The Eye of Anubis: Book Eight

[Nathan of the FoS]

"Not bad," Charles says coolly. "Whatever's on the other side has dramatic sense, I'll give it that. I wonder if it will go away now, or if it's determined to ruin our sleep."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"It is at times like these," Lia grumbles as she turns her back on the door, "that I almost wish I had pursued the bardic tradition. They can invoke magical silences in an area ... Now bog off, wisp! Amateur hour for the Sebuan theatric society is over!"

[lostboy]

Khalil is inlcined to agree with Lia and Charles, however that is until three things happen; the door cracking, smallstar's reaction, and that pool of what looks like blood pouring under the door.

With one eye watching the door he calms small-star then pensively the desert guide dips a finger in the blood before bringing it up into the light to examine it.

[OOC: heal 14 knowledge nature 33 survival 21 to see if this is indeed blood and whether its is human, canine or something else]

[DocBeard]

Tomas snorts awake, after a minute or three or four or eight of yelling. Lia being snippy and people snapping at her is almost a lullabye after all. The stench and Loup's whines, however...

Okay. Blood on the floor. No one moving to react. What did the old man say? Not to invite anyone in. Whoever's out there is bleeding, possibly to death. Ghost or no.

Eisenwald stands up, quietly grabbing his sword and shield. He steps to the door, says, "Back up, I've got to use the necessity.", and opens it-barring hot flaming death, Tomas will attempt to quickly shoulder his way out and shut the door again, in the way of the exhausted throughout time and space. If something horrible decides to try and eat him instead, well, the basic plan is the same, only the swordplay comes before Tomas finds the privy.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Stop it, you fool!" Lia shrieks, bolting upright and clutching at Tomas -- hopefully before he opens the door. "It can not be real! Anything bigger than a mouse with any substance that breaches this room should set off an enormous din -- that much blood is certainly bigger than a mouse! The door bulging inwards should have set off the alarm, too, and yet nothing!"

[Nathan of the FoS]

Charles is standing up and dusting the knees of his trousers when a would-be hero blows by him and flings the door open.

"DON'T..."

But when has Tomas ever listened to the voice of reason (or Charles for that matter) when he hears the call of Duty, or a reasonable facsimile thereof?

[NeoTiamat]

The West Guestroom, The Monastery of Stilled Nightmares, Sebua
July 17th, 761, 1:17 AM; Day 122 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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"Stop it, you fool!" Lia shrieks, bolting upright and clutching at Tomas -- hopefully before he opens the door.

Too.

Late.

The Lamordian opened the many-latched door, letting the heavy, oak wood of the door swing open as he stumbled outside, only to be greeted with an image that was rather... unpleasant.

Laying on the ground before the door was the slumped form of one Guy Benoit, formerly of the Dementlieuse militia and presently laying on his back with the entire front of his body looking as though it had been run through a butcher's shop. He was still breathing, the slow, ragged breaths of one who is not long meant for this world, though.

Beyond Dementlieuse guard, the garden was dark and silent, the little fountain bubbling pleasantly in the darkness, as if ignoring the horrible scene that had played out in front of it. Beyond it, in a crumpled heap, was Loup. The huge Alsatian's fur was stained with black in the moonlight, and he didn't move.

Tomas took a step over the porch, only to hear the sudden yell of Lia. But it was too late. Whatever the velvet rustling had been, it was still here, and to be more precise, it was over the doorway.

Four long, grey-skinned arms reached down, each one tipped with five fingers and two thumbs, knife-long talons extending from each and every one. They grabbed Tomas about the shoulders, and began to pull him up, out of sight.

Even as this happened, there was an inky shimmering from the two forms laying prostrate upon the ground. 'Guy' and 'Loup' shimmered darkly as liquid shadows covered their bodies, features flowing together into shapes that had very little in common with Guy, or Loup, or just about anything else that you had seen. With one rather notable exception.

