Now might be a good time to break out the short-duration buffs.
Also, what the hell.
Again, this is supposed to be a relatively safe region, but there is not just one demon, but a shrine to the Mother of Monsters, with seemingly more than one defender ready.
And whatever that racoon is.
And there are enough dissapeared children around that the Kytons could make their favorite undead out of them.
I propose an overhaul on worldbuilding or wait for a good explanation, cause if this is the norm, then there is no way that the villagers are as careless as they seem to be, greeting strangers at night and letting kids herd the sheep alone.
Now might be a good time to break out the short-duration buffs.
Also, what the hell.
Again, this is supposed to be a relatively safe region, but there is not just one demon, but a shrine to the Mother of Monsters, with seemingly more than one defender ready.
And whatever that racoon is.
And there are enough dissapeared children around that the Kytons could make their favorite undead out of them.
I propose an overhaul on worldbuilding or wait for a good explanation, cause if this is the norm, then there is no way that the villagers are as careless as they seem to be, greeting strangers at night and letting kids herd the sheep alone.
The shrine does not seem to have been used in many decades to judge from the rust on the door and the village has been in ruin for about as long. That said Kori feels there's something very strange going on here between the friendly villagers and the horrible monster a few miles away.
If those villagers have been sacrificing a child per year to Lamashtu and the Kytons just found and used the corpse-stash for their little distraction I'll be very weirded out.
If those villagers have been sacrificing a child per year to Lamashtu and the Kytons just found and used the corpse-stash for their little distraction I'll be very weirded out.
If those villagers have been sacrificing a child per year to Lamashtu and the Kytons just found and used the corpse-stash for their little distraction I'll be very weirded out.
That group of villagers sure looked worried and they can't all have been acting, if nothing else because most people aren't good at it (by Kori's standards).
Neglect and as far as Sirim knows the favor of the Midnight Lord. It is said in his scriptures that he takes for his own those children whose hearts are filled to the brim with the pain of cold and lonely nights as his was long ago.
Neglect and as far as Sirim knows the favor of the Midnight Lord. It is said in his scriptures that he takes for his own those children whose hearts are filled to the brim with the pain of cold and lonely nights as his was long ago.
Huh...I'm starting to think the raccoon might not be acting on the Swaithe's orders. Also, that this shrine might be defunct because something else decided to remove the cultists or monsters which once maintained it, and whatever that is might be pissed at us now.
I'm getting a bad feeling about that village, too.
If this is going to turn into a fight, we should get ready, but we need to make sure it's a fight we actually want.
If it's monsters, we can hopefully provoke them, it's it something else, we might be able to show that we are not allies of the Mother of Monsters.
[X] You're not my mama!
-[X] Cob tosses a few acid flasks down the hole in response. And if he's feeling especially brave, he spits down the hole, too.
-[X] Gorok casts Lead Blades on his sword.
-[X] Mina casts Heroim on Cob and returns to her normal appearance.
-[X] Kori casts Bless.
-[X] Sirim readies an action to cast Haste if combat breaks out.
If those villagers have been sacrificing a child per year to Lamashtu and the Kytons just found and used the corpse-stash for their little distraction I'll be very weirded out.
Not quite what I think is happening, but there could be some truth to it.
There could be superstitions in rural parts, and this is fey land. It is possible they thought there was some "luck barter" going on. A sick animal gets eaten by wolves, but the rest of the herd grows stronger. An unlucky -- or unruly -- child gets lost, and takes the misfortune with them so the village could prosper.
This is a strange reaction, as if there is a problem a talk with the parents can fix. Like the elder knows there is danger, and thinks this was a warning of some sort. And then there is this:
Gorok however pays less attention to those parts of the head and more to its jaw. "Swollen, was sick when it died. Saw this before in other sheep-beasts, makes them slow, hard to move. Never raided herds myself, none of the nearby villages kept them by the time I was hatched, but old ones said a herd with many beasts sick like this was a good target, even with the dogs they wouldn't be able to get away fast enough."
Sounds like the swaithe didn't try to harm the village too hard.
The shock could be from the realization the kids' fate and the nature of their 'neighbour' is rather different from what they expected. But then it's true; the Kytons disrupted whatever has been going on here by turning the children into undead.
But if this kind of undead can only be made from neglected children something else must have gone wrong.
The Kytons could not possibly have abducted and starved 8 children to death within the last weeks while waiting for us. Not without drawing massive attention.
I don't understand what happened yet, we are missing pieces of the puzzle I believe, but something must have gone deeply wrong.
[X] You're not my mama! -[X] Cob tosses a few acid flasks down the hole in response. And if he's feeling especially brave, he spits down the hole, too. -[X] Gorok casts Lead Blades on his sword. -[X] Mina casts Heroim on Cob and returns to her normal appearance. -[X] Kori casts Bless. -[X] Sirim readies an action to cast Haste if combat breaks out.
For a moment Cob seemed to freeze in place, an improbably shaped bird in a serpent's sight, then he whips out a handful of acid vials and throws them in. The sound of breaking glass mixes with the howls, but they do not lessen, growing louder. From among the trees they come, a trio of wolves or canines at least they must have been once, now shades edged in hellfire, nowhere as bright as in their three eyes ever hungering. To look in those eyes is to see your own death and feet it writ clear upon your flesh.
"All is Mother's meat."
Corrupting Gaze Akorian, Cob, Mina, and Urgor take 16 Damage Gorok and Sirim take 16 Damage and 4 Charisma Damage
The blessings on your lips feels weak, heat from a dying fire, but you are not alone. Mina casts off her awful glamor to shout as in the days of anguish when demons and horrors walked abroad: "Take heart! The stars still shine!"
