Post by David on Nov 3, 2006 14:49:53 GMT -5
After sailing to nearby islands for a day and healing up magically, the crew and heroes of the Destiny returned to Rumelia to explore the ruins. The group (Isaac, Arthur, Py!ota, William, Amaryllis, and Ariadne) entered the catacombs and began exploring the holy sites of the followers of Thanatos. They encountered a statue which filled some of them with a mind-numbing fear of death, but once they recovered, Ariadne desanctified the location.
This attracted a spirit of sorts, a minor incarnation or avatar of Death. At first only Ariadne could see it, but William faerie fired it, and as the various heroes attacked it, they too could perceive the entity. Unfortunately, once someone could see the thing, it tried to attack them, drawing off a portion of their life force into itself.
The heroes were hard pressed almost immediately as the incarnation drain life from Ariadne. With this extra strength, it battle Isaac, drawing away both life AND levels. This continued, with Isaac and Py!ota doing battle with the creature, but each slowly being drained away. William, Ariadne, and Amaryllis spent most of their time trying to heal the wounded, with Arthur blasting away with magic missiles and the two warriors in combat. But the heroes just couldn't make headway since the avatar used the heroes own life force drained to sustain itself. Finally, Isaac quaffed his potion of super-heroism, gaining the internal strength to battle the thing longer. But in the end, the entity merely drained this too as well as portions of Isaac and Py!ota's native lifeforce, forcing all the heroes to flee for their lives...
The group fled back to the ship, where they gathered a more potent group. Amaryllis asked the group to wait an hour while she memorized a few different spells and together Cloe, Flint, Sabuto, Orn, Jamal, Py!ota (now healed), and Amaryllis returned to destroy the thing. Unfortunately, it was no longer in the ruins the first party had been searching.
Recalling the layout of the area, Orn suggested visiting the other shrine to Thanatos which contained a similar idol. The plan was for Orn to similarly desanctified this location and draw out the incarnation. As the priest of Kor began the spell, the watch of Flint and Amaryllis spied a light approaching. A group of bronze-platemail-clad warriors attacked the heroes, but couldn't get past Flint. The half-elf killed one and was about to cut a swath of death through them when he was held by a priest of Thanatos farther back in the hallway. Amaryllis responded to this by casting a bodyguard spell, which enthralled ALL of the warriors, as well as the now-level-drained Py!ota, so that they formed a protective circle of bodyguards around her. She moved out of the fight to get her "defenders" out of the real fighters' way.
Without their escort of warriors, the three priests in the hall sicced their skeletal minions on the heroes, but in the name of Healing, Cloe destroyed all of them. One strike from Sabuto stunned the lead priest and a second blow brought her near-death. One of the lesser priests ran and the other held Sabuto. Cloe held both of the remaining clerics of Thanatos and Jamal gave chase to the one who fled, with Amaryllis sending Fido to "protect" the green-skin bedouin. As soon as she could, Cloe also gave chase. Jamal cought up with the priest, but he used one command to "Fall" to keep the desert warrior from fighting him. He also shrugged off Cloe's hold spell the first time. The second, after he commanded Jamal to "Flee" paralysed the evil priest and Cloe bashed in his skull.
The group returned to Orn and Amaryllis in the other shrine. The White Witch had used a spell to place the male priest into an enchanted slumber and cut out the heart of the priestess. Once the stimulus of combat had ended and the bodyguard spell waned, the heroes slaughtered the warriors (except Py!ota, of course) and Flint and Jamal began to dispose of the bodies by throwing them off the rope bridge.
While this was going on, Orn finished his spell. Soon thereafter, Sabuto saw the incarnation of Death slide through the wall. The kensai engaged the thing, and Sabuto only didn't lose a level through the entity's life drain ability because Cloe has used a negative plane protection spell. Although Cloe's faerie fire failed, Orn managed to put up a prayer up for the heroes. Several more kiaied blows damaged the entity, but it continued to drain portions of Sabuto's life force, this time stealing an energy level. Cloe's second fearie fire worked, allowing Amaryllis to unleash a volley of (prayer-enhanced) magic missiles at the thing, followed by a mighty strike from Sabuto. The avatar was destroyed and the stolen portions of Sabuto's, Py!ota's, and Isaac's souls returned (mostly -- Isaac did lose one portion/level permanently).
