The Eye of Anubis: Book Ten

[Nathan of the FoS]

The scene is going to the Mists in a handbasket; the zombies are unexpectedly active, and Andre has fallen. It's looking grim. It feels grim.

A memory from a schoolbook rises: The center is collapsing, the right is in retreat. Situation excellent! I attack!

"Tomas, Sascha, back to back! Otto, cut through behind! Covering fire! Marteau-ennemis!"

Casting good hope and affecting Tomas, Sascha, Otto, Sarari, and Charles. And drawing Shadowfinger, for future eventualities.

[DocBeard]

"Andre!!" Tomas shouts, the burning sting of the ghost's power nothing compared to the anguish his friend nearly dieing causes in Tomas's mighty chest. The Lamordian snarls, turning on the zombies that DARE stand between him and his friends.

His muscles work, and with the power of the haste spell, it's like he's a living lightning bolt, crashing down against the two droning undead with a pair of vicious sword swipes. "Get out of my WAY!" Tomas thunders, clanging his sword against his shield before taking another swipe at the living dead, hoping to mow them down in one quick measure.

(OOC: Full attack. First on north ombie: 30 attack, 17 damage, second on west zombie: 27 attack, 23 damage, Third on north Zombie: 36 attack, 18 damage.)

[lostboy]

You'd think a large chunk of masonary falling on you would be enough to keep you focussed on your primary target, but as the blade bites into Saschas back all bets are off.

Whipping round he faces down the walking corpse. Hellfire burns in his eyes, spittle flies form his lips, a wordless scream of pure frenzy is ripped form hsi throat as he embraces the fury within and unleashes a savage onslaught of blows, designed to not just kill but to eradicate the creature from the face of existance.

[OOC: Full attack on the zombie:
to hit - 36 / 18 / 18 / 28
dam: 29 / 20 / 27 / 27]

[Kaitou Kage]

Hells.

Another prayer spewed from Kuzan's mouth and the holy energy washed outward from him again, this time over the zombies, as well. The undead didn't like healing magic, and with any luck, he could help bring them down before they actually did kill someone.

Taking a five-foot-step back to J12 and casting mass cure light wounds on the area around me, hitting Andre, Luther, Kuzan, Charles, Sarari, and all four of the zombies. Using one charge of the ring of mystic healing to augment the spell further.

6 (spell) + 12 (caster level) + 10 (augment) + 4 (mystic healing) = 32 hp.

The zombies must save at DC 21 for half damage (16 hp).

[yalenusveler]

Andre tried to get the mental wherewithal to make a quick disappearing act feasible, unfortunately being yanked back from death's door without so much as a chance to leave a calling card with a polite "Will visit again much later" tended to leave a person a touch out of sorts. So Andre did the only sensible thing...possum, and hope that they give him an opportunity to make a less rushed disappearance.



OOC:Moof'd the concentration roll on trying to defensively activate greater invis. So staying put for this round.

[The Whistler]

Otto catapults backwards across the tiled floor, somehow managing to kick himself off the wall to his left while keeping his eyes on Snefru the whole time--and not tripping over Lia in the process. The undead priestess wavers in his gunsights, then snaps into focus as the enchanted pistol acquires its target in three-dimensional space, and--

Damn! Sascha--

Friendly in line of fire. Adjust.

A burst of power from the gunsmith's armband, and his aim unconsciously jerks upward--

"Lebentod!"

--KRAK--

The bullet zips mere feet over Dzemianovich's head, caroming off the collapsing ceiling just so--straight towards Snefru.

"The walking dead--Lebentod! They retain all of their prior intelligence, and may be as well trained as in life--and the other, stilled corpses may reanimate as ghasts, if disturbed! Focus only on those currently animated!"

OOC: Heading to O11, burning a charge of the Bracers of Accuracy to get around Snefru's human cover, and taking a shot with Donnenschlag. 22 to hit, and I bypassed her incorporeality, but mediocre damage: 3 with the pistol, 14 from skirmish damage (if that applies), and 3 fire damage, for 17 all told.

