Mists over the Musarde, Chapter Seven

[VAN]

Karim with the silver short sword at the right hand and the scimitar at the left attacks the turnskin near Jon.

[ewancummins]

In the rock maze, concealed from the sight of those standing outside

The wolf-demon sprints to Galandel. It snaps its slavering jaws at him, misses; and then swats him hard with a great claw-hand, which blow casts him against a nearby sloping wall of sandstone. The elf's limp body rolls down the inclined wall, leaving a smear of blood on the stone (this mark is soon washed away by the rain).

Baelmus hurries to the spot where the elf has fallen, bites his shirt, and then proceeds to drag the motionless form of its master away from the fray, out of the rock-maze.

Benn’s conjured spear strikes the turnskin that has just attacked the elf. The monster howls in fury, spinning to face Benn, now ignoring Baelmus and what’s left of Galandel.


Alain, Dorgio, Wat, and Franz enter the rock-maze. Dorgio has temporarily enchanted Franz’s blade. Wat keeps close to Alain’s back, eyes peeled for any nasty surprises. The unmistakable sounds of combat, screams, and howls, make it very easy to quickly locate their comrades in distress.

Upon finding Benn cornered by an enraged turnskin, this one all of eight feet tall, Alain releases a magical orb. The yellow-green orbs flies through the air and splatters on the monster’s broad, furry back.

A high-pitched wail of pain erupts from the hell-beast! The night-thing dances in agonized frenzy, flailing and shrieking. A stray blow of one of its claw-hands rips a head-sized chunk of stone from a boulder.

Franz moves in and strikes a mighty blow, knocking the monster to its knees and nearly cleaving in twain one shoulder. Incredibly, this fails to kill the turnskin, which actually manages to get back on its feet!


Atop the rock formations

Jon crouches in readiness, waiting for his enemy to come to him.

The monsters leaps high through the air, arms outstretched and red maw wide open for the kill.
Jon remains utterly motionless- until, in a flickeringly fast roll, he topples backward off his pillar, just as the turnskin lands on the spot where he had been.


Outside the rock maze, on the narrow stretch of flat ground by the rushing stream


Karim sees Jon tumble off the pillar, and he sees the gigantic, furry, red-eyed wolf-man take the youth’s place atop the rock.
Karim strikes at it with his silver-plated shortsword( the scimitar just misses) , and topples it from its perch.
The wolf-demon quickly leaps to its feet, though not fast enough to avoid being stabbed by Jon. It tries to grab Jon, who nimbly ducks the swinging, bloody claws.

[steveflam]

Franz utters Mein Gott, can I even kill dis beast? With renewed determination he slices his blade at the beast again.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

Dorgio grimaces, seeing Baelmus drag what looks like Galandel from the fray. Keeping his weapon at the ready, the priest circles to where Galandel lays, and checks for any signs of life. If the elf is not dead, the priest chants a healing prayer.*



*[[OOC: Cure moderate wounds]]

[Adam]

Bennedict tries to push the panic down out of his mind upon seeing the massive beast turning upon him. It's alright, your companions are with you he assures himself, allowing the spear to continue striking the creature and following the smear of blood to go and see if he can help Galandel.

[ewancummins]

among the rocks

The wolf-man shrieks as the second acid orb splashes its furry hide, and then screams again as the floating spear of light strikes home. The monster slumps to earth, sizzling and twitching.


Dorgio finds that Galandel is just barely clinging to life; the elf could die in a few more seconds, if allowed to continue bleeding freely.

With the Morninglord's healing gift, and a little help from Benn, the cleric is able to save the elf's life. He's now breathing slowly and his pulse is jumpy, but his eyes flicker open and he moans softly- signs he's no longer knocking on Death's door.

Outside the rocks-

Jon narrowly misses the demon-wolf, tumbling back in time to avoid a vicious counterattack. Karim manages to at least graze the beast, twice. The turnskin redoubles its furious attacks against Jon.

[VAN]

Glad to have finally hit the beast, Karim slashes twice with his blades again.

[steveflam]

Franz performs the coup de grace on the motionless wolfman, uttering a prayer up to noone in particular.

