The Shattered City: Chapter Three

[DocBeard]

"Verdamnit LOS!" Tomas snaps, his eyes flashing with fury as he kicks up onto his feet. "Shoot in the damn pool, its in there!" If that thing had Thierri.., "Nerit, your lightning bolt! Water conducts electricity!"

Tomas then proceeds to grab at Katja's collar as if she weren't under the control of a monstrous force of evil and ready to kill. "And you!" Tomas snaps, and it is open as to what he is actually addressing as a gleam of sunlight glimmers around his head. "Snap out of it!"

Using Divine Mettle(Target makes a saving throw with my Charisma bonus(+3) on Katja, and using my standard action to defend this round.

[Kaitou Kage]

Cyrus nearly lost it when Lia fired at his brother. His face turned red and he nearly ran the wizard through.

The dommer held himself in check. It's not her fault, he told himself, it's whatever is creating the mind-control magic. Whatever is in the pool.

He whirled on the pool and shouted a prayer to the Lawgiver. White radiance shot from his blade and flew into the shimmering waters.

Oh man, exciting! Radiant Vengeance attack for a whopping total of 13 vs. Reflex! Looks like my craptacular dice luck is back to normal!

[Cronax]

Weak willed fools. No clarity, no purpose, no wonder these things could manipulate them so easily. Mr. Agale sneered in the dark. He then ordered a counter strategy to any of his compatriots willing to listen. "Back away from the water. Without any easy targets this thing will either disengage or be forced to surface, where it is vulnerable."

The Borcan then took his own advice, crouching slightly and flattening himself against chamber's outer wall, using the lip of the well to block a direct line from himself to the mysterious lights.

Readying Intellect Fortress against the first attack where it would make a difference

[Nerit]

Nerit flinched as Thierri disappeared. And again when Tomas called her.

"Tomas..." She hesitated. It wasn't exactly lightning, really, but it was hard to explain in a situation like this.

Nerit sidled over to the pool, behind Katja and Lia. The nun, perhaps feeling on the spot, held out a wavering hand, palm down. She glanced into the otherworldly shine, then away, smirking at Agale. A lilting, archaic word passed her lips. Purple light streaked down into the well. Her smirk was gone, replaced with a sharpness of eye covering a thin line of regret at her mouth.

Lightning Strike 23 vs Reflex
10 lightning dmg. Yeah, I rolled a 2 on that.

[NeoTiamat]

Catacombs of Port-a-Lucine, Night of April 21st, 770
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Purple light streaked down into the well. Her smirk was gone, replaced with a sharpness of eye covering a thin line of regret at her mouth.

He whirled on the pool and shouted a prayer to the Lawgiver. White radiance shot from his blade and flew into the shimmering waters.

White and purple light sliced through the black water, causing it to boil and churn. Hissing steam rose from the well, obscuring vision for a moment. But whatever was inside the well was too far, too deep. As the steam dissipated, you could still see the shifting, blinking lights at the bottom of the black well.

"And you!" Tomas snaps, and it is open as to what he is actually addressing as a gleam of sunlight glimmers around his head. "Snap out of it!"

The reflected glow from Katja's eyes faded and flickered, before disappearing altogether. Wild-eyed and half-suffocated, Katja drew a gasping breath.

"Where is it? Where is it?" The Lamordo-Darkonian woman rasped, her voice ragged. Her eyes fell on the well of black water in the center of the room, and Katja half-wailed, an utterly lost sound. When she began to speak again, it was in Lamordian at first, half muttered, half-mad, before she shifted back to Mordentish. "Stop the reflection. It can't be let come here. Stop it."

With another wordless hiss, Katja dived for the ground, snatching up the dropped crossbow and rolling back against the edge of the wall, accompanying herself with a constant litany of Lamordian curses.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Reflections - lights! Snuff the lights!" Lia says, urgency making her voice harsh. "Sumbrosus!" The crystal atop her staff flashes from brilliant gold to sullen red, then to inky blackness.

[yalenusveler]

"We need to go this way!" Kerrian nigh shouted, pointing down the second corridor from his left. Staying here..well, there was a chance that whatever it was in the well would conveniently rise and let them deal with it. But it was far more likely that it would simply stay below the water's surface and try to influence them at its leisure.

"And has anyone seen Thierri? Did it get him?"

OOC:Waiting for everyone else to start moving, then making my move to head down that corridor, and away from mind control pool.

[The Whistler]

"And has anyone seen Thierri? Did it get him?"

Celeste had noticed Thierri's absence as well, and had been working up a good honest panic about the situation. "Oh M. Mauganson, I have not, and...oh, it requires every fibre of my being to avoid presuming the worst! That there could simply be a reasonable explanation for his summary disappearance, I should seize upon it with all--OH!."