Next move? Gather info from the captured priest...
This attracted a spirit of sorts, a minor incarnation or avatar of Death. At first only Ariadne could see it, but William faerie fired it, and as the various heroes attacked it, they too could perceive the entity. Unfortunately, once someone could see the thing, it tried to attack them, drawing off a portion of their life force into itself.
The heroes were hard pressed almost immediately as the incarnation drain life from Ariadne. With this extra strength, it battle Isaac, drawing away both life AND levels. This continued, with Isaac and Py!ota doing battle with the creature, but each slowly being drained away. William, Ariadne, and Amaryllis spent most of their time trying to heal the wounded, with Arthur blasting away with magic missiles and the two warriors in combat. But the heroes just couldn't make headway since the avatar used the heroes own life force drained to sustain itself. Finally, Isaac quaffed his potion of super-heroism, gaining the internal strength to battle the thing longer. But in the end, the entity merely drained this too as well as portions of Isaac and Py!ota's native lifeforce, forcing all the heroes to flee for their lives...
The group fled back to the ship, where they gathered a more potent group. Amaryllis asked the group to wait an hour while she memorized a few different spells and together Cloe, Flint, Sabuto, Orn, Jamal, Py!ota (now healed), and Amaryllis returned to destroy the thing. Unfortunately, it was no longer in the ruins the first party had been searching.
Recalling the layout of the area, Orn suggested visiting the other shrine to Thanatos which contained a similar idol. The plan was for Orn to similarly desanctified this location and draw out the incarnation. As the priest of Kor began the spell, the watch of Flint and Amaryllis spied a light approaching. A group of bronze-platemail-clad warriors attacked the heroes, but couldn't get past Flint. The half-elf killed one and was about to cut a swath of death through them when he was held by a priest of Thanatos farther back in the hallway. Amaryllis responded to this by casting a bodyguard spell, which enthralled ALL of the warriors, as well as the now-level-drained Py!ota, so that they formed a protective circle of bodyguards around her. She moved out of the fight to get her "defenders" out of the real fighters' way.
Without their escort of warriors, the three priests in the hall sicced their skeletal minions on the heroes, but in the name of Healing, Cloe destroyed all of them. One strike from Sabuto stunned the lead priest and a second blow brought her near-death. One of the lesser priests ran and the other held Sabuto. Cloe held both of the remaining clerics of Thanatos and Jamal gave chase to the one who fled, with Amaryllis sending Fido to "protect" the green-skin bedouin. As soon as she could, Cloe also gave chase. Jamal cought up with the priest, but he used one command to "Fall" to keep the desert warrior from fighting him. He also shrugged off Cloe's hold spell the first time. The second, after he commanded Jamal to "Flee" paralysed the evil priest and Cloe bashed in his skull.
The group returned to Orn and Amaryllis in the other shrine. The White Witch had used a spell to place the male priest into an enchanted slumber and cut out the heart of the priestess. Once the stimulus of combat had ended and the bodyguard spell waned, the heroes slaughtered the warriors (except Py!ota, of course) and Flint and Jamal began to dispose of the bodies by throwing them off the rope bridge.
While this was going on, Orn finished his spell. Soon thereafter, Sabuto saw the incarnation of Death slide through the wall. The kensai engaged the thing, and Sabuto only didn't lose a level through the entity's life drain ability because Cloe has used a negative plane protection spell. Although Cloe's faerie fire failed, Orn managed to put up a prayer up for the heroes. Several more kiaied blows damaged the entity, but it continued to drain portions of Sabuto's life force, this time stealing an energy level. Cloe's second fearie fire worked, allowing Amaryllis to unleash a volley of (prayer-enhanced) magic missiles at the thing, followed by a mighty strike from Sabuto. The avatar was destroyed and the stolen portions of Sabuto's, Py!ota's, and Isaac's souls returned (mostly -- Isaac did lose one portion/level permanently).
Next move? Gather info from the captured priest...