A Stitch in Souragne: The Siege of Lac Noir

[steveflam]

Goren's mouth opens. If his chin could hit the floor, that is what it would have done. This is his reaction to Vincent's action. He is equally surprised at the Zombie's reaction. He raises a finger to say something but nothing comes out. "So it has come to me helping Zombies? Souragne, you are by far the oddest place I have ever been," he utters under his breath.

Clutching his holy symbol, he looks up. "Lathander, grant me the strength to help these ... um .... Zombies." Without further ado, He jumps in the water with Vincent, nodding at the man.

[Ken of Ghastria]

"It's insane... insane..." says Lucien, apparently still quite disturbed by his partial contact with the zombies' leader. "...but there you have it." With a marshalling of his will, he seems to regain his composure and, seeing Vincent's reaction, he can't help but smirk at the sheer strangeness of the situation.

Responding to Zumba's offer of the sword, he continues, "Not for me, thank you, but perhaps Monsieur Faussé..?" He indicates Vincent with a nod. Claude, keep me safe. Or it's a long walk home for you. Lucien, if I could really could act to prevent you from injuring yourself, I'd have you chained in a Falkovnian dungeon. Fight well.

Lucien jumps into the muck alongside his companions and advances toward the front. As he walks, he calls forth an invisible shield of force, and he begins shifting his perception a split-second into the future.

_________________________________________
Lucien manifests force shield and, as he gets closer, offensive precognition (1 pp each), which each last for 5 minutes.

[Ail]

"Thanks for the boat, Papa Doc" says Zumba to the old man.
"I guess it's time for blood now."

He comes off the boat, wields his quarterstaff and joins his companions.

[Guzrath]

"I'm not as good with a sword like that as I would like, but nevertheless, if needed I could wield it. I prefer using my own weapons first though." he says to Zumba.
Vincent salutes pappa doc theatrically "thank you for the transport monsieur".
He turns to the others. "I don't know how much there are exactly of the corpses, but if they're attacking an island I assume they are surrounding it and coming in from the flanks is out of the question." he pauses.
"Maybe split off and each come from a different side?" he aks.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Good luck, boahs," Papa Doc says, and he gives you a one-handed wave. "Don' be stoopid an' stay alive... You ain't paid ole Papa Doc yet."

The last you see of the old man before he is obscured by moaning corpses, is him giving you a wink with his one good eye. The cataract-riddled one just gazes into the distance.

________________________________________________________________________________


The zombies crowd all around you as you advance. If they were the typical mob, moving would have been impossible; only because they are staggered can you advance at all. The undead moan and shuffle forward, and you bump into them more than once. You feel the resentful glares of the dead, every time you jostle them, feel the restrained urge to attack and kill you. But they don't. The undead are moving in accordance with the will of their master, and he has other targets in mind.

Soon enough, you see them. There are about twenty of the freakish hybrids. Hoof of goat, eye of human, shoulder of bear, muzzle of wolf... The combinations are many, the results grotesque. Hulking bodies covered in armour, hybrid faces twisted with rage and hatred. As freakish as they are, they are clearly competent soldiers; five of them stand at the front of their line, poking longspears at zombies that come too close; behind them, ten more are firing arrows into the zombie mob; behind them, five others carry large quivers and buckets of smouldering, flaming pitch. The hindmost dip the arrows and pass them to the archers, who rain fire down on the advancing zombies.

As the zombies advance, the hybrids back off into the mists. They are easily staying ahead of the undead, but their arrows are not doing as much damage as they could, largely due to the leadership of the wand-wielding zombie; every time one of his troops actually catches fire, he snaps his wand at them and the unlucky corpse falls face-first into the muck, rising again a moment later, its flames doused. This looks like a battle of endurance, and the undead can endure a great deal more than the living.

A breeze carries the stink of burning pitch and the hybrids' sweat to you. It bores a brief tunnel in the curtain of mist rising from beneath your feet. Behind the hybrids, thickly interwoven trees rise from the murk, forming a natural corridor. At the end of the corridor sits a lone man on horseback. Both the horse and the man's hooded cloak are black as pitch, and hang unnaturally still.

The figure raises its head, the hood hanging eerily still, and calls out with a voice that sounds like the grating of dead bone in a charnel pit: "Kill. Kill!"

Howling, the hybrids do their best to obey. The mists rise again to obscure the horseman.

(OOC: If you want to break out of the zombie pack and attack the hybrids, you can; the zombies won't stop you. However, you need to cover about 40 feet before you can get to the spear'men', which will give the archers at least one free shot at you.

