Birthright: The Worm's Supper, Chapter Three

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ewancummins
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Re: Birthright: The Worm's Supper, Chapter Three

Post by ewancummins »

Lord Skybolt wrote:
alhoon wrote:
ewancummins wrote: "Go back!"

The risen dead stagger away from her, moving around Gunnar and the door to crawl through the broken windows of the front room.
Termelan is at first alarmed as the red-robed priestess takes control of the undead and sends them to surround Sir Gunnar. As he opens his mouth to shout for guards to help the knight and turn on the priestess, he sees that she actually sent the undead under her command to harmlessly go to the kitchen. Taking a moment to assess the situation he also saw that nobody else was surprised by this turn of events.
Evidently, everyone was more used to magic in this exotic land. And the cold, he reminded himself with a shiver as a gentle breeze momentarily picked up biting at his exposed hands.

As sir Gunnar proved his martial expertise again and his warriors secured the upper floors, Termelan cocked his crossbow again and tried to join the rest in the kitchen and the pantry. Avoiding to look at Safana's vaporous form, he turned to Gunnar and said "Sir Gunnar, with your permission, I would like to be the one carrying the torch."

"Yes take the torch and go down there and scout it out . Boy light a candle from that before he goes down there . I will need the light when I go down there to bust heads stay behind me though . Get club in your other hand though you may need it ." Sir Gunnar Commands of the link boy and the bard .

With lights and weapons raised, the raiders go down the cellar stairs...

..At the bottom, they find six hooded thugs gathered in the middle of a long, low ceilinged masonry room. The Crone moves behind the silent ranks of her minions, six in a tight huddle. A man in a hood moves next to her, with greater nimbless and speed than the undead upstairs displayed. He holds a burning candle up in his left hand, and carries a slim sword cocked over his right shoulder.

A quick look around the room shows tables, shelves, ingredients and supplies of various kinds, pots and pans and glass jars. It might be a kitchen, or maybe the workshop of an apothecary. It smells like a healer's medicine cabinet, but underneath the herbs and sweaat resins lingers a stench of decay. But the party has little time for a survey if it means to stop the Crone doing whatever she is doing.

The old woman scatters the contents of a chamberpot on her hooded warriors, stepping well back from the mess she makes. She glares at Gunnar and the others from behind her goons.
"Forward! Embrace them, my children!"
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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VAN
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Re: Birthright: The Worm's Supper, Chapter Three

Post by VAN »

Filbert nods at Termelan and when everyone is downstairs and they see the 6 zombies protecting the Crone Filbert tells the bard.

"Since you have the torch may I get your crossbow? Don't worry I know how to use it. "

Filbert doesn't go anywhere near the zombies for now and he also studies the Crone's positions and where are Gunnar and his men. He seems to pondering something.
- The first 2 Feats a wizard should take are "point blank shot" and "Precise shot"!
- W H A T ! ? !
- Or they should NEVER memorize rays!
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Re: Birthright: The Worm's Supper, Chapter Three

Post by kintire »

With a shimmer, Safana emerges from her shadowy form, solid once more. With a gesture, she sends a ball of flame bouncing down the cellar through the onrushing hoodies, guiding it towards the Crone!
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Re: Birthright: The Worm's Supper, Chapter Three

Post by ewancummins »

THE CELLAR

Filbert and the armed men near him disappear in a column of blackness that boils up from the floor.


The hooded shamblers veer away from Safana's sphere, knocking over tables and shelves.
One's right sleeve catches fire and another's hood goes up in flames as the fiery ball bounces past them and rolls down the cellar toward the Crone's hiding place.

The shamblers fall on Termelan, Safana, and the link boy. They grab and squeeze the sorceress and the bard.
Termelan shoots his bolt just as the creature seizes his arm. The bolt passes clean through his enemy with no apparent effect.
Now the muck-dripping creature pulls him close, bending its head as if to kiss him through the smoldering burlap of its hood. Another one seizes the bard's right arm.

The bard struggles loose and starts towards the linkboy, who screams and kicks at another hoodie that holds him by his left arm.

Safana struggles with two others that wrestle her onto a table, knocking glasses and jars to the floor.

At the far end of the room, the Crone retreats from the oncoming fiery sphere, fumbling at something on the back wall.

Gunnar, Filbert, and the men from Caer Haes reel drunkenly not far from the old women, still disoriented by their magical transportation.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright: The Worm's Supper, Chapter Three

Post by VAN »

Filbert is surprised of the easiness to cross to shodowworld and back, the place is tainted by magic it's clear to him by now. Letting his dark thoughts aside tries to spot the Crone and says:

"Follow her! And be careful she is tricky!"
- The first 2 Feats a wizard should take are "point blank shot" and "Precise shot"!
- W H A T ! ? !
- Or they should NEVER memorize rays!
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Re: Birthright: The Worm's Supper, Chapter Three

Post by ewancummins »

CELLAR

At the far end, The big warriors with Filbert break open the concealed door.


Back near the stairs, the rest of the party wrestles with hooded Shamblers.
Jem twists out of his coat, grabs a small keg off the floor, and bludgeons one of his attackers with it. But the clumsy things move just quickly enough to grab the boy again and beat him down to the floor.
Temerlan drops his crossbow and draws his dagger. He slashes at the nearest enemy before going down under the combined weight of three.

Only Safana escapes, tearing out of her robe and jumping back onto the stairs. She brings her sphere closer, but cannot burn the hooded ones without also burning her companions.


On the floor, Termelan and the link boy struggle against the clumsy but strong hoodies.
Dung, offal, and unidentifiable filth drips from the upper parts of the hoodies, falling on the man and the boy. The muck crawls with maggots.