The two shapes were humanoid, each one taking the form of a tall, pure-black humanoid, muscular and imposing but shrouded in shadows. They weren't completely identical, the nearer one, 'Guy', being more muscular and with longer talons, the farther one, 'Loup', being smaller, but they could have been twins. But their faces... were absolutely featureless. Merely a blank, dark oval, hidden in the darkness.

Then the farther creature raised a seven-fingered hand in an arcane gesture, and a veil of dark, viscuous smoke obscured your sight of the scene.

DC 20 Knowledge: Arcana check to identify the two dark figures. You need to get a closer look at the four-armed creature to identify it (which means going outside).

It's Combat Time!

The Evil Scaly Thing (E): Begins by attemptings four grapple checks on Tomas. Each attempt provokes an AoO attempt, and if you damage the Evil Scaly Thing (AC 25, DR 5/Good), it negates that grapple attempt. Tomas not having Combat Reflexes, I believe you only get one AoO. (If you hit the AoO, you can negate one of the following grapple attempts).

1st Attempt: Touch Attack Misses, Grapple Result: N/A (Would be 22)
2nd Attempt: Touch Attack Hits, Grapple Result: 39
3rd Attempt: Touch Attack Hits, Grapple Result: 22
4th Attempt: Touch Attack Hits, Grapple Result: 28

(So.... for touch attack rolls, the thing gets a 1, a 3, an 8, and a 2. For Grapple rolls, it gets a 2, a 19, another 2, and an 8. I've had monsters with more auspicious introductions.)

The Dark Warrior (Dw) gets up from Prone and takes a 5-foot step away from the door.

The Dark Spinner (Ds) casts a spell conjuring a wall of smoke in front of the door. Spellcraft DC 16 to Identify. See below for details on what it does.

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PC/NPC Overview:
Tomas: Divine Weapon
Kuzan:
Khalil:
Otto:
Lia:
Charles:
Andre:

Devereux:
Dieter:


Evil Scaly Thing:
Dark Warrior:
Dark Spinner:



Wall of Smoke: In front of the door, creatures on opposite sides of the wall of smoke have Concealment from one another (20% Miss Chance, can Hide, etc.) You can cross the wall of smoke freely, but if you do cross it you must make a DC 14 Fortitude save or be Nauseated for 1 round as you have a coughing fit.

Invitation Only: None of the enemy combatants can enter your guest quarters without an invitation. This does not need to be a verbal invitation, it can be an implied one, but your intentions must be unambiguous.

Bear in mind that this prohibition does not extend to spell effects, which can enter the guest quarters. They do suffer a 50% spell failure chance, however. (So 50% chance they simply fizzle upon entering the guest quarters).

I plan to be monitoring the line-of-sight and line-of-effect for this battle, so pay attention to that if you are casting a spell. The Evil Scaly Thing, at the moment, is perched on the roof, and thus not in anyones line-of-effect aside from Tomas's.

Lastly, the moon is mostly full, so I am going to rule it as sufficiently bright light not to require a miss-chance.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Never has the phrase We told you so risen so clangorously from a closed mouth as it does through Charles' gritted teeth. Always the hero, Eisenwald. It'll be your neck one of these days.

But, well, can't let the Lamordian be the only hero, isn't that right? Someone must uphold the honor of Dementlieu--without getting killed while doing it, by preference.

"Ablepsosin," Charles mutters, and steps through the doorway, getting a noseful of the smoke and choking something fierce as he struggles clear and into a position where he can at least see what is going on.

Casting invisibility and moving to I11, being nauseated the while (Fort save 7).

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"They are Dreamspawn!" Lia shouts as she hurriedly backs up. "Shapeshifters! Their fighters use hit-and-run tactics -- ware their claws! They are skilled at illusions, especially their spellcasters!"

Then the time for chatter is over, and the time for spellcasting has come. Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Lia mutters "Sagittae magicae, omne errore vacuae, volete." Five bright darts of energy shoot away from the Wizard and streak, howling, through the cloud of smoke to impact with the nearest of the smaller Dreamspawn.

