Post by Dead Greyhawk on Aug 11, 2007 10:50:15 GMT -5
The battle degenerates into a priestly fight of holy and unholy possession. The priests of Dead God attempt to grasp Hugh, Adrienne, and Maximilian, while those three attempt to do the same. The wise, blessed, prayerful priests and priestess do not fall to the priests of the Dead God, but only one of the Dead God's minions falls prey to the adherents of weal.
Diego is torn. His shortbow is of little use against the undead warriors, where Otto is quickly being overrun. On the other hand, his accuracy with the shortbow imperils the armored priests that struggle against his fellow clerics. Rather than shouldering his way to Otto and guarding Otto's flank, he continues to pepper the Dead God's priests with arrows, causing them to duck and lose concentration.
Dell targets the man clad in the golden scale armor, sending a bolt of lightning through him, but it seems as if the the man is mostly inured to its effects. Without missing a beat, the golden-clad man calls upon the might of the Dead God to strengthen his minions in the battle. Seeing Otto as a major threat, the scale clad warrior barks orders in some foreign tongue, a variant of orcish or goblin to Adrienne and Dell's ears, and moves forward to meet him.
Otto, also identifying his peer in this battle, gladly prepares to take up the fight. As the warrior approaches, Otto calls upon Joramy, his fiery mountain goddess, to direct the earth and grass to hold the powerful undead warriors in place. With his magical boots, he easily moves through the writhing turf and stone towards the pick-wielding warrior, even as the undead are trapped by the forces of nature. The undead warriors are stronger than the typical zombie, but are still wrapped tight.
The pick-wielding warrior is a canny fighter, perhaps even Otto's better, but Otto is well-versed in combat and confident in his magical acoutrement. The warrior has taken two massive fire attacks from Winthrop, and Otto should easily best him. Otto quickly closes the gap. Otto's confidence is ill-found. Not only does the pick-wielder match Otto in strength, if not speed, but his pick is superior to the giant-slaying sword. The dark blessings laid upon the battle by the golden-clad priest equal those laid by Adrienne and Hugh. But the true imbalance is that somehow the pick-wielder's wounds are being healed almost as fast as Otto can inflict them. Myrick's ring slowly closes Otto's wounds, but at nothing like the speed that the pick-wielder's heal. "Little help here!" shouts Otto, as the pick-wielder strikes him yet another massive blow.
Hugh and Adrienne continue to battle the opposing priests, casting prayer and counter-prayer at one another. The priests of the Dead God, outnumbering their opponents seem content to focus their ill will entirely on a single target, while Hugh and Adrienne must spread their enchantments out among a group of priests. The priests of the Dead God are not as competent as Hugh or Adrienne, but there are many of them. Diego begins to winnow them, sheathing his bastardsword and taking up the shortbow again.
The three mages assault the golden-clad man, shooting balls of fire, and flights of magical bolts through his form. Astoundingly, the man seems inured to pain of all sorts. The fire seems to sweep away from his form, leaving him barely injured. The bolts of magical force simply flow over him, leaving him unharmed. Unsurprisingly, the man's evil piety quickly heals himself of this damage. Worse, the unholy priest appears to possess magics beyond the Company's experience.
Crying out to his Dead God, the golden-clad priest sends forth a burst of black light that flows over Oaklock. Oaklock staggers, his body bursting and bleeding, as his vital energy is transfered to the priest, healing him of his wounds. Oaklock barely stands after being struck by the unholy energy.
"Lightning or acid!" cries Winthrop, struggling for a tactic to injure the frightening man. All three of the mages strike out with bolts of lightning, impaling the golden-clad priest on long lances. The priest staggers a bit from all of the energy pouring through him, and the stone floating around his head blackens and explodes, sending small bits of stone ricocheting off of his helm.
The golden-clad priest screams with rage and pulls forth from a rune-covered sack tied to his waist a frightening object: a blackened, taloned hand still attached to a forearm. Barking a strange word, he holds it up to the sky. The hand takes on a black nimbus, and one of the fingers begins to glow, as if its fingernail had been lit on fire.
A great rumbling, like a resonant, cracked bell, fills the air, and a purplish-red slash appears in the sky. Through the slash climbs a black and silver plated, bipedal beast, dripping with greenish ichor. Standing on the air, its nine-foot frame unfolding, it pulls forth from nothing a great, gleaming sword and a long, spiked shield. The night-haunt, a cousin of that seen with the reduction of the behemoth, bellows at the Company with rage, smashing its sword against its shield.
