Return To The Mythwood Part 4
Log Info
- Title: Return To The Mythwood, Part 4
- GM: Whirlpool
- Characters: Lheo, Reithak, Tlanexhuani
- Place: The Mythwood
- Summary: -Some trouble in the Mythwood requires the attention of Alexcandria's famed adventurers.
There are sarcophagi all around you, at regular intrervals. These woodden coffins are plainly crafted and in some places cracked.
One of them, you now notice, is actually open.
..and that's about the time Lheo feels something brush by them under the water.
Already thoroughly soaked from the waist down, Lheo looks around him, at the sarcophagi, and abruptly jumps backwards in the water, not as far as he's like owing to sodden boots. "Gah!" he shouts, jerking backwards as well. The kelly-green light pinned to his shoulder flashes, casting flickers on the water at his feet, disturbed by the jump. "What was that?"
"One iss opened," Tlanexhuani points out the now obvious. "Otherss here be-" he stops short at Lheo's call and looks around. "What iss what?"
Reithak takes a look around, looking none too pleased by the water soaking through most of them. The Egalrin glares in no particular direction, waving one hand over their face and causing their eyes to glow for a split second, before they sigh. "Something's here in the water maybe, not sure what it is. What I do know though, there's something evil here. Like, capital E evil."
"There's something in the water, all right." Lheo's staring down at where he was standing but a minute ago. "I felt something brush my leg. Think it's the same thing?"
Tlanexhuani looks down at the water. "If is in water, we should move where iss ..." he glances about and takes a few steps " ... less water. " Which is not as good as no water, but looks to be what's available. "Then will see. Or will be gone."
"Let's hope it's the same thing, and not more than one particularly evil thing." Reithak sighs, readjusting her jacket that was stuck in various places from the water. "Maybe getting away from the waters a good idea, not sure how much choice we have. Or if we can avoid opening up any of those sarcophogi, given there's evil here, and we need to get to the source of it one way or another, you know?"
Above you, there is a boom of thunder and it starts to rain once more. The rain drops seem to find their way down towards you from above, leaking into the chamber, contributing to yet more of the water here. As you begin to move towards the edges of the chamber -- the 'higher ground, that's just about the same time when what brushed Lheo's leg seems eager to grab it, a clammy, pallid and bloated hand, flesh mottled and raw bone exposed, grabbing to pull them back into the murky depth.
GAME: Whirlpool removes the timestop.
Timestop by Whirlpool has left.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ATTENTION -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Whirlpool has dropped a TIMESTOP!
Please +init, then cease all roleplay and actions immediately and wait for Whirlpool to instruct you further. You may earn RPP by logging a scene for a GM.
For in-combat commands, type: +thelp.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
GAME: Lheo refreshes special ability pools.
GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init 22.
It is now Reithak's turn! Lheo is next!
GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init 21.
It is now Lheo's turn! Tlanexhuani is next!
"Hey now, hey! Get those feet of yours moving, away from that thing!" Reithak squawks, drawing their rapier and brandishing it in the direction of the hand. "Eyes open, can't get a good read on it, but I sure as heck don't want to get dragged down there if that's the plan."
The large egalrin offers a short prayer, and their blade glows for a moment, shimmering with magically enhancements.
GAME: Lheo rolls athletics: (14)+0: 14
GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init 19.
It is now Tlanexhuani's turn! Bloater is next!
Lheo doesn't need to be told twice - or really, even once. His heart thumping in his chest, he launches himself out of the water and onto the top of a closed sarcophagus, the flesh-rotting hand grabbing at a corner of his sodden cloak and tearing it away as he rolls onto the sarcophagus and out of the water.
He gets slowly to his feet, staring down at the grasping hand. "Missed me," he gasps out. "I don't like anything that gets grabby."
...and grabby it is. Too slow to get a hold of Lheo with their leap, it begins to rise out of the water. A tangle of bloated corpses, knit together by rot and connective tissued tangle and spliced into a whole by decay.
