A Stitch in Souragne: The Siege of Lac Noir

[steveflam]

"Oui Monsieur."

[Ail]

Zumba looks doubtful. On the one hand, he wants to be active and do something, but rashness, he learned, is bad advisor.

"I don't think we should attract beastmen. No. That will tell us we're here and we lose surprise. If we go in to attack the two men (priests, are they?) we should do it to kill, for good. And given that, I think we should go in force."

[Ken of Ghastria]

"The beastmen and zombis will be on top of us in seconds if we get into a skirmish with the priests, or whatever they are," says Lucien. "But I understand your concern, Zumba. Very well...

"I can surround the hooded duo -- and that pillar -- in a cage of lightning that should deny them the shadows they rely upon to escape. They can run through it, but not without suffering even more damage. Then as the four of us close the distance, it'll be up to you, Goren, and Vincent to finish them off -- quickly -- while I then try to cordon off the zombis and beastmen before they overrun us. Is that acceptable?

"Decide quickly, please. It's only a matter of time before they notice that we're here."

____________________
Clairvoyant sense and Claude's surveillance continue.

[Ail]

"I think your idea is good, Lucien. Put the barrier up and we'll strike the hooded ones."

[Guzrath]

"That's a very bold move to do Lucien. We've already had difficulty taking one down now we take two in a short period of time while you keep a horde of zombi en beast horrors at bay.... and if either of us don't succeed we'll be overrun by them and die if we're lucky".
"I never thought of you to be the risky/suicidal type my weird friend" he says smiling and draws his rapier and bag.

[Ken of Ghastria]

Lucien shrugs ruefully. "I have no wish to commit suicide... but I admit that our options are limited. I can only hope that by killing these 'priests' quickly and destroying their machine, we can also free Chicken Bone ... if that's who they were talking about and if he is indeed imprisoned somehow. Many 'if's,' yes. But without Chicken Bone's reported power on our side, we have no chance to succeed.

"If the two figures DO flee from the wall I create, kill them and strip them of all the arcane-looking items they possess, including those damned cloaks. One of their items could help us survive or could be what's subduing the 'normal' zombies." He holds up the necromantic rod. "Believe me, if I can reassert command of those creatures over there, our odds of living through the next hour increase dramatically."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Into the fog, you go.

With Claude's guidance, you have little trouble finding the grinding, churning machine. To be honest, not finding it would have been much more difficult, considering the noise it and the pen of crippled animals make.

It seems you have managed to avoid the attention of the beast-men standing ready at the pen, and no fresh zombie is being carried over as you approach the pillar and the two black-clad watchers.

[steveflam]

Goren staggers, appearing somewhat confused, even afraid of what he sees. Gritting his teeth, gathering his resolve, the red haired man concentrates and finally, casts his silence spell at the two men and the apparatus.

[Ail]

Zumba walks determinedly into the fog, peering to every side cautiously and holding his staff with such firmness that he almost could swear he felt it give in.

Suddenly, his senses began to feel something was not alright. He looked around, a bit confused, and then turned back, walking now with a firmer and surer step. Strangely, although he did not veer nor look around any more, he seemed to walk more slowly.

He approached the starting point, and saw Lucien there. If the other looked at him, he might have seen something strange, and Zumba said, awkwardly.

"You... elf?" then his eyes rolled up, as his big hands fell on the elfs mouth and nose, trying to choke him.

[Ken of Ghastria]

Lucien is surprised to see Zumba abruptly turn around. Did he see something that he needed to describe?

"You... elf?"

"Zumba, what are....?" And then suddenly Zumba's large hands reach out to strangle him!

His eyes! thinks Lucien as he tries to stave off panic. He's been possessed! The fog...! He does his best to evade Zumba's attack and he hurriedly sends a telepathic message to Claude, which the crystalline creature quickly relays to his other companions.

DON'T GO INTO THE FOG! It corrupts the minds of the living as well as the undead! Zumba has been possessed! Lucien says it's the machine's doing! He's going to destroy it!

Then, to Lucien only, Claude says in a darker tone, I told you that being distracted would be the end of you. You should have stayed with your original idea.

Lucien is shocked at the lack of pity in Claude's voice, but he can't ponder that now. Realizing the much greater threat posed by the machine, he tries to avoid Zumba's hands while again focusing his attention on the machine.