The three mages are taken aback by the night-haunt. "Extraplanar, definitely extraplanar," mutters Dell, as he wracks his brain for a paper or a book that he wrote or read in his apprenticeship that might describe the night-haunt's weaknesses. Unfortunately, he comes up short.
Diego is torn. His shortbow is of little use against the undead warriors, where Otto is quickly being overrun. On the other hand, his accuracy with the shortbow imperils the armored priests that struggle against his fellow clerics. Rather than shouldering his way to Otto and guarding Otto's flank, he continues to pepper the Dead God's priests with arrows, causing them to duck and lose concentration.
Dell targets the man clad in the golden scale armor, sending a bolt of lightning through him, but it seems as if the the man is mostly inured to its effects. Without missing a beat, the golden-clad man calls upon the might of the Dead God to strengthen his minions in the battle. Seeing Otto as a major threat, the scale clad warrior barks orders in some foreign tongue, a variant of orcish or goblin to Adrienne and Dell's ears, and moves forward to meet him.
Otto, also identifying his peer in this battle, gladly prepares to take up the fight. As the warrior approaches, Otto calls upon Joramy, his fiery mountain goddess, to direct the earth and grass to hold the powerful undead warriors in place. With his magical boots, he easily moves through the writhing turf and stone towards the pick-wielding warrior, even as the undead are trapped by the forces of nature. The undead warriors are stronger than the typical zombie, but are still wrapped tight.
The pick-wielding warrior is a canny fighter, perhaps even Otto's better, but Otto is well-versed in combat and confident in his magical acoutrement. The warrior has taken two massive fire attacks from Winthrop, and Otto should easily best him. Otto quickly closes the gap. Otto's confidence is ill-found. Not only does the pick-wielder match Otto in strength, if not speed, but his pick is superior to the giant-slaying sword. The dark blessings laid upon the battle by the golden-clad priest equal those laid by Adrienne and Hugh. But the true imbalance is that somehow the pick-wielder's wounds are being healed almost as fast as Otto can inflict them. Myrick's ring slowly closes Otto's wounds, but at nothing like the speed that the pick-wielder's heal. "Little help here!" shouts Otto, as the pick-wielder strikes him yet another massive blow.
Hugh and Adrienne continue to battle the opposing priests, casting prayer and counter-prayer at one another. The priests of the Dead God, outnumbering their opponents seem content to focus their ill will entirely on a single target, while Hugh and Adrienne must spread their enchantments out among a group of priests. The priests of the Dead God are not as competent as Hugh or Adrienne, but there are many of them. Diego begins to winnow them, sheathing his bastardsword and taking up the shortbow again.
The three mages assault the golden-clad man, shooting balls of fire, and flights of magical bolts through his form. Astoundingly, the man seems inured to pain of all sorts. The fire seems to sweep away from his form, leaving him barely injured. The bolts of magical force simply flow over him, leaving him unharmed. Unsurprisingly, the man's evil piety quickly heals himself of this damage. Worse, the unholy priest appears to possess magics beyond the Company's experience.
Crying out to his Dead God, the golden-clad priest sends forth a burst of black light that flows over Oaklock. Oaklock staggers, his body bursting and bleeding, as his vital energy is transfered to the priest, healing him of his wounds. Oaklock barely stands after being struck by the unholy energy.
"Lightning or acid!" cries Winthrop, struggling for a tactic to injure the frightening man. All three of the mages strike out with bolts of lightning, impaling the golden-clad priest on long lances. The priest staggers a bit from all of the energy pouring through him, and the stone floating around his head blackens and explodes, sending small bits of stone ricocheting off of his helm.
The golden-clad priest screams with rage and pulls forth from a rune-covered sack tied to his waist a frightening object: a blackened, taloned hand still attached to a forearm. Barking a strange word, he holds it up to the sky. The hand takes on a black nimbus, and one of the fingers begins to glow, as if its fingernail had been lit on fire.
A great rumbling, like a resonant, cracked bell, fills the air, and a purplish-red slash appears in the sky. Through the slash climbs a black and silver plated, bipedal beast, dripping with greenish ichor. Standing on the air, its nine-foot frame unfolding, it pulls forth from nothing a great, gleaming sword and a long, spiked shield. The night-haunt, a cousin of that seen with the reduction of the behemoth, bellows at the Company with rage, smashing its sword against its shield.
The three mages are taken aback by the night-haunt. "Extraplanar, definitely extraplanar," mutters Dell, as he wracks his brain for a paper or a book that he wrote or read in his apprenticeship that might describe the night-haunt's weaknesses. Unfortunately, he comes up short.