And then the two victims notice the wormy creatures drilling into their exposed hands and arms. They feel wet and wriggling things on their faces...
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright: The Worm's Supper, Chapter Three

Post by alhoon »

Termelan, fighting for his life and quite possibly his mind or his soul, has no time enough to linger on the shadow portals the little man made to teleport people. Feeling the maggots and expecting that he won't like it when they crawl in, he calls to the witch, the one on their side.

"Lady Safana! We're covered in strange maggots that seek to penetrate us! Please send the ball of fire over us to kill them! Even if we die, death by fire is a more honorable death than whatever their plan for us is!
Please, please, don't hesitate."
"You truly see what a person is made of, when you begin to slice into them" - Semirhage
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Re: Birthright: The Worm's Supper, Chapter Three

Post by kintire »

Safana bites her lip and the ball of fire sweeps past the struggling figures, trying to sweep the maggots from her companions while not burning them too badly. As the fire sweeps clear she lifts her hand and shimmering darts erupt from her fingers, leaving sparkling trails in the darkened cellar and slam into the hooding thing grappling the bard!
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Re: Birthright: The Worm's Supper, Chapter Three

Post by VAN »

Filbert moves aside letting Gunnar and the fighters to go first and he tries to get something from the table that he can use a torch to help the others see in the dark.
Last edited by VAN on Sun Nov 29, 2015 5:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- The first 2 Feats a wizard should take are "point blank shot" and "Precise shot"!
- W H A T ! ? !
- Or they should NEVER memorize rays!
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Re: Birthright: The Worm's Supper, Chapter Three

Post by ewancummins »

TERMELAN and JEM
VIEW CONTENT:
Wis Termelan

[dice]0[/dice]
He realizes that the heat and flames have not killed or driven off all the maggot monsters attacking him.
Some are still digging in! If he does not immediately burn these out the horrid little beasties will burrow too deep for the fire to affect them (without roasting him to death).

So, is he making direct and voluntary contact with the fiery sphere?

Hoping some other means will remove the parasites?

Just letting them gnaw into his body (surprisingly so, it isn't painful).
I need to know.



Wis check boy

[dice]1[/dice]

No info/ advice one way of the other. All your call, Stevil.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright: The Worm's Supper, Chapter Three

Post by ewancummins »

THE CELLAR
Stair end of the room...

Smoke.
Fire.
The air reeks of burning cloth, filth, and flesh.

A barrel on the floor near the stairs explodes, spraying the hoodies and the link boy with dagger-sized splinters. The boy falls down, choking and flailing. He does not get back up.

Men push past Safana, coming down the stairs with axes in hand. They rush at the hoodies. Chop, chop, chop. Arms, hooded heads, fall severed to the flagstones.
One of the men grabs The fallen link boy and drags him partway up the stairs.
Another shouts at Safana, "My Lady, You had better get upstairs!" He coughs.
"Where is our master?"


Safana cannot see Gunnar, Filbert, or the two guards. Nor the Crone and her helper. Too much smoke.
Last edited by ewancummins on Sun Nov 29, 2015 8:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright: The Worm's Supper, Chapter Three

Post by ewancummins »

The CELLAR
End of the room farthest from the stairs up to the pantry


Smoke and flames hide Safana and the others from Gunnar and Filbert. They see hooded bodies on fire.
They hear an explosion , followed by shouts over the crackle of flames.
A hooded figure reels back through the smoke, falling headless to the floor.

Closer at hand, on the back wall, the concealed door hangs broken on its hinges.
The Crone and her helper are retreating down the earth-walled tunnel beyond the door. Fast!

Filbert's makeshift torch reveals no other obvious dangers in the passage, although the wooden supports do not appear well constructed...
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright: The Worm's Supper, Chapter Three

Post by kintire »

Safana yells to the guards

"He went on! there's a passageway at the other end of the room, he pursued the Crone in there"

As the last hoodies fall she dispenses with the Flaming Sphere with a flick of her wrist and dives forward to grab the fallen boy and pull him out of the smoke, shouting for the priestess as she drags him upstairs.
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Re: Birthright: The Worm's Supper, Chapter Three

Post by VAN »

Seeing the Crone fleeing Filbert runs after her.
- The first 2 Feats a wizard should take are "point blank shot" and "Precise shot"!
- W H A T ! ? !
- Or they should NEVER memorize rays!
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Re: Birthright: The Worm's Supper, Chapter Three

Post by ewancummins »

FILBERT


VAN wrote:Seeing the Crone fleeing Filbert runs after her.

She dashes ahead, scrabbling for a vertical ladder at the end of the tunnel and then shoving at a hatch overhead.

Filbert scrambles up after her, prodding at her heels with his sword and using his off hand to climb.

Up top, he sees the Crone turned round to face him. His torch shows the interior of a large barn or stables:horse stalls, hay and manure in spots on the floor, rafters running overheard, wide doors shut behind the Crone. Horses kick and neigh in their stalls.

He lifts his weapon for a second stroke, but something snags him and jerks him away from her. He hears heavy bodies moving behind him, the clank of steel.
Smoke puffs up around him. His eyes fill with tears.
The Caer Haes guards lift him and barrel towards the door. They crash through into the night streets.

The Crone rides out of the stables, bareback on a black horse with white, rolling eyes and puffing nostrils.
She smiles down at Filbert as he struggles in the guard's firm grip.
" I will see you again soon, dearie."
Cackling, the old woman gallops off into the darkness and round a corner.
Gone.


The guard sets Filbert down.
"Sorry for grabbing you, my lord, but there was too much smoke. "
Last edited by ewancummins on Mon Nov 30, 2015 9:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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