The crawling mass of elven corpse, bone showing and clawed finger tips rotted through to the bone, pulls itself up and begins to glide on the surface of the water towards the trio.
That ain't pretty, that's for sure.
GAME: Lheo rolls fortitude: (16)+2: 18
Tlanexhuani blinks as the hand emerges from the water, and again when he notices the condition of it. Claws almost reflexively clasp the haft of his hammer and free it from his side as he steps next to Lheo's casket island. "What iss that?!" He assumes it's the Evil mentiond, which might be enough; he looks ready to swat at it, whatever it proved to be.
GAME: Tlanexhuani rolls fortitude: (6)+7: 13
GAME: Reithak rolls fortitude: (11)+6: 17
GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init 14.
It is now Bloater's turn! Reithak is next!
GAME: NEW ROUND!
Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round Two - Init 22.
It is now Reithak's turn! Lheo is next!
GAME: Reithak rolls knowledge/religion+2: (5)+6+2: 13
GAME: Reithak rolls 1d20+6+1+1: (12)+6+1+1: 20
GAME: Tlanexhuani refreshes special ability pools.
GAME: Reithak rolls 1d6+3+2: (1)+3+2: 6
GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round Two - Init 21.
It is now Lheo's turn! Tlanexhuani is next!
Reithak fights back an urge to gag from the smell as the corpse gets out of the water, and instead they charge right at it, swinging their rapier hard at the body, but only scoring a glancing blow as it hits a mostly bloated part of the corpse. "Some sort of ghoul, or something like that! Hard to tell with all the decomposition." The egalrin attempts to warn.
GAME: Lheo casts Magic Missile. Caster Level: 3 DC: 15
GAME: Lheo rolls 2d4+2: (7)+2: 9
GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round Two - Init 19.
It is now Tlanexhuani's turn! Bloater is next!
GAME: Tlanexhuani rolls weapon3-2: (13)+7+-2: 18
GAME: Tlanexhuani rolls damage3-2: aliased to 1d8+4-2: (6)+4+-2: 8
"Faugh!" Lheo instinctively pulls the sleeve of his increasingly sodden robe over his face, the rain from overhead soaking through the raven hair and leaving rivulets of water running down his cheek. His other hand quickly makes a few gestures, and a pair of bright green force bolts spring into being, slamming into the roving pile of flesh.
GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round Two - Init 14.
It is now Bloater's turn! Reithak is next!
Tlanexhuani thought he was ready to hit it when it came out of the water... and then it came out of the water. His snout immediate wishes it had not. Such putrescenes is not a common occurence for him: fallen Makari are returned to the skies via pyres; in the jungle, carcasses of animals are claimed by predators or scavengers. He starts gagging and retching.
The Makari does not really want to move closer to that stink, but he has even less desire to see it grabbing others, or worse. So he sloshes nearer in the brackish water and makes a hindered swing into the thing.
GAME: Tlanexhuani rolls reflex-2: (14)+5+-2: 17
GAME: Reithak rolls reflex: (9)+5: 14
GAME: Lheo rolls reflex: (15)+4: 19
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 2d6: (11): 11
GAME: NEW ROUND!
Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round Three - Init 22.
It is now Reithak's turn! Lheo is next!
...there's a burbling sound deep from within the mouths of the three elven bodies. They draw up, then, moaning a warbly, gurgling awful sound before they spit horrible, tainted, foul water on the three adventurers, spraying them with it. It's icy cold and painful tas it washes over them, burning to the touch like it's been infused with negative energy. Cold, but not *naturally* cold.
.. and it smells. So. Bad.
GAME: Reithak rolls 1d20+3+4+1+1-2: (7)+3+4+1+1+-2: 14
GAME: Reithak rolls 1d20+3+4+1+1-2: (4)+3+4+1+1+-2: 11
GAME: Reithak rolls 1d8+3+2: (8)+3+2: 13
GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round Three - Init 21.