[NeoTiamat]

Beneath the Temple of Osiris, Muhar, Har'Akir
August 27th, 761, 1:04 PM; Day 163 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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PC Actions
Lia casts Magic Missile on Snefru for 16 dmg. and scoots.
Charles casts Good Hope
Tomas hits Minion 6 (north Lebendtod) twice for 35 damage, and Minion 1 (west Lebendtod) once for 23 damage.
Sascha hits Minion 3 twice for 56 damage, destroying it.
Kuzan heals up Luther and Andre, and hits 4 Lebendtod with it.

• Minion 2 (Formerly K8) saves, takes 6 damage.
  Minion 4 (Formerly I10) saves, takes 6 damage.
  Minion 5 (Formerly L12) fails, takes 22 damage.
  Minion 7 (Formerly K10) fails, takes 22 damage.

Andre tries to cast Greater Invisibility, fails defensive casting check.
Otto shoots at Snefru, misses AC.

Still calm and unruffled, the elf-maid stepped back and fire away, doing her level best to keep her distance from the oncoming undead. There were so many however...

"Never." Luther growed through clenched teeth, slicing into a nearby Lebendtod and then stepped carefully back. "Again."

The Falkovnian warrior struck time and time again, doing whatever he could to avoid a repeat of a Dead Man's Campaign here in miniature.

Luther attacks Minion 2 twice, Hits once for 15 damage. Five-foots out of Flanking.

Sarari five-foots out of melee and lets loose a Full Attack on Minion 5, hits once, deals 7 damage.

The waves of positive energy lashed out across the nearby undead, forcing them to turn their attentions to the more immediate threat. They made for Kuzan, swinging their old weapons, a calm, placid look on their nearly-perfect appearances.

The one near Luther, however, decided to take a different approach. The Lebendtod gazed at the Falkovnian dully, then, quite casually, fell forward atop him.

Luther barely had a chance to utter an oath as he struck with his sword, smashing it into the undead horror's torso. But this didn't stop it. Rather, its reaching arms detached from the body, grasping Luther about the neck, even as the head fell off to bite the Falkovnian's thigh. The Lebendtod collapsed into a pile of body parts, a pile of kick, scratching, clawing, biting pieces of flesh.

Whatever Cavendish had cooked up with these monsters, it was something unusual indeed.

Minion 1: Full-Attacks Tomas. Misses both times.
Minion 2: Discorporates and moves into Luther's space, provoking an AoO, which Luther hits for 15/2=7 damage. Discorporated Lebendtod deals 13 damage to the Falkovnian. Fort DC 14 for Distraction, which Luther makes.
Minion 4: Five-foots down and Full-Attacks Kuzan. Hits once, deals 15 damage.
Minion 5: Five-foots into Sarari's vacated position and Full-Attacks Sarari and Kuzan. Misses Kuzan, hits Sarari for 16 damage.
Minion 6: Moves into Flanking and full-attacks Tomas. Hits twice, for a total of 55 damage.
Minion 7: Moves to Flank Charles and full-attacks. First attack is a critical, deals 58 damage. Second attack is against Kuzan, and misses. (Stupid charmed priest...)

Snefru, for her part, hissed a word in the holy tongue of Har'Akir, a liturgical word that was best translated as Horror. She thrust out a decaying and spectral hand, towards Sascha...

...causing the very world to melt. The veil of reality lifted, just an inch, to let Sascha glimpse the horrid void below. There was nothing below. Just a hungry, interminable abyss. Nothing could fill that universal maw, nothing in this world. Sascha could fall for an eternity, never to come to a rest, never to cease falling, never to cease screaming.

A man could lose his soul in that star-lost void.

Snefru: Casts Phantasmal Killer on Sascha. Will DC 24 to Disbelieve. If you fail, Fort DC 24. Success means you take 13 damage. Failure means you drop to -9 and counting, as per Death-spell House Rules.

