Café de Nuit

Zumba's attack against the eagle-beaked monstrosity goes off flawlessly. The monster squawks with a mixture of pain and surprise, then its too-human eyes roll in the sockets and it falls down, insensate.

The rider, whose lips twisted in a mirthless smile when Vincent faltered, growls with anger when its final soldier goes down. It snarls with outright fury when Goren's blow connects, but...

"You now know the touch of death upon you," the creature grates at Vincent. "You shall feel it again soon. Very soon. And just to make sure you know in your very bones that there is no safe place..."

The rider turns his back on you, exposing itself to your attacks! Unimpressed by whatever harm you manage to land upon him, he sets off at a dead run, silver sword held before it like a lance. A stray sunbeam catches the silver, makes it shine like a ray of moonlight. The moonlight pierces the chest of the girl who has been waiting for the right moment to shoot the rider until now -- the light is doused, the girl rises, tries to scream...

... she falls, blood spurting from her mouth. The rider abandons his sword and runs for the brush he originally came out from. "There is no safety from death!" he shouts without looking back. "And her will can not be denied! She ordained the trollop's death, and so it is done! You are next, poppinjay!"

As the corpse falls to the ground, Goren can finally see her face clearly. She is one of the people from his dark dream of the night before, one of those who started as zombies, but died looking like his friends.

(OOC: The last soldier-monster is stunned by Vincent; the rider provokes attacks of opportunity from Goren and Vincent, but kills Jazelle as it moves away from you and heads to the underbrush. Sorry to Higginz, but I have no reason to believe he'll be back at this point. )

DM Section:

Monster C: -8 hp, Stunned for 1 round.
Rider: -17 hp, running.

Goren: -15 hp.
Jazelle: Dead.
Vincent: Vincent: -5 hp.
Zumba: -2 (0) hp.

"Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,"Goren yells as the girl dies. As the rider turns his back, the priest swings his mace as hard as he can and hopefully connects with the rider's feeling form! He then runs after the rider in white, and catching him, swings his mace again!


Attack of opportunity : 22 http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2785215/

Damage: 7 http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2785217/


Second attack: 22 http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2785220/

Damage: 2 http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2785222/

Zumba looks a bit dazed the second Goren cries. Without understanding why, and angry at the threat issued by the rider, he tries his best to trail it and attack with the quarterstaff. It's not easy, but at least he's fast.

In the brief seconds he tries to match the speed of the horse, he tries to make sense of what he saw.

That flash! Was it a sword? Must search for it... someone fell? who was it? on our side? Why did Goren scream? he knew him?

He does not look at the body while running(*), all his attention is focused on the rider. He's not even sure the victim has died or is even there. For all he knows, it could have been some kind of spirit or energy manifestation.

OOC:
(*): 'running' is just an expression. Until the end of the encounter, Zumba can not run.

Several minutes earlier:

Lucien Jetté had been on the bleak, dry road for what seemed like hours, yet his investigation had revealed little more than the obvious: drought. Severe, mysterious, magic-defying drought. Already feeling frustrated that morning, he had cast caution aside and ventured out here on his own. Still, nothing around him seemed to pose any...

Sounds. Yelling, fighting, cries of pain. A massive burst of sound! By Azalin's teeth, what is happening?

Crouching down to find what cover he can, Lucien moves forward as quickly as possible -- immediately regretting his haste as the Mist-damned heat of Souragne makes him sweat anew. Seconds later, he sees the source of the sounds: three men, apparently from the nearby coach, battling monstrous attackers that are mockeries of animal and man. There are four creatures... no, make that two, as the man with the staff and the red-haired man impressively cave in their foes' skulls. The third man seems to have a good deal of agility, especially considering the circumstances, and hurls some alchemical substance at a fearsome rider and his steed, which Lucien hadn't even noticed till that second.

Still too far away to bring his special talents to bear, Lucien unshoulders his crossbow. It'll have to do. Then he sees something else he hadn't noticed at first: a lovely woman some distance away, on the opposite side of the fight but much closer to the rider. Lucien imagines the beads of sweat on her skin. First things first. Before he can bring his crossbow to bear, though, the men deal with the last of the creatures and focus their attention on the rider, who leaps down from his horse, turns his back on the men -- and runs toward the woman, slaying her with what appeared to be a luminous silver sword!