Everyone roll a Wisdom check DC12, and a Spot check DC20.)

[Ken of Ghastria]

"Maybe split off and each come from a different side?" he asks.

Lucien says, "It has merit, but not the best option for what I intend." He then directs his next comment to the others as well. "And whether you like it or not, Claude's unique form of communication is the only way we'll be able to coordinate our attacks if we split up. I won't have him initiate any conversation, but he is available to relay your thoughts silently if you wish." There's a stern look on his face. "Don't let pride get in the way of survival, my friends, and... wait. That man in black.... Obviously the clothes are different, but I have little doubt that it's our cowardly, disappearing, green-cloaked friend. First, to deal with the flaming pitch...."

Positioning himself so that he has partial cover behind one rank of zombies but still with clear sight of the hybrids holding the buckets of pitch, Lucien concentrates. Immediately, a sheer, non-tranparent wall of golden energy encircles the pitch carriers. Although no one can see what is happening inside, the sizzling crackles and shocked cries of pain within make it clear that it's not pleasant.

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Updated to incorporate results of Lucien's Spot check regarding the figure in black.

Lucien will stick closer to Vincent, rather than split off on his own. He manifests energy wall (electricity) around as many of the pitchmen as possible. He can do this from 150 feet away, so I leave it to you, Rock, to determine how far the group is before they get a proper look at the formation. It's a 10-foot-radius circle, so it may get most if not all. NOTE: If it's not possible to encircle most of the five pitchmen, Rock, Lucien will shape the energy as a wall behind the pitchmen, with the damaging side facing them and the troops in front of them (who may take 1d6 damage if they're between 10 and 20 feet).

Electricity damage for anything inside the circle: Energy Wall damage (2d6=12). Max! Reflex save DC 19 for half. Anything that then decides to go through the wall takes that damage + 5 more points of electricity damage (again, Reflex DC 19 for half). No damage to anything outside the circle. He can keep this going for a while.
If this occurs before he manifested offensive precognition and force screen, let me know. Otherwise, I'll assume they're in effect.
FYI, power points used so far: 20 out of 35.

[steveflam]

Goren spies the scene and it merely takes a moment to realize something. He moves in front of everyone and stops, facing them. In a low voice, he says Souragnien "Attendez! Wait...... Man in Noir.... black..... is same movement as Man in White. He having same posture, attitudes everything like him. Not let him remove mask. Danger for us. And over there is Zombies of moving in that corridor."

The red haired priest towards the corridor which he saw the movement.

[steveflam]

Staying with the others, Goren has time to prepare himself for this bizarre battle. As soon as it is time to do so, he grasps his holy symbol and offers up a prayer to Lathander in Chondonthan. When he is done, Aid has been cast in the area that he and his companions are in.

[Guzrath]

Before going, Vincent grabs a gray bag he has within him. He reaches into it and takes out a little ball of brown fur, which he puts on his shoulder. It unrolls itself. A long naked tail unfolds first followed by small ears popping out of the fur. As the ball unfolds a rat sits on his shoulder.
Vincent unsheathes both it's weapons. "Hold tight little one" and is get ready for a sprint waiting for Zumba to be ready. His heart beating with excitement, smiling.
He chooses his target now, one of the spearman.

As soon as Zumba is ready he signals and starts running. In the direction of the spearman, but he he veers off to make sure any one who shoots him has his view blocked by the Speaman he targets.

OOC:
Both Dodge bonusses on the Spearmen I am attacking (+2 AC)
Gary Bag roll 30. Don't have the DMG on me, so taking a little guess.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Lucien's circle of lightnings materializes behind the archer beasts, and the shrieking of the pitch-bearers can be heard over the din of battle. To their credit, the archers do not even flinch. Oh, they look over their shoulders to see what is happening, but they do not try to break and run, nor do they show much concern over the fate of their kindred.

What they do, is put arrows to string and bark orders to the spearmen, who stop backing away. It seems the hybrids are ready for a famous last stand...

[Ail]

Zumba looks at Vincent with doubt. Running towards a group of 10 archers in the open field seems like suicide to him. He shakes his head. But he doesn't want to strike in the middle of the zombies. There's no telling what their attitude will be after the hybrids are killed.

"I'll go" he booms in despair. He picks one of the hybrids and runs to him, attacking.

[Ken of Ghastria]

Lucien maintains his concentration on the sizzling wall of electricity that surrounds the pitchmen. Best to fry a few completely than scorch most only slightly, he thinks with grim satisfaction. Seeing his allies run forward, he readies his crossbow and fires at the hybrid toward which Zumba is charging.