Cavendish, meanwhile, had acquired a chorus.

• • • • Goodbye so soon
        And isn't this a crime?
        We know by now that time knows how to fly
        So here's goodbye so soon
        You'll find your separate way
        With time so short I'll say so long
        And go
        So soon
        Goodbye

PCs:
Kuzan: 74/89 HP, Darkvision, Longstrider, Greater Resistance, Haste
Lia: 23/23(45) HP, Horrified (-3 Str, -6 Dex, -3 Con), False Life (+21 Temp HP), Superior Resistance, Greater Invisibility, Greater Mage Armor
Tomas: 36/107 HP, Undead Bane, Haste, Good Hope
Charles: 5/63 HP, Despairing (-4 AB, Skills, Saves), Horrified (-3 Str, -6 Dex), Haste, Good Hope
Otto: 62/62 HP, Despairing (-4 AB, Skills, Saves), Horrified (-3 Str, -6 Dex), Bite of the Werewolf, Good Hope
Andre: 24/35 HP, Despairing (-4 AB, Skills, Saves), Horrified (-3 Str, -6 Dex), Haste, Prone
Sascha: 101/101 HP, Haste, Rage (+9 Temp HP), Good Hope

Luther: 54/80 HP, Despairing (-4 AB, Skills, Saves), Horrified (-3 Str, -6 Dex)
Sarari: 54/70 HP, Despairing (-4 AB, Skills, Saves), Horrified (-3 Str, -6 Dex), Haste, Good Hope

Enemy: Snefru's Dread Presence (All Minions gain +4 Turn Resist, +2 AB, +2 Saves)

Snefru: -45 HP

Minion 1: -23 HP
Minion 2: -28 HP, Discorporated
Minion 3: -56 HP, DESTROYED
Minion 4: -10 HP
Minion 5: -35 HP
Minion 6: -35 HP
Minion 7: -22 HP



Objective: Survive Snefru, the zombie minions, and the collapsing Temple of Osiris

[Few notes: First, the entire area is under a Forbiddance Spell (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/forbiddance.htm), with all that entails.

Secondly, the black platform is about waist-heigh, and you can jump off the edge with a DC 10 Jump check. Failure means you take 1d6 points of damage. You can jump on it with a DC 10 Jump check and 10 extra feet of movement. Failure means you don't jump on and waste the 10 feet of movement.

Lastly, the pit is about 15 feet deep, and requires a DC 15 Climb check to get out of if you happen to fall in.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Lia is hardly blind to the carnage being wrought around her, even if the world can not see her. But not being blind to something ... is not the same as devoting full attention to it. Lia is aware of what is happening around her, but a goodly eighty percent of her attention is on the hateful apparition of the late Snefru.

Again, from seemingly empty air, come words of power: "Sagittae magicae, omne errore vacuae, e manu meu volete." Again, small bolts of blue energy fly shrieking through the air.

It's a rather pretty display, really; small bolts of glowing force darting through the air like oversized fireflies, dodging and weaving around the combatants as if anxious not to distract them from the dance of life and death. Of course, the display becomes less pretty when they briefly accelerate and slam into their intended target, glowing energy quickly proving to be of a destructive nature.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. And then some sparks, some crackling, and some more harm has come to the malicious ghost hovering over the pit. Unseen, unspeaking, Lia shifts to a new position, careful not to jog anyone standing in her way.

(OOC: Casting Magic Missile at Snefru for 17 damage. Moving to M7. More Magic Missile fun next round ...)

[DocBeard]

"Back off!" Tomas snaps, shoving one of the shambling monsters away with a slap of his shield, only to open himself up to a savage mauling by the other monster. His face ripped to shreds, Tomas falls on his right knee, struggling against the walking dead's sheer animal strength...

"I...said..." Tomas forces his body back up, twisting his sword around into a spinning jump that lets him slash at the attacking monster's front, spin around to chop at the one that failed to connect's shoulders, and make another swipe in an attempt to remove his head from his shoulders. "BACK OFF!"