Hoping for at least one shot before the killer flees, Lucien takes aim with the crossbow.

____________________________________________
Huzzah! If it matters:
Initiative (1d20+3=13)
And if Lucien can get a shot off before Goren closes (if indeed he does), he'll fire. If the rider is engaged in melee, Lucien will hold his fire and do a double move toward the girl.
Light crossbow attack (1d20+5=25)
OHHH! Natural 20 on my 1st attack!?! Double huzzah! Hopefully it's not in vain.
To confirm crit (1d20+5=18)
Not bad! Here's damage, doubled:
Crossbow damage (1d6=5) x 2 = 10 points

Feeling the clammy heat of the swamp and the arrow still sticking in his body, a chill runs down Vincent's spine. The fear he felt drained away with the chill and he immediately moved towards the rider slashing at the rider and continuing his pursuit. As the girl goes down he stops his pursuit and goes to her. He crouches down next to her checking and hoping that she still breathes. Unfortunately, as he had expected, he find no life in her. He goes to his knees with a deep sigh and wipes his brow with his handkerchief. "Poor girl, saved once to die the next day."
"Damn" he says trying to look over his shoulder at the arrow sticking out of him. He smiles at it, sweat dripping down his face. "Ouch"

OOC:
Attack 19
Damage 7

The erstwhile rider takes Goren's first attack without even halting, committing his cold-blooded act of murder and charges on. The second attack from the priest causes him to curse loudly, but it does not make him stop.

Perhaps galvanized by the pain, the rider manages to dodge Zumba's lunge with the quarterstaff, swerves aside to avoid Vincent's jab with the rapier -- and takes a sudden arrow in the shoulder! Screaming with fury, the rider crashes into the shadow-choked brush -- and is lost from sight. It is not that he has suddenly sped into the distance or fallen to the ground to hide in the underbrush, he is... just... gone. None of you can see him anymore.

What Goren, Vincent and Zumba can see, if they check to see where the arrow came from, is a man the have never met before. Another thing they can see is that the eagle-beaked monster is struggling to its feet again, shortbow already in hand. Its eyes are spinning madly and it is making harsh sounds that might be speech... and then it fires its bow at Zumba, perhaps recognizing him as the source of its recent discomfort.

The thick, barbed arrow cuts the air an inch to the right of the Capoeira's cheek and shoots into the distance without doing harm. The monster shrieks something that are probably cursewords, turns and starts to run in the direction of the newcomer, struggling to exchange its shortbow for its scythe-bladed sword as it goes!

DM Section:
Monster C: -8 hp.
Rider: Gone.

Goren: -15 hp.
Jazelle: Dead.
Lucien: A-okay!
Vincent: Vincent: -5 hp.
Zumba: -2 (0) hp.

Zumba curses loudly at both the rider's disappearance and the monster's renewed attack. Caught between two fires, he sticks to his instinctive reactions, the instinct of survival learned through so many hardships, and heads as fast as he can to the creature. This time, though, he's adamant that he does not want to kill it: merely immobilize it again, if that's possible.

He tries to grapple the monters, crying "Hold! I don't want to harm you. Tell me who you are, you were a man once, a Souragnien like me! Hold, talk to me!"

Lucien's eyes widen as the target of his attack disappears! They widen even further as the last creature -- which he thought had been slain -- gets up and charges at him.

What's that saying, Lucien? 'No good deed..."? Shush. He concentrates, preparing to use deadly force to defend himself, but the plaintive words of the man with the staff give him pause. Hmm, could this bird-man bastard have answers? Still, the apparent fatigue in the staff wielder's legs convinces Lucien that he'll have to deal with the brunt of this himself. He drops the crossbow and pulls out his dagger, ready to face the monster. With a thought, he places an invisible shield between him and the beast-man. This should be interesting.

___________________________________
Lucien uses Force Screen, which raises his AC to 19. Move action to pull out the dagger.

Goren curses inwardly as the rider disappears from sight. He tries to think of a way the rider could do such a thing. The newcomer intrigues him, but as the foe rises and runs after him, he sighs and turns to go help him. There would be time to heal anyone needing it later. The crowbeast needed to be kept alive if they were to get information. "No kill birdman! No kill birdman!" Goren yells this at Lucien in broken Souragnien.

