts to cast an Intensified, Flaming bolt (LVL 3) BC is 20 at a cost of 7 (+3 from intensify) 4d4 +6

 

[Tassadar]

Spoiler

Chloe: HP = 74/80, PP = 73/73, EP = 49/79, Status = Mostly Fine, Pregnant, Excited, one flaming mine by the front door, clothing at 5/25 TP

Lord Aaron
Arkien the Lewd Faerie

Rolls

Spoiler

Casting: Success.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 9 + 6 = 15, 15 x 3 = 45 damage to one of 'em, destroying it.

Lord Aaron does basically the same thing, but doesn't intensify to save some precious EPs.
Casting: Success.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: Sufficient!

A bolt of flame lanced out, intensified by an adaptation of her healing training. The spell struck one of the misshapen horrors squarely, and it let out one last ululating, otherworldly howl before bursting into an explosion of foul smelling ashes. Lord Aaron hit the other one with the same spell, producing much the same result, but their respite would be brief; two more dogs were already sprinting for the broken window.

"Slow them down! Keep them from getting in!" Lord Aaron called, preparing another fire spell himself.

 

[ranger]

Chloe once more called on the shimmering frost energies attempting to conjure another ice slick as she had done before. While she doubted it would do much to the writhing horrors inside the poor mutts bodies it would slow the dogs down, and allow for them to maintain their relative safety inside the cabin. The air shimmered about her hands as she felt the chill build up reaching its climax before letting loose like she was throwing a snowball.

Chloe is casting Ice Slick (Ball)

Spoiler

[This spell deals damage as a spell one level lower, but creatures affected by this spell and any who enter its area of effect up to 3 rounds later must win a Resistance check against the character or be knocked Prone.]

Cost is 4ep BC of 20 (level 3) Chloe's resistance is 47 vs her spells.

 

[Tassadar]

Spoiler

Chloe: HP = 74/80, PP = 73/73, EP = 45/79, Status = Mostly Fine, Pregnant, Excited, one flaming mine by the front door, clothing at 5/25 TP

Lord Aaron
Arkien the Lewd Faerie

Rolls

Spoiler

Casting: Success.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 4 + 1 + 6 = 11, 11 x 2 = 22 damage.
Resistance: Chloe wins!

Lord Aaron targets one of them with Flare.
Casting: Success.
Attack: Hits.
Damage: 8 + 10 + 2 = 20, 20 x 6 = 120, one down.

The other "dogs" get up and carefully crawl through the window.

Chloe's spell worked like a charm; the dogs seemed to lack the resistance to conventional attack possessed by the creatures inside of them, and ended up sliding and skidding as they charged the house. The two hit the wall with dull, wet thuds, but did not give the yelps that she might have expected from a dog in pain. The first of them crawled up, but the moment that it showed itself Lord Aaron unleashed a fire bolt onto it that reduced it to another pile of foul smelling ashes. The other crawled up after it, and five more appeared around the corner and started charging right towards the ice, but the other of the latest pair was climbing awkwardly, flesh already bubbling as if preparing to detonate it's shell like the other's she'd faced had done.

 

[ranger]

"Watch out they explode!" Chloe brought up her hands and let loose her own magic fire at the dog crawling threw the window. Gathering the smoldering energies Chloe brought the elemental fire to bare. She tried not to look at the pain ravaged mutts eyes her gut-wrenching at the thing's suffering.

Spoiler

Chloe cast {HF} Flaming Sphere (Bolt) level 3 for 4ep 2d4 + 8

 

[Tassadar]

Spoiler

Chloe: HP = 74/80, PP = 73/73, EP = 41/79, Status = Mostly Fine, Pregnant, Excited, one flaming mine by the front door, clothing at 5/25 TP

Lord Aaron
Arkien the Lewd Faerie

Rolls

Spoiler

Casting: Success.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 4 + 2 + 8 = 11, 14 x 3 = 42 damage. Burned up.

Lord Aaron throws a fireball at the next charging group.
Casting: Success.
Attack: Hits.
Damage: 4 + 1 + 8 + 2 = 15, 15 x 4 = 60 damage. He fries them.

For dealing with the big chunk of enemies so far, Chloe can have 6 XP.

Chloe's burst of flame enveloped the corrupted dog, ensuring that she didn't have to see the pain in its eyes as what was left of its consciousness died along with the thing that had stolen its body. She destroyed it, burning it to the bone, and while the canine howl of pain was brief, the otherworldly high pitched death-shriek of the horror that had been about to burst out of it lasted longer even than the flame that had turned it into a pile of cinders. The sound echoed horribly, and was soon joined by a chorus as Lord Aaron, seeing that she'd dealt with one, turned his attention to the large oncoming group and sent a fireball streaking towards them. The tiny pinprick of flame burst as it reached the center of the charging group of dogs, and they melted just like the one that Chloe had brought down, producing five more warbling shrieks that took longer to die down than it took for the actual creatures making them to disintegrate. All of the charred dog carcasses produced the same foul, oily smell, and all of them seemed to lack anything between their ribs where many of their organs should have been.

As the ululating cries died out, however, the surrounding area was shrouded in silence. There were no screams, no cries, no sounds of further oncoming monsters... But also no sounds of birds or insects or beasts that would normally fill the night, leaving it an earie calm at best.

"It isn't over yet," Lord Aaron said after a moment of gazing expectantly out the window. "This is a lull at best, but something is likely already coming... Something quieter. They can't have much more to send after us, but that's no reason to waste resources. We need to rebuild our defenses; I'll take here since it's the biggest gap, try to get more mines by the windows in the side rooms. Watch out for pixies trying to signal, they're keeping an eye out for us!"

 

[ranger]

Chloe nodded and quickly went about her task. Her first side windows she stopped she simply placed a single fire mine, quickly glancing about to see if the Pixies were signaling. Then she would move to the second side room to drop another fire mine and check once more if the pixies were active. If clear she would move back to the first set and place an oil trap to enhance its defense before moving back to do the same.

Action

Spoiler

Chloe is following directions moving to each side room and setting up mines and checking on the pixies. If she gets a chance she will drop oil traps to enhance the fire trap spells.