(OOC: Full attack, one at the east zombie: 22 to hit, 32 damage, two at the west zombie: 29 and 21 to hit, 15 and 17 damage, for a total of 32.)

[yalenusveler]

Andre, seeing that the rather unpleasant unliving gentlemen with rather large weapons had moved on to more sturdy targets, decided now that was the proper time to stand up. After doing this vital of acts, and brushing off the dust that one gets when one falls down bleeding to death, Andre looked towards Kuzan. Catching the priest's eye for a moment with a "You know what to do" glance, Andre then began to pray. The air began to nigh on hum with energy radiating from where he stood, his prayers apparently readily answered.

OOC:Standing up from prone, then activating Sacred boost. 60 foot burst of "If a healing spell targets you, it is maximized." Centers on me, but should catch everyone I believe.

[lostboy]

[OOC: flunked the will but made the fort save with 25]

The Abyss looms, daunting and endless, a wide expanse of nothing, waiting to consume the Knights soul. Sascha looks long into the void, it pulls at him, tugging at the strings binding his soul to this world, Sascha looks and laughs....

A manical, high pitched laughter tumbles form his lips without a shred of sanity in it. Wild eyed he snaps his gaze towards the architect of his torment. "You seek to drag me to damnation dead one? Bah nothign you can inflict compares to the torment I carry with me.... although, perhaps it is time to return the favour!"

With a roar he throws himself across the pit, and lands on the very edge, gravel brekaing under his heels from the lip and falling to the chasm below. He flashes a maniac grin at the ghostly apparition uttering a venom filled cry "ashen man schlagen unten meine Feinde!" The cry follows into a stunning overhand blow with all the force he can carry.

[OOC: Jump to K19 - 21 on a 10 ft jump *lands with brown trousers*

attacks Sneffy with a smite so to hit : 29 (taking 7 on PA)
and misses amazingly with a 5% on the miss chance (that d100 hates me with a passion)]

[Nathan of the FoS]

And then suddenly something punches his back, in the neighborhood of the kidney, and the world goes red and black. Charles has been on the receiving end of enough hard blows from pointed objects to know that this is very, very bad. When the pain hits, he will be paralyzed, and he may just bleed out and die regardless. There's only one thing for it. One would prefer a more glorious opponent, but one plays the cards Fate deals.

After the fact (if there is any after the fact) Charles would say that is what went through his mind at this particular moment. And perhaps it does, but it is gone in the time it takes him to twist away from the blade, stagger out from between the zombies on either side of him, and see one of them--the one who stabbed him, it would seem--raise his sword and lean toward Sarari.

"Me!" Charles croaks, and Shadowfinger leaps forward.

Five foot step to L12, attacking the zombie now flanked by Sarari and Charles. Attack rolls are 15, 15, and 11 (I forgot to count the flanking bonus, NT, hence the discrepancy.) I doubt any hit, but! Just in case, damage would be 7, 3, 8 respectively.

[Kaitou Kage]

"Argh," Kuzan stepped backward, away from the zombies again, and repeated his prayer. Another burst of positive energy spread outward from the priest and, coupled with the boost from Andre's power, the energy filled the room with a warm golden glow. With any luck that'd take out some zombie or other. If nothing else, at least it made the others healthy again.

Okay, here's the deal!

Defensively casting mass cure light wounds, maximized by Andre's sacred boost. Adding the last 2 charges of my Ring of Mystic Healing in there. So that's...

8 (spell) + 12 (caster level) + 10 (augment) + 18 (ring) = 48 hp.

This targets Tomas, Charles, Kuzan, Sarari, and the following zombies: I-11, K-13, H-17 and J-17. I don't think I can get K-11 in that spread, but please double-check my plotting to see. For the zombies, that's DC 22 for half damage. I suppose allies can make a save for half healing if they really want, but that's your call

Finally, 5-foot step back to I-13

[The Whistler]

--Getadecentanglegetadecentanglegetadecentangle--

--KRAK--

The gunsmith skidded on his heel and changed course, sprinting forward--but the bullet (though whizzing safely to Sascha's left) also buzzed straight through Snefru without making any sort of contact.