It is now Lheo's turn! Tlanexhuani is next!
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+-1: (9)++-1: 8
GAME: Lheo casts Flaming Sphere. Caster Level: 3 DC: 16
GAME: Lheo rolls 3d6: (7): 7
GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round Three - Init 19.
It is now Tlanexhuani's turn! Bloater is next!
Reithak is caught in a nasty torrent of water, and the egalrin reels from the unnatural chill, just barely able to catch the corpses with another swing of their sword, piercing through a large chunk of it, making up for the punch that went far too wide to hit.
GAME: Tlanexhuani activates his Titan Armor, gaining: +4 Str
Now Lheo is completely soaked, and a cold burn crawls over his skin like some unnatural creeper. And it _smells_.
The smell is nearly enough to make the wizard retch, but he merely drops his sleeve and smiles nastily. "Enough of the games. Burn." His hands are already moving, fishing tallow, a bit of brimstone, and a metal powder from some of the pouches at his belt. These he forms into a small ball, which he tosses at the creature with a shouted word and a gesture to follow it.
As it strikes the creature, it bursts into flames, a large spongy ball that encases the creature with a smell that somehow manages to be even worse.
GAME: Tlanexhuani rolls weapon3-2-1: (2)+9+-2+-1: 8
Tlanexhuani did not mind the water so much, it was just what came out of it that disagrees with him. Speaking of coming out and water, what surges out of the corpse-pile is NOT water, as far as Tlanexhuani is concerned. It is something far more foul and definitely doesn't make him feel any cleaner. Wanting it to just go away, stop stinking and/or stop moving, he makes a very energetic and wild swing at the thing. To no avail.
GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round Three - Init 14.
It is now Bloater's turn! Reithak is next!
GAME: Tlanexhuani rolls weapon3-2-1: (2)+9+-2+-1: 8
Splish, splash. It wobbles precarioiusly out of the fire. It's burning does nothing to make the chamber smell any better, that's for sure, and the gas it's emitting gives rise to a little additional ring of fire around it.
It stumbles onto the slight incline the coffin rests on, crashing against it and reaching with its trio of arms to grab at Lheo, Tlanex and Reithak.
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+9: (16)+9: 25
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+9: (8)+9: 17
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+9: (19)+9: 28
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d6+1: (5)+1: 6
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d6+1: (3)+1: 4
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d6+1: (3)+1: 4
GAME: NEW ROUND!
Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round Four - Init 22.
It is now Reithak's turn! Lheo is next!
Pallid hands grab at them, soft, rotten flesh peeling away from the fingerbone as it holds on, digging in. It's very presence is a nexus of deathly cold.
GAME: Reithak rolls 1d20+3+4+1+1-2: (8)+3+4+1+1+-2: 15
GAME: Reithak rolls 1d20+3+4+1+1-2: (9)+3+4+1+1+-2: 16
GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round Four - Init 21.
It is now Lheo's turn! Tlanexhuani is next!
GAME: Reithak rolls 1d8+3+2: (4)+3+2: 9
GAME: Reithak rolls 1d4+1: (2)+1: 3
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+-1: (6)++-1: 5
GAME: Lheo rolls 3d6: (12): 12
GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round Four - Init 19.
It is now Tlanexhuani's turn! Bloater is next!
Lheo lets out a cry as the hands burn anew, with that unnatural, deathly cold burn, but he snatches his foot away and gestures at the ball of fire, bidding it follow the creature.It does, and the smoke and the stench is terrific, outdone only by the water.
"Get your hands off of them!" Reithak shouts as the creature clambers past the others, and again manages to strike their allies. The inquisitor strikes again, smacking it soundly with the back of their fist for good measure, but still it manages to continue on. "If it keeps this up, we may need to find an opening back the way we came!" She calls over to the others.
GAME: Tlanexhuani casts Cure Light Wounds. Caster Level: 5 DC: 12
GAME: Tlanexhuani rolls 1d8+5: (8)+5: 13
GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round Four - Init 14.