Vincent let's out a curse when he realizes that the last creature isn't immobilized anymore. He now sees the newly arrived man and looks down at the dead woman at his feet. "People keep showing up all the time" he murmers to himself.
Everybody is yelling at the newcomer to let the last beast live. He sees the newcomer dropping his crossbow and pulling out a dagger. "Well, this should be interesting." He starts walking towards, what will be, the new battle to overmaster the beast creature.

Zumba leaps on the eagle-beaed beast, which turns, goggling, and tries to slash at him with its cruel weapon. The swing goes wide, and the monster has to drop its weapon to deal with the human impossibly trying to grab it. Despite the beast's furious attempt to win free, Zumba manages to trip it and pin it to the ground!

The monster throws back its head and yowls in a language none of you can understand, struggling to get free. That does not end when Goren and Vincent approach. If anything, the creature seems to grow more frantic, human-like eyes rolling wildly in its malformed skull.

At this point, it is clearly visible for everyone who is not Zumba that the other monsters have undergone a hideous transformation. Lying in armour much too big for them are human corpses, hideously incomplete and sharing the space with various animal... parts. Already, the malicious heat is raising a fine stench, both from the dead creatures and from the body of the poor coachman, which is still lying facedown on the stone Goren spotted. Flies are coming over from the brush, and settling down on the corpses in growing numbers.

Goren moves over to the coachman. Seeing as the threat will be likely taken care of, he decides to give the man a decent last rite. He stops and listens first, then takes a good look around. He stoops down and inspects the dead man, closing his eyes and waving away the incessant flies. Seeing as they had no shovel, he has another idea. They'd need to burn these bodies because leaving them here to rot in this heat might bring disease to these people. Rising, he moves towards the other dead beast/humans. He inspects them as well for any clues.

Lucien steps toward Zumba and the pinned, squawking creature, glancing at the disturbing mix of animal and man parts that mark the corpses of the other beast-men. "Sorcery of the vilest kind," he says. He looks at Zumba, who is still holding the creature. "Thank you. I could've dealt with him -- it -- but likely not in any way that would have kept it alive. I wish I had some rope for you, though." He sees Vincent approaching from the direction of the girl. "She's dead, I presume, yes?" he asks, although it's more of a statement than a question. He has no doubt that the blow was a fatal one.

Zumba, Goren, and Vincent now get a good look at the newcomer. He's very handsome, of average height -- perhaps even slightly less than average -- wearing a loose-fitting white shirt and an expensive-looking brown vest with gold embroidery and an emerald pin in the lapel. Gray breeches are tucked into high brown boots. He has wavy, if short, dark brown hair and a thin mustache. His bright green eyes gaze at each of you appraisingly. The slight arch of his eyebrows and the pointed tips of his ears are the only things that quickly identify him as not entirely of human blood. A large backpack and his crossbow lay near his feet. The dagger remains in his hand.

"Lucien," he says simply. His voice and clothing clearly suggest that he is not from Souragne. "Lucien Jetté. Let me help you, and you can tell me who that hooded bastard was."

Walking towards the newcomer Vincent already holds the handkerchief to his nose against the stench. With his other hand he pulls out the arrow still stuck in him. He lets out a painfull grunt and throws the arrow to the ground.

"Oui monsieur, it is as expected, she did not survive the attack by the rider" he answers to Lucien, inspecting him from head to toe. He smiles at Lucien, his green eyes hinting at mischief and bows: "Vincent Faussé, it is a pleasure to meet you, Lucien Jetté."
Looking down at the frantic creature he says "I do believe our raging friend here might need a little help with that ugly creature." He steps around Zumba and the creature help Zumba hold down the creature. "Monsieur Zumba, would you happen to have anything to calm this creature down?"

Goren takes in the scene. The dead beasts first, then the coachman. After a good inspection of the area he is about to
turn back to the others when he gets very intrigued by where the coachman is. Crouching down he looks three times before he
stands and scratches his head. "Odd indeed," he utters to himself in Chondonthan. He stands and looks back at the others and a man Goren hasn't seen before. Seeing that the others aren't hostile towards him makes him less nervous. His finding however,
makes him nervous and he wants another opinion. Maybe one of the others has seen this odd stone before? It looks like they'll be able to take care of the remaining foe.

Souragnian: "Hello..... I find bad stone. Need, um, arcanic help, mage, yes? Please come see, is importantly to see stone." Goren concentrates and casts Detect Magic and looks at the stone. He not once touches it.