Damn!

Contingency!

--WHA-BOOM--

...

Fifteen minutes and twelve seconds ago, a gunsmith had spontaneously appeared in the basement of the Temple of Osiris.

He looked rather confused.

Fifteen minutes and eleven-point-ninety-nine seconds ago, the gunsmith in the basement had pretty much figured it out.

Fifteen minutes and eleven-point-ninety-eight seconds ago, the gunsmith had walked purposefully up to a chasm in the floor, looked down, and fired a single pistol shot into the darkness, before walking purposefully back to his initial position.

--WHA-BOOM--

--KRAK--

The bullet had certainly taken its sweet time to connect.

OOC: Moving down to O16, and burning a charge of the Skirmisher boots (switching pistols as usual) to make 2 attacks. One of them misses, but the other might connect: 26 to hit, beating the miss chance, and 1 pistol damage+16 skirmish damage+2 fire damage=19 total damage.

[NeoTiamat]

Beneath the Temple of Osiris, Muhar, Har'Akir
August 27th, 761, 1:04 PM; Day 163 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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PC Actions
Lia Magic Missiles Snefru for 17 damage.
Tomas hits Minion 1 for 32 damage and Minion 6 for 32 damage, killing both.
Andre used Sacred Boost for Healing Maximisation.
Sascha attacks Snefru, misses.
Charles moves and misses all four Lebendtod.
Kuzan heals up Charles, Tomas, and Sarari and hits 4 Lebendtod with it.

• Minion 1 and 6 are already dead.
  Minion 4 (Formerly I11) saves, takes 14 damage.
  Minion 5 (Formerly K13) saves, takes 14 damage.

Otto shoots Snefru, hits for 3 damage.


Sarari, rather methodically, continued her fighting retreat, putting an arrow through the skull of the nearest Lebendtod. Luther fought his own unraveled collection of body-parts, meanwhile, with decidedly variable success.

Luther attacks Minion 2. Misses both times.

Sarari 5-foots back, full-attacks Minion 5. Hits once for 9 damage, killing Minion 5.

The fury of the paladin and the waves of positive energy left few survivors amongst the Lebendtod. Just two of the enemy were left, as a matter of fact. One was the youth Sascha had prodded earlier, wielding a cleaver of impressive size. His features were calm, placid, even as his face flushed with exertion.

He stepped in closer to Kuzan, lifting the cleaver even as his comrade feinted behind the priest. Only a few days ago, the young man had a future, had a life, had an existence. Now he lived only to serve whatever twisted whim Cavendish had in mind. Something flashed in the youth's eyes, in those eyes that were once alive, but no more.

"I'm sorry, but I have to."

He brought the cleaver down.

Minion 2: Continues to Swarm Luther for 18 damage.
Minion 4: Takes the long way around and attacks Kuzan, hitting for 16 damage.
Minion 7, the youth: Attacks Charles, five-foots next to Kuzan and attacks him. First hit Charles, deals 30 damage. Second hit Kuzan, deals 34 damage.

"You seek to drag me to damnation dead one? Bah nothing you can inflict compares to the torment I carry with me.... although, perhaps it is time to return the favour!"

The blow flowed smoothly through Snefru's spectral flesh, not so much as discomfiting the spirit. The charred, hideous priestess smiled suddenly, though chunks of her lip were burned away and the teeth glistened horribly through them. She hissed an invocation, catching a chunk of falling rubble and throwing it...

...straight at a weak point in the ceiling. The rock smashed into the roof, breaking the fragile bands of stone that still held it up. For a moment, nothing happened, just a spiderweb of cracks skittering madly across the ceiling of the underground chapel to Set. It seemed, for just a breath, that it would hold.