It is now Bloater's turn! Reithak is next!
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+9: (20)+9: 29
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+9: (1)+9: 10 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+9: (17)+9: 26
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+9: (2)+9: 11
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d6+4: (4)+4: 8
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d6+4: (1)+4: 5
GAME: NEW ROUND!
Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round Five - Init 22.
It is now Reithak's turn! Lheo is next!
GAME: Reithak rolls fortitude: (14)+6: 20
GAME: Lheo rolls fortitude: (4)+2: 6
Tlanexhuani is a creator, and less a warrior on the best of days. Coughing and gagging over the stench makes this far from the best of days, and that doesn't even count the thing clawing at him. It's also then he realizes his companions are faring poorly, especially Lheo, and this shifts his focus immediately. "This one-" he swallows bile " help." He steps back from the corpses to pull a small wire-wrapped foil bulb from a pouch. A small spark from his bloodline leaps from clawtips to wire. This spirals around, amplified as it does so, causing the bulb to flash-vaporize the contents. A strong exhale blows the medcinal vapors to Lheo (and may even smell nice all things considered).
GAME: Tlanexhuani rolls fortitude-2: (7)+7+-2: 12
GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round Five - Init 21.
It is now Lheo's turn! Tlanexhuani is next!
GAME: Whirlpool reverses the initiative order.
Round Five - Init 22.
It is now Reithak's turn! Lheo is next!
GAME: Reithak rolls 1d20+3+4+1+1-2: (14)+3+4+1+1+-2: 21
GAME: Reithak rolls 1d20+3+4+1+1-2: (10)+3+4+1+1+-2: 17
GAME: Reithak rolls 1d8+3+2: (1)+3+2: 6
GAME: Reithak rolls 1d4+1: (3)+1: 4
GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.
Round Five - Init 21.
It is now Lheo's turn! Tlanexhuani is next!
... it's ... teetering. Gassees are fleeing out of it. The connective tissue is breaking down. It's watter logged nature is making it fall apart into squishy bits that fuerther pollute the murky depth around you.
...but that doesn't stop it from glomming on, clawing, chattering teeth trying to grab hold to bite.
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+-1: (2)++-1: 1
GAME: Lheo rolls 3d6: (9): 9
GAME: Tlanexhuani deactivates his Titan Armor.
GAME: Whirlpool removes the timestop.
Timestop by Whirlpool has left.
The medicinal vapors wash over Lheo, clearing the cold, burning sensation from his skin and leaving him feeling a lot better - and even clearing the stench from his nostrils. "Thank you," he manages, but then the thing's burning stink washes over him anew, and this time his stomach sues for separate maintenance, turning over at the sheer _foulness_ of the thing. He staggers backwards to the edge of the sarcophagus, gagging, but luckily for him, the fire sphere he'd conjured needs no more attention, and it lingers on the thing, continuing to sear what is left of the rotting flesh into merciful oblivion.
All is silent in the tomb, at last. There's more to this place, but as flooded as it is right now, it's going to be hard to learn more.
Too much water.
Reithak blinks, and pokes at the smouldering corpse once with their sword, and another time, before they finally breathe a sigh of relief. "One of the many times I'm happy to have not the best sense of smell." The egalrin grumbles, wiping off their sword a few times. "But enough about that, you all alright? That thing was, still is pretty nasty."
Lheo doesn't answer immediately. The fire sphere winks out at that moment, and the wizard drops to his knees on the sarcophagus , retching into the murky water. Just when you thought it couldn't get any nastier.
When his heaves have subsided, he releases his white-knuckled grip from the edge of the stone lid and looks over, breathing hard. "I - I'm all right, thanks to him," and he nods gratefully to Tlanexhuani. "You look pretty rough, though. Let's get you back. We aren't going to accomplish anything else here. Too much water, and I don't swim."
He stares down at the ruined, soaking mess of his robes, and wipes his mouth. "Let's get out of here and get dry."