Ghosts of Gauntcliff, Chapter Seven

[ewancummins]

The Ballroom




Dorgio cries out- ‘’Kurva!”
He snatches the star-iron spear slung over his shoulder and thrusts at Benn with the weapon! He aims at Benn's throat, but the weapon jerks in his grasp and turns low, striking Benn's cuirass. Sparks fly as meteor iron grinds on polished steel.

[Adam]

Taking a step back, Benn drops into a defensive crouch and raises his cane defensively in front of him.

"Snap out of it you weak-minded idiot!" Benn shouts at him, "We should be finding Dodds now, not trying to kill each other!"

[ewancummins]

THE BALLROOM-

Taking a step back, Benn drops into a defensive crouch and raises his cane defensively in front of him.

"Snap out of it you weak-minded idiot!" Benn shouts at him, "We should be finding Dodds now, not trying to kill each other!"

The words don't even sound convincing to you as you shout them.

A little voice in the back of your head whispers in the voice of Theophile Delapore, the fungus master-
He's mad, you fool! He means to kill you.

Dorgio howls in wordless fury, stabbing at you with wild thrusts.
The priest, your old friend, shrieks and raves as he tries to end your life...

And then he falls to his knees, dropping the spear.
He looks up at you.
Charlotte comes up behind him with a sturdy chair raised.

Dorgio speaks-
''Benn?"


Your wife smashes the chair over Dorgio's head, knocking the cleric to the floorboads.

[Adam]

Upon hearing the voice echoing from his past, Benn instantly feels his pulse quicken. His breathing is shallow and rapid and he can hear a pounding in his ears. Just as his vision starts to swim, his friend's voice finally cuts free from the madness, and Charlotte steps in and smashes Dorgio to the ground with a chair.

He steps forward, quickly sweeping his spear away with his foot and raises his cane menacingly above Dorgio's head. "You had best start speaking some sense, Dorgio," Benn growls, his voice hoarse and croaky, "or I'm afraid I'm going to have to bash some sense into you."

[ewancummins]

The Private Bar


Fumbling in the gloom, Eustace tries to get close to Everline so he can rescue her from Dodds.
In a few feet, he'll...

A harsh whisper from the darkness just ahead-
''What, rob me of my pleasure! Damn you!"

A wave of weariness comes over Eustace. He hits the floor as a darkness deeper than the web of shadows fills his mind.


Everline wakes with a scream. Darkness covers the bar, but a faint gray light seeps from an open doorway. She feels weaker than before. Dodds' touch, his hot metal stink, the feeling of him inside lingers.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Everline crawls over to Eustace and grabs his recumbent form, shaking him. A babble of confused noises erupts from her throat -- followed by a growl of pure fury.

[ewancummins]

Everline crawls over to Eustace and grabs his recumbent form, shaking him. A babble of confused noises erupts from her throat -- followed by a growl of pure fury.

Finding and recognizing Eustace in the dark is hard...

[ewancummins]

Everline touches Eustace's face. She tries to concentrate, but then something happens inside her mind, something breaks like a glass jar.

Rolling over, she pulls a knife and begins to slash at the darkness above her.

"I'llkillyoukillyoukillyoukillyoukillyou!"

An ogre's booming laughter fills the room.




Meanwhile, in the ballroom

Dorgio seems to have recovered from the confusion.

Benn hears Everline screaming incoherently from someplace past the darkened doorway of the private bar. Eustace is nowhere to be seen, nor is Primeiro.

Charlotte grabs Jonas and retreats towards the door to the dining hall.
(Note that no one but Everline hears laughter in the bar.)

[ewancummins]

Jürgen

VIEW CONTENT:

If you clicked on this and your name is not Tarlyn--- shame on you for metagaming! LOL

[ewancummins]

The private bar-


Eustace wakes up with someone on top of him! His assailant shrieks- ''Killyoukillyou,killyou!" at the top of her lungs.

As Eustace struggles to get away from the crazed female, her shrieks drop down to sobs and then the noises she's making stop altogether.


The door to the hallway opens and a dim shape appears there, holding a blurry light aloft. The light doesn't shine far in the magical darkness.

''Primeiro! Everline? Who's in there? What the blazes is going on?"


Eustace recognizes the voice as belonging to Denys Sancerre.

[Ail]

Eustace wakes suddenly with someone stabbing him. He senses a frail shape on him and touching it he guesses it to be a woman. He shoves Everline aside, just as her words echo in his mind and the voice registers.

He shoves her aside and cries "Bastard you, Dodds, I'll find you!"
He cries, just as Denys's voice sounds from the door.

Confident that the man soon will understand, he tries to not waste time and invokes another time the power of his god. The faith in Belenus swells within him, even to his forgetting about his wounds, and he invokes a barrier between him and Dodds.

OOC: Turn Undead
Let me check details please. I'm posting this now just to state the action

[Ail]

(erased. wrong thread)

[ewancummins]

THE PRIVATE BAR-



Eustace can't see if Dodds has fled or remains in the room, waiting to strike again.

Denys enters with the lantern, which barely glows in the preternatural darkness. The big man nearly trips on something. He kneels down and shakes the body at his feet.

‘’Primeiro? Wake up! Wake up, son—your friends are in trouble.”

[ewancummins]

THE BALLROOM


Dorgio gets to his feet, now recovered from the shadow's evil touch-- though still a little hurt from the blow to his head.

Benn sees that his friend is once more in control. The madness has passed.

Charlotte mumbles-
''Sorry..."

Dorgio spots something big and black creeping along the east wall, oozing out of the open door of the bar. The hulking shadow is headed for the dining hall…

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

Dorgio shakes his head rapidly when Benn grabs ahold of him, and he looks up, barely comprehending. "Looks like someone alreay bashed you!" Then he blinks, an looks at the blood on his gauntlets. "Ezra's dugs, Benn, I am sorry..."

He turns to Charlotte, sees the pieces of the chair, and realizes what happened. He offers her a lopsided grin. "No wonder he married you!"

The moment of levity is gone as soon as it arrives, as Dorgio turns to see the movement.

"DODDS!" His shout turns guttural as he barks out a prayer in Luktar. He extends his left hand toward the shadow, and the sunrise tattoo grows bright, an a beam of light shoots from his hand to the shadow.


[[OOC Casting searing light]]