Then came the collapse. Luckily it was the far corner of the room that collapsed first, else none here would live to tell the tale. The roar was deafening, an avalanche of sound that washed over you as the chamber caved in. First it was just pieces of gravel or roofing stone, then chunks of stone, then an intense weight of stone and dirt fell in. Tons of earth collapsed onto the luckless chambers, entombing anyone so hapless as to be caught inside.

Only dead bodies were there now, thankfully... dead that you couldn't shake the feeling had been starting to rise as they were buried alive.

"Perhaps I cannot... Knight..." Snefru's horrid, hissing voice said. "But... I shall try... anon..."

The ghostly apparition took a single step forward, into the darkening pit, and half-fell, half-flew into the opposite wall of the chasm, disappearing from sight and from reach. For another moment, you could feel her horrid, cloying presence, an agony of despair. Then it, too, faded from your hearts.

Snefru: Uses Telekinesis to bring the house down, as it were, then vamooses. Everyone in the collapse takes 49 damage (just a lot of newly awakened Ghasts) and would be buried 'alive', everyone in the slide-radius (just Luther and Minion 2) take 15 damage (Minion 2 takes 50% extra for being Discorporated).

This provokes an Attack of Opportunity from Sascha. Since Snefru has departed, Aura of Despair wears off.

As Snefru's chill presence disappeared, and the ringing in your ears from the partial cave-in faded, you realized that the song had stopped playing. From the music-box, the lime-green contraption in the middle of this carnage and bloodshed, came only silence. Then spoke Cavendish's voice, almost serious, with just a hint of his usual smirking tone.

"Thank you for listening to this production of the Symphony of the Damned and its lead singer, John Lancaster Cavendish. We'll pause for a brief intermission here, but never fear." Cavendish's smarmy, oily voice paused. You could just imagine the fiend's mouth spreading into a shark-toothed grin. "This is just the ouverture. The real fun is yet to come."

The music box slowly wound to a stop, even as another worrying network of cracks began to appear in the roof of the chamber.

PCs:
Kuzan: 39/89 HP, Darkvision, Longstrider, Greater Resistance, Haste
Lia: 23/23(45) HP, Horrified (-3 Str, -6 Dex, -3 Con), False Life (+21 Temp HP), Superior Resistance, Greater Invisibility, Greater Mage Armor
Tomas: 84/107 HP, Undead Bane, Haste, Good Hope
Charles: 23/63 HP, Horrified (-3 Str, -6 Dex), Haste, Good Hope
Otto: 62/62 HP, Horrified (-3 Str, -6 Dex), Bite of the Werewolf, Good Hope
Andre: 24/35 HP, Horrified (-3 Str, -6 Dex), Haste, Prone
Sascha: 97/101 HP, Haste, Rage (+0 Temp HP), Good Hope

Luther: 21/80 HP, Horrified (-3 Str, -6 Dex)
Sarari: 70/70 HP, Horrified (-3 Str, -6 Dex), Haste, Good Hope

Enemy:

Snefru: -65 HP, Escaped

Minion 1: -55 HP, DESTROYED
Minion 2: -50 HP, Discorporated
Minion 3: -56 HP, DESTROYED
Minion 4: -24 HP
Minion 5: -58 HP, DESTROYED
Minion 6: -67 HP, DESTROYED
Minion 7: -22 HP



Objective: Survive Snefru, the zombie minions, and the collapsing Temple of Osiris

[Few notes: First, the entire area is under a Forbiddance Spell (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/forbiddance.htm), with all that entails.

Secondly, the black platform is about waist-heigh, and you can jump off the edge with a DC 10 Jump check. Failure means you take 1d6 points of damage. You can jump on it with a DC 10 Jump check and 10 extra feet of movement. Failure means you don't jump on and waste the 10 feet of movement.

Lastly, the pit is about 15 feet deep, and requires a DC 15 Climb check to get out of if you happen to fall in.