(OOC: Spell Penetration check: 31. (Yay, Spell Penetration feat!) Casting Magic Missile at the Dreamspawn at G9 for 15 damage. Moving to K6, to be close to our resident healer. I'll burn through my Magic Missiles first, then maybe burn a True Strike if the smoke keeps up, followed by an Orb of Force.)

[lostboy]

wiping his hands of the now dispersed substance that wasnt blood, Khalil mutters something about "death before dishonour" and makes a "stay" gesture to small-star. Then drawing both blades in a fluid motion he shouts a wordless challenge of rage and plunges through the fog after the odd man shaped hole that just appeared.

On reaching the courtyard Khalil almost falls over the black thing lurking to his right, fortunatley his instincts take over and he smoothly sidestpes before spinning low and slashing repeatedly at the creature.

[OOC: Fort Save: 25

Dervishing to F10 eventually, and attacking the Dw dude 3 times

To hit: 26 / 29 / 22
damage: 8 / 7 / 4
1 crit threatened conf roll is a 25
so make that 8 / 14 / 4 damage
if I need deathstrike bracers I'll use 1 charge,
if I dont I'll use 1 charge of devaastaion gauntlets for an extra 8 damage
total dam 8 / 22 / 4
tumble check: 25
Dodge bonus to AC against the DW
AC 22 aghanist AoO's
phew!]

[Kaitou Kage]

Kuzan moved immediately. He twisted his prayer beads around his hands and uttered a prayer. A faint, barely discernible image of a four-armed man riding a great lizard flickered in the party's mind. The man reached out to guide their strikes, make their blades swing true. And then the image vanished as quickly as it came.

Suddenly, the priest cut off in mid-prayer. He clutched his stomach and began coughing, deep, vile-sounding coughs. His eyes bulged and it sounded like he was about to projectile vomit.

An instant later, the source of the cough reached his throat and Kuzan did vomit. He heaved once, twice, three times, and the source of the cough spewed out from his mouth in the form of a large, forked gout of lancing, blue-white lightning. The bolt shot out toward the dream fiend, slamming into it and streaking into the ground.

Kuzan stood upright, belched loudly. A puff of smoke escaped his mouth, and it looked like his hair was standing a little more upright than normal. The priest had a moderately frazzled look, as if he wasn't expecting such discomfort from that prayer.

Quickened Bless followed by Dragon Breath: Form of Bronze Dragon! for 32 lightning damage, Reflex 20 half. Movement to K5 before breathing. Should be a 30' shot from me to the beastie.

Breath recharge: 2 rounds

[The Whistler]

For somebody who had been sleeping three minutes ago, it is rather astonishing how quickly Otto can:

A) Grab pistol from under pillow
B) Throw off covers
C) Execute flawless forward roll over ten feet of floor
D) Stop directly next to the door frame in perfectly covered position, firearm up and at the ready
E) Somehow have transformed into a wolf-man in the interim.

Shapeshifter, eh? Two can play at that game...

Moving ten feet to the right and Bite-Of-The-Werewolfing it.

[yalenusveler]

Andre had been sort of intently fixed on a patch of wall since his little chat with Devereux. Of course, to most it was just..well..wall, but Andre was apparently fixated that there was something there. Or he was absolutely barking mad. Either option had a decent chance of being the right one at this point.

However, this didn't prevent him from realizing what an abjectly boneheaded and stupid move Tomas had made. Andre's hand flew to the amulet around his neck, body now fortified by the onrush of positive energy, he moved to come to a stop just at the exit to the little slice of dimensionally aberrant home they were occupying, and tried to get a firing position on the opposing magi. Focusing his sight through the smoke, he gestured "Clamo!" leaving his lips as the fortified sound lanced out.

OOC:Moving to J7 after Kuzan's hopefully powerful halitosis. Made the miss chance roll, 21 to pierce SR, 37 damage, with a DC 19 fort save for half, targeted at the Dream Spinner. Also +24 temp hp from the Amulet.