_______________________________________
Yikes! OK, here's what Lucien is doing:
If he's in range of the machine (i.e., no more than 150 feet away) and I'm assuming that's the case based on earlier posts, he'll expend 5 pp to manifest energy wall (sonic). The wall will tightly surround the machine and actually go through part of it for maximum damage.
Damage: 2d6=8 + 5 (Lucien's level) - 2 (sonic) = total 11 points of sonic damage, which ignores hardness; Reflex save 17 for half. Any creatures inside the machine at this time will take either the same damage (if they're IN the wall) or 6 points sonic if they're merely within 10 feet of the damaging side. The wall will last for Concentration + 5 rounds.
Lucien's Concentration check if he's being damaged/grappled by Zumba: Concentration check (1d20+11=30).

[Guzrath]

As they move up slowly and the fog parts for a moment, Vincent looks at Goren, seeing him stagger. He is about to ask if everything is ok, when Goren casts his spell on the men. Vincent follows the 'direction' of the spell, finally having a good look at both the men standing by the pillar.
He squints as if sees something familiar. Frowning he regrips his rapier firmly. His breathing is faster, he is focused and does not notice Zumba turning around and walk away.
"Time to go, you have someone watching your back this time" he whispers to himself. Reaching into his bag he pulls out a small ball of some kind.
He suddenly starts moving, as fast as he can sword drawn, he throws the ball toward the smaller of the 2 men and reaches for his mace. No sounds from Vincent, no scream, no cry, just a cold stare and his heavy bretahing from the running, charging right to the bigger of the 2 men.

OOC:
Dodge, 1 on each of the 2 men.
When I get home I'll roll for the creature from the bag.
Initiative 19

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Zumba seizes hold of Lucien and starts to choke off his breath. But even while the two men stagger to and fro, a humming, shrieking barrier rises around the machine. Sparks fly into the air as psychic force and mechanical might contend with each other. The machine makes its roaring, churning sound as if to contend with the barrier surrounding it.

The smaller figure in black hunches down when it sees Vincent coming, and the air in front of it blurs. "You!" the figure hisses, its voice clearly feminine.

Then Goren's spell goes up. The grinding, churning and shrieking from the beleaguered machine vanishes as if it had been cut off with a knife. Neither the two robed figures nor the charging Vincent make any noise the rest of you can hear. The magic is working perfectly...

Vincent runs through the sudden, eerie silence. From the corner of his eye, he can see the little bundle of grey fur fly towards the lesser of the two opponents -- and explode into a cloud of fur, blood and guts before it gets to her.
The larger of the two robed figures stands waiting for him, quarterstaff in hand. It is not running away, is just waiting for him. To Vincent, it is as if he has been plunged into memory or nightmare; again, he is running at that hateful figure, which waits for him with supreme confidence...

[A G Thing]

The massive fur cloaked and uncomfortable figure of Orda turns her head sharply as sounds of battle and other horrible noise carry across the lake in front of her.

She cannot make out any movement across the way as a fog cloud shields most every thing but a hut that she assumes belongs to this "Chicken Bone" person is still partially visible.

Looking to the shores for the clearest path she draws her great blade and begins to run. This was she hoped the work she had been seeking... She began to snarl in frustration however as she took notice that only shortly into her movement the terrible noises died as she ran...

Hopefully she would not be too late... She needed to hit someone who deserved it...

[Ail]

Zumba is oblivious to the change in the environment when Goren's spell goes off. All he has in his mind is "disable the elf".

Something deep down there still seems to tell him not to kill Lucien outright... something reminiscent of his humanity, of not killing except for necessity, except... enemies.

He cannot understand it, but it's as if deep down something remembered that Lucien was on his side.

He stops his hands, that were going to twist the elf's neck, and instead uses his clenched fist to try and hit violently at his head.

OOC: attempt at dealing non-lethal damage. Unarmed attack, if that's possible while grappling.

Grapple check if needed: 1d20+6 = 16
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3673764/

Attack roll: 1d20+6 = 19
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3673766/
(not sure if I should penalize it because of the nonlethal damage. I have not applied any penalty to this roll)

Damage roll: 1d8+2 = 10
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3673770/

[Guzrath]

The sound of the world be cut off seems to align with his feelings. No sound what so ever. Vincent feels more attuned to his body, he can feel it, sense it. No distracting sounds, just what you can see and anticipate.
All his attention is focused on the larger figure. In the corner of his eyes he sees the failed attempt of his furry ally and even feels some splatters on his face. The closer he gets to his target, the larger his vision becomes, instead of smaller. Just before he reaches his target he suddenly jumps to the side, rolling to avoid giving his opponents the first strike.
His leaps seem to move in the same way, as if repeating something, a scentence or a chant. There is no sound.

Boths his weapons come up.....


OOC:
Tumble 26 to avoid AoO
Rapier 12, Damage 5
Mace 13, Damage 5
Not the first round of damage I was hoping for.....