"Stripling, wearing skin you have no right to," one of the ghost wolves proclaims in a voice like onto the screams of children. "We will teach you what your grandmothers failed to! We will show you Her love!"
"No! Liars and cheats! Not my sister, not my sister!" a screech echoes out from the twined black branches of the trees. Between their needles you catch sight of a grey, eyeless face, the thing you had been hunting now leveling a long bone, a wand you realize, at Warty, though it does not seem to do him any harm as the brave slurk jumps between Cob and the wolves, trying to gore them with his tusks, though all he tears at is air.
"Why do you resist Her, goblin-child?" the phantasm asks, voice sickeningly gentle as it tries to force its way through Cob's mouth and nose, but he screams at it in pure wordless rage, making the darkness flinch, just as another shows himself.
"Torag's Hammer upon ye!" Urgor makes up for the lack of hammer with sheer fury, cutting one large swipe the monster's spine, though it is not flesh the ragged wound still shown in wisps of broken balefire.
"And to you dwarf, the gift of fire," another wolf snaps contemptuously as the dwarf's axe starts to grow brighter in your sight, though the three eyes narrow in annoyance just the same.
It had been trying to curse Cob's dagger as well, whether because he noticed that himself as well or just from sheer instinct your friend tosses his own fire into the mix. Bone burn might not work as well on ghosts as it does on things that defile the bones of the dead, but burn it does, blue-green flames licking at ephemeral haunches as though they were still flesh and blood.
Swaithe Attempts to Dispel PfE versus Warty: 1d20+5 = 9 (Failure)
Wolf of Lamashtu One attempts Malevolenceversus Cob -> Will Save: 1d20+ 5 +2 (Heroism) +1 (Bless) = 28(Critical Success)
Wolf of Lamashtu One takes 13 Damage -> Now at 20/33
Wolf of Lamashtu Two Uses Heat Metal -> Urgor Fails (8); Cob Succeeds (27)
1x Bone Burn Used: Wolf of Lamashtu One takes 5Damage -> Now at 15/33
The third wolf seems to take stock of the situation and notice that Gorok is realing at the sight of the horrors and almost faster than the eye can follow it is on him, biting once, twice... it finds purchase. Before he can even raise his sword the warrior falls with a heavy thump as the air is filled with the sound of demonic laughter... though not for long, you recognize the flash of Sirim's magic in the air, snaring its mind.
No, focus, you throttle the panic and fear, the pain at the corner of your eyes as blood tears fall. With a snap of your fingers like tinder on flint you summon light upon the wolf that had tried to steal away Cob. It leaps away, but still the light reveals the ragged lie of its being. Light again flashes, this time in Mina's hand, the staff draining the wolf dead in truth. Seeing that the second specter takes to the air, running on it towards and Sirim trying to tear at his substance, but the mage's wards holds, the serpent contesting still the wolf.
Wolf of Lamashtu One Reflex Save vs Burst of Radiance: 1d20+6 = 17 (Success) -> 7 Damage (Incorporeal) -> Now at 8/33
Mina Uses Staff (2/10 Charges Remaining) Touch Attack 1d20+4+1 (Bless) = 17 (Success) -> 12 Damage -> Wolf of Lamashtu One Slain
Wolf of Lamashtu Draining Touch on Sirim x2 (vs AC 20): 16, 16(Failure, Failure)
Unable to fly after it Cob rushes instead to the horror licking its chops over a fallen Gorok and sinks his bone dagger into its hindquarters, followed a moment later by Urgor still clutching the red hot axe as spittle flies from his mouth. The thing turns to face him and gives a hideous laugh as it forces its hideous substance into him.
Cob Attack: 1d20+12 = 27 (Success) -> Damage 8/2 = 4 -> Wolf of Lamashtu Three Takes 4 Damage -> Now at 29/33
Wolf of Lamashtu Three Takes 9 Damage -> Now at 20/33 Urgor takes 2 Damage from Heat Metal
Wolf of Lamashtu Three attempts Malevolenceversus Urgor -> Will Save: 1d20+ +1 (Bless) = 8(Failure) -> Urgor is now Possessed
What do you do?
[] Run up to the possessed Urgor and ward his mind, it will not force the thing out, but it will keep him from using that axe on one of you
[] Focus on the ghost attacking Sirim, it is close enough to the trees to bindin place
[] Write in
OOC: I could not really fit it into the flow of the combat but Mina made her roll to identify these things: they are ghostlymutantdire wolves. Ain't Golarion a swell place?
This is starting to look pretty sketchy. Would it help to call the Pyre Elemental, or is it an additional hazard in a building in the middle of the forest?
[x] Run up to the possessed Urgor and ward his mind, it will not force the thing out, but it will keep him from using that axe on one of you
I take it Warty can't harm incorporeal creatures, but it can probably still bull through the swaithe.
This is starting to look pretty sketchy. Would it help to call the Pyre Elemental, or is it an additional hazard in a building in the middle of the forest?
[x] Run up to the possessed Urgor and ward his mind, it will not force the thing out, but it will keep him from using that axe on one of you
I take it Warty can't harm incorporeal creatures, but it can probably still bull through the swaithe.
The demon in in a tree, the best Warty could to is spit at it, but the problem is that Gorok, who is the one with Handle Animal is unconcious so poor Warty is stuck trying to hit ghosts with his tusks.
[X] Run up to the possessed Urgor and ward his mind, it will not force the thing out, but it will keep him from using that axe on one of you
-[X] If he hasn't already done so, Sirim casts Shield as soon as he can. If he has already cast Shield, he will instead cast Haste.