And then there was a minor earthquake. The entire cave vibrated, and violently, sending nearly all of you stumbling back towards the walls, and shaking dust and particles of rock from the ceiling--thank the powers that be that nothing load-bearing was disturbed.

Celeste wasn't load-bearing, but she was clearly affected. By the way she was now crouching in the middle of the cavern with her arms around her head, this was not a pleasant experience for her.

The universe rolls a natural one to cover up the pool with debris. Celeste is not having a good time of it.

[Cronax]

Mr Agale stumbled and his the chamber wall hard. "Mr. Boucher is by all accounts a resourceful individual. We would do well to follow his lead in action if not necessarily in destination and withdraw." Nodding to Mr. Mauganson, he made his way through the indicated corridor.

[DocBeard]

"Lightning is lightning!" Tomas argues with all the ferocity of a man raised to treat the laws of natural philosophy as sacred catechism. And then, well. "Oh come on...water does not work that way!" Tomas whips his sword at one of the haunting lights, possibly out of sheer spite.

Only the light was, in fact, Kerrin, as becomes obvious to Tomas when the radiant power of Ivorsen breaks through the fog on his mind. "Oh...damn. Kid! Damn!" He's no help to anyone out here. Reluctantly picking his feet up, Tomas tries barreling away like Katja suggested.


(Valorous Strike on Kerrin, 27 vs AC, if that connects 7 radiant damage.

14 on my saving throw. If I can still make my move action, I proceed to move the heck away.)

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Move, move, move!" Lia shouts once she has picked herself up. "Turn those lights off and move!" She runs after Kerrian, pausing only to grab Celeste by the elbow and pull her to her feet.

[lostboy]

Nicolas looks slightly nonplussed by the insanity occuring, and the fact the Katja has backed off and he is aimlessly waving a gun at nothing in particular.

"Capital idea that, stay away from the scary mind controlling water." He drawls in a Mordentish accent although for once the strain is obvious on his face despite the tone of voice. "Right then my dears shall we take the better part of valour and undertake the proverbial?" He adds hustling Nerit, Katja, Cyrus and anyone else left hanging around onwards into the darknesss after the others.

[Kaitou Kage]

Cyrus is quite happy to leave the room, but not before grabbing his brother by the collar and dragging him forcibly if need be.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Lia's force-missiles snap by Darius' face, missing him but getting his attention. Darius stumbles back, away from the pool, and shrugs off his brother's hand angrily, snarling something that might be Vaasi or might just be gibberish. As Nicolas speaks, Darius turns to face him, and the snarl turns into a roar of rage as Darius leaps forward and attacks.

Charge to Nicolas and attack, 24 vs. AC (including the +1 for the charge), 7 damage. My apologies, lostboy. Save is 3. Domination continues.

[NeoTiamat]

Catacombs of Port-a-Lucine, Night of April 21st, 770
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"And has anyone seen Thierri? Did it get him?"

"I'm here," a quiet voice said from the pitch black of the tunnels. A streak of fire burst out of the darkness, flying on feathered wings straight into Darius' chest. It flared as it plunged into the Mulani, seemingly burning but leaving Darius unharmed. To Darius, it felt as though he'd suddenly stood up from a hot bath, a horribly uncomfortable combination of heat and light-headedness rushing through his head.

Darius can spend a healing surge (which he probably does not want to do) and roll a saving throw (which he probably does).

Katja lept from the wall, helping Cyrus grab his brother and forcibly bull rush him from the room. "It's just toying with us," Katja snarled, her crossbow shaking in her hand with fury and fear. "We can do nothing to it. And we will find every tunnel will only lead further in. And it will wait until we are tired and come back for us, one by one. It will speak with our voices, it will murder with our hands... monster! Coward!" The woman cried out in rage and anguish.

You could hear the sound of searching footsteps upon stone, running parallel to where you were headed. Thierri appeared abruptly as he stepped across the threshold from darkness to light, having finally found a tunnel that connected to yours. He hesitated before dodging past the raging Darius, moving to examine the injured Kerrian. "Are we all here?" he asked.

The dark well was left behind as you dashed into the corridors of the catacombs, further and further away from those glimmering lights. Whatever had been twisting your minds into bloodlust and violence did not follow, staying in that well of black water. For the moment, you were safe. As for your eventual return, it seemed that you would need to find a different path.

You found yourself now in a wide passageway, periodically intersected by smaller tunnels. Every dozen feet, a full skeleton was half-merged into the earthen walls, their hollow sockets seeming to follow you as you passed. Still, at least there could be relatively little doubt as to which way you had to go, the trampled dirt at your feet pointing down the passageway and further to, you presumed, the cultists.