___________________________________________
Lucien sustains the energy wall, with the same effect/damage stated above.
Force shield (kept between him and the archers, of course!) and offensive precognition are still in effect.
Standard: Fire light crossbow at the same hybrid that Zumba is planning to attack: Crossbow attack (1d20+6=16). Damage: Crossbow damage (1d6=1). Oh well, at least the energy wall seems to be doing its job! The pitchmen can't hand arrows to the archers without sticking their arms through the wall and incurring more damage.

[steveflam]

Goren concentrates and casts Aid oh his allies.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

You break from the front ranks of the zombies, and time seems to slow down.
As Vincent and Zumba rush forward, making direct eye contact with the hybrids, they can see surprise in the monsters' eyes -- and recognition. "Skreeak boghk!" an eagle-headed archer shrieks. "Poppinjay! Poppinjay! Kill! Kill!" -- and time speeds up again!

Two of the hybrid archers reach behind their broad backs and bring out two barbed arrows each, set them both to string, and fire on Vincent! The first two arrows miss the fast-moving warrior, as does a third -- but the fourth strikes true! (OOC: Vincent takes 8 damage!) With a deep, throaty growl, a third archer -- a wolf-headed beast, sets two arrows to string when he sees Vincent stagger. One of the projectiles rips the air right in front of Vincent's face -- but the second slams into his side! (OOC: Vincent takes an additional 9 damage!)

Zumba leaps upon his spearman, but the wily beast stands ready and lashes out at him as he comes within its range! It dyes its spear red with Zumba's blood with two viper-swift stabs of its longspear before the Capoeira is within striking range. (OOC: Oh, the joys of reach weapons and Combat Reflexes... Zumba takes 17 damage!) The next moment, however, Zumba's staff cracks across the beast's face, causing it to cry out with pain as its nose cracks and blood starts to run into its teeth.

Four of the hybrid archers look greedily at the humans so tantalizingly close, bleeding so prettily -- but the shambling undead moan and continue to shuffle forward. Spitting vile curses in their own language, the hybrids set arrows to string and start firing at the undead. Projectiles rain down on either side of Goren and Lucien, but they manage to avoid becoming collateral damage. (OOC: Both Goren and Lucien luck out, with arrows missing their AC and thudding into the zombies, instead.)

The spear beast so recently attacked by Zumba, however, is not focused on the zombies. Right in front of it, there is a delicious-looking human, already bleeding from two fine wounds in its flesh. The smell of blood is maddening, death is immanent... Why focus on these filthy corpses when there is a last, fresh sweetmeat to be enjoyed before the darkness falls? Growling its rage, the spear-beast attacks Zumba again. The beast howls its rage when it misses its limber target, then howls even louder when Lucien's arrow strikes it dead centre!

DM's corner:

Goren:
Lucien:
Vincent: -17 hp
Zumba: -17 hp

Hybrids:
Archers: A - okay!; B - okay!; C - okay!; D - okay!; E - okay!; F - okay!; G - okay!; H - okay!; I - okay!; J - okay!

Spear'men': A -13hp; B - okay!; C - okay!; D - okay!; E - okay!

Zombies: Who cares?

[Ken of Ghastria]

As the arrows going flying by, Lucien decides to focus on the bowmen next. Concentrating once again, a second circle of sizzling electrical energy appears directly in front of the first one, encircling a group of the hybrid archers.

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I realized that by firing the crossbow (standard action) last round, Lucien is unable to maintain concentration on the first energy wall. However, that'll keep going for 5 rounds even after concentration ends, so Rock's last post represented the first of the 5 rounds. The pitchmen inside will continue taking 12 points of electricity damage (Reflex save DC 19 for half) each round. If they or any of the archers go through it, there's more damage as described below.

Move: Lucien reloads his light crossbow.
Standard: Lucien manifests a second energy wall (electricity). It's a 10-foot-radius circle, encircling as many of the archers as possible -- hopefully more than half of them.
Electricity damage for anything inside the circle: 2nd Energy Wall damage (2d6=12). Whoa, max damage again! Reflex save DC 19 for half. Anything that then decides to go through the wall -- or that happens to be standing in a square in which the wall manifests (which is likely!) -- takes that damage + 5 more points of electricity damage (again, Reflex DC 19 for half). No damage to anything outside the circle.
Force shield and offensive precognition remain in effect.
Power points used so far: 25 out of 35.