[NeoTiamat]

The West Guestroom, The Monastery of Stilled Nightmares, Sebua
July 17th, 761, 1:19 AM; Day 122 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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PC Actions:
Charles casts Invis, moves to G9, gets to slice off a few weeks of his lifespan by breathing smoke.
Lia Magic Missiles the Dreamspawn Warrior for 15 damage.
Khalil Dervishes and hits the Dreamspawn Warrior 3 times, crit + devestation for a total of 34 damage.
Otto grabs a gun and moves over to the door, casting Bite of the Werewolf as he does so.
Kuzan casts a Quickened Bless and a Dragonbreath. Dreamspawn Warrior saves, takes 16 damage.
Andre casts Sound Lance, knocks the Dreamspawn Spinner down to -1 HP.
Tomas does not post, gets grappled.

Charles and Khalil burst out of the guest house, just in time to see Tomas being drawn up by the unknown...creature, even as the other two creatures fell to a magical and physical assault that was enough to level a small village.

The creature that wrapped its clawed arms around Tomas was gargoyle-like, a huge, four-armed, bat-winged beast that perched on the edge of the roof, clawed feet digging into the wooden ceiling. Larger than a man, its greyish skin was oddly shadowed and indistinct, as if seen from a long distance away... or in a dream. Two red eyes glowed in a dog-like head, even as it drew the struggling Lamordian closer, wrappings its wings around him and bending that ominous face to Tomas's ear.

You didn't hear it speak. Not really, but you could feel it. A faint, blasphemous sussuration, like that which Andre and Otto had heard before only a dozen times more malevolent. The greater Dreamspawn whispered into Tomas's ear, little homilies of madness and hatred and despair, a distilled nightmare in every syllable.

DC 27 Knowledge: Arcana check to identify the Evil Scaly Thing, if you have seen it.

The Evil Scaly Thing (E): Embraces Tomas and begins to whisper forgotten blasphemies into his ear, causing Tomas to take 5 Wisdom damage, DC 20 Will save for half. Normally you'd also be Shaken, but this is a magical fear effect, so moot point.

The Dreamspawn Warrior (Dw): Takes 65 damage and drops dead.

The Dreamspawn Spinner (Ds): Takes 37 damage, also drops dead.

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PC/NPC Overview: Bless
Tomas: Divine Weapon
Kuzan: Dragon Breath (2 rounds till used again)
Khalil:
Otto: Bite of the Werewolf
Lia:
Charles: Invisible
Andre: +24 Temp HP.

Devereux:
Dieter:


Evil Scaly Thing:
Dreamspawn Warrior: Forced back to the Dreamrealm
Dreamspawn Spinner: Forced back to the Dreamrealm



Wall of Smoke: In front of the door, creatures on opposite sides of the wall of smoke have Concealment from one another (20% Miss Chance, can Hide, etc.) You can cross the wall of smoke freely, but if you do cross it you must make a DC 14 Fortitude save or be Nauseated for 1 round as you have a coughing fit.

Invitation Only: None of the enemy combatants can enter your guest quarters without an invitation. This does not need to be a verbal invitation, it can be an implied one, but your intentions must be unambiguous.

Bear in mind that this prohibition does not extend to spell effects, which can enter the guest quarters. They do suffer a 50% spell failure chance, however. (So 50% chance they simply fizzle upon entering the guest quarters).

I plan to be monitoring the line-of-sight and line-of-effect for this battle, so pay attention to that if you are casting a spell. The Evil Scaly Thing, at the moment, is perched on the roof, and thus not in anyones line-of-effect aside from Tomas's.

Lastly, the moon is mostly full, so I am going to rule it as sufficiently bright light not to require a miss-chance.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"E visu abscindo," Lia mutters -- and winks out of mortal vision. There is a brief, Lia-shaped hole in the wall of smoke, but nothing seems to be going through it. Someone listening extremely well might hear quiet footsteps pattering out the door ... and then, the invisible Lia turns and glares at the creature holding Tomas.

(Casting Greater Invisibility; my job is to shoot at others, not make myself a target. Moving to H10. Fortitude save: 22, so no nausea for Lia.)