[Adam]

Confident that the elf is in good hands, Benn stands and, if in range, directs the spear to go help Jon with the other wolf creature.

[ewancummins]

within the rock formation

Franz hacks at the fallen turnskin's neck. Chunk, chunk, chunk. The head comes free from the body with the third sword-stroke. It rolls away, to rest against the base of a boulder. No sooner than he strikes the final blow, Franz witnesses an eerie change come over the headless body- and the severed head, as well. The fur recedes and the flesh shrinks. Limbs twist and the head's features alter. After a few seconds, the naked, beheaded corpse of a human youth lies before the Falkovnian soldier. The turnskin's remains now appear perfectly human- and very, very dead.


Wat stays with Galandel, who is still badly hurt, though alive and semi-conscious.

Benn and Alain hurry out of the maze, as fast as they may over such uneven, rock-strewn, pitted ground. One false step and a man might break his ankle.

Dofur has managed to calm his mule, which had been bucking wildly and kicking against the stone walls of the maze. Benn and Alain pass the dwarf, losing sight of him and his mount after turning a corner in the labyrinth of sandstone. Is he following? Who knows?


beyond the rocks

Jon darts in and stabs the turnskin in its right arm. Pulling the dagger free in a flash of crimson and silver, the young man tumbles backward, desperately trying to avoid the frenzied counter-assault of the beast-man.

Karim flanks the creature and strikes twice, but only his silver short sword seems to do any real harm.

The creature strikes Jon an uppercut with one gory claw-hand, hitting so hard that he staggers back across the muddy ground, off-balance. Before Jon can recover his footing, the beast seizes him with its other hand, cruel talons sinking into tender flesh, and pulls him close. The monster tries to bite Jon; but Jon jerks back his head just in time, so that the gruesome jaws snap shut a hair’s breadth from his face.

[Le Noir Faineant]

Of course, Dofur follows, running on his stout legs and breathing like a touting teapot...

Contrary to his usual demeanor, he runs without shouting his war cries, in hope to surprise whatever more enemies he might be attack....

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

Before leaving the rock Maze, Dorgio hands Wat a sprig of dried devil's helmet. "Just in case," he says. Then he moves to the next battle.

When he sees the turnskin grab Jon, he raises his left hand toward the creature. "Beast!" he shouts over the din of battle. "You have brought darkness to this land! You slay those who wish only to be going about their lives! You would feast on our marrow. For this, The Morninglord will shine hell upon you!"

With that, a single ray of light breaks through the clouds for a split second, streaking and searing towards the turnskin.

[VAN]

Noticing that his left sword cannot hurt the turnskin Karim yells:

"Use silver weapons the normal seem to not effect these beasts!"

Then he slashes only with his silver short sword this time.

[ewancummins]

It all happens very quickly.

The turnskin is momentarily distracted by Dorgio’s speech, for it turns to look at the cleric, its huge red eyes blazing like hot coals in the rainy semi-gloom. It opens its long, toothy maw, perhaps to speak…
Jon, making a last desperate effort, slashes the creature's arm, causing it to drop him to the ground. A split second later, the burning vengeance of heaven falls on the wolf-demon, followed by a blow from Benn's conjured spear of light and the impact of Alain's sizzling sphere of acid. Karim steps in, braving the vortex of deadly magical effects, and with his silver-plated short sword, slashes the beast's torso. The creature emits one long, terrible, ear-splitting howl and then collapses to the muddy earth, tissues still boiling and popping from the acid wash.

By the time Dofur arrives, the thrashing body has stilled. It has shrunken into itself, and the fur has all vanished. What’s left of the monster now looks very human, with no sign of the wolf. It is, or was, a young woman with long, tangled light brown hair. Her face, scarred by acid on the left side, might have been pretty in life, but is now monstrously contorted with death-agony. No breath comes from the mutilated body, and the eyes are dull and empty.

Jon lies in the mud, not far away. He is not moving.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

For a moment, those horrid red eyes are all Dorgio can fixate on as they bore into him from the darkness. But when the beast finally collapses, the priest can't help but feel something almost like pity. Almost. But then he sees Jon's too-still form, and he begins to scramble up towards him to check for any signs of life.