A Bloody Escape
Dramatis Personae:
Winry Steamgear, the Rock Gnome Alchemist Artificer
"Critical" Bumbersnoot, Winry's Dachshund Mechanimal Construct
Oskar Heartforge, the Shield Dwarf Werewolf Priest of Moradin
Jak Foostus, the Minotaur Monk
Carmina, the Human Knight
Amara, the Human Noble
Sylvia, the Human Rogue
Carmina, the Human Knight
Amara, the Human Noble
Sylvia, the Human Rogue
Gill O'Darby, the Human Ranger
Bex Thriceorphaned, the Goliath Juggernaut Barbarian Circle of the Crescent Druid
Comrades we have lost:
Mara Quinn, the Water Genasi Werewolf Sea Sorceress- turned into a vampire, then killed by the party
Comrades we have lost:
Mara Quinn, the Water Genasi Werewolf Sea Sorceress- turned into a vampire, then killed by the party
NOTE: Things will be mostly from Winry's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view, since the artificer can't be everywhere at once.
***** Mirtul 6, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess), Somewhere in the Sea of Swords
Before settling down to rest, Oskar set up the ritual to attempt to bring Quinn back to life. Jak and I had to aid him with the ritual, and we had to make offerings to Moradin. Oskar put forth a bunch of money and used Steve as a focus. I put Steve's ink on Quinn's Neptunian Trident, and told a story about our adventures- before Wave. Then it was Jak's turn, and he started speaking in a vile language that turned the warm, mithril light of Moradin that was shining on us in the circle, red. When he was done, Quinn was nothing but a smoking corpse. Oskar burned her body, and we all went to rest. I spent the rest of our time repairing Bumbersnoot to bring my poor puppy back.
Considering how useless I'd been in that battle, I've come to the conclusion that I should begin studying wizardry. That way if I'm ever stuck without my stuff and my dog again, I'll have spells that can actually hurt people. I can even make the clockwork ladybug I'd been designing, and make it my familiar.
Jak's twisting of the ritual turned Quinn into a revenant. She was brought back to "life" at the end of the party's rest, and awoke confused.
We were sitting around the breakfast table, when we heard a voice call out. Gill was the only one not at the table, but it didn't sound quite right to him. When the owner of the voice came around the corner, it was Quinn. Jak charged her instantly, began beating on her, and broke his hand on the wall. I thought she might be a revenant, but she'd gone feral while Jak was pummeling her, so we had to knock her out again. I wondered if I could use a stunning shot with NATAS, instead of one that may kill, and she instantly confirmed that I could. I shot her, then Bumbersnoot bit and tripped her. Quinn savagely ripped into Jak's leg with her teeth; then Oskar began throwing hammers at her. Carmina beat the shit out of her, and then Jak dropped her; then he started speaking in tongues again, and his wounds closed. I told Oskar I thought she was a revenant, so we should revive her, and he yelled "undead is undead" at me. There was no reasoning with him right now.
Oskar performed last rites for Quinn, and when he pulled Steve out for them, Steve was undead too! We killed the octopus quickly, and added him to the pyre. Before leaving we gathered Quinn's things and divvied them as needed. We left her bag of devouring in the mansion with her, since Oskar did not want it. When we stepped out, Jak closed the mansion, which I wish he hadn't done, it would give us a place to fall back to later if need be. At least this time I have my dog and my stuff, so I'll be effective in this battle/rescue mission. Finding Sylvia was our sole objective and priority. Though Oskar really wanted to kill Ctenmiir too.
Outside of the mansion was pure darkness, and it was cold. Oskar tried to dispel the darkness, but he was unable to. We began deliberating- something we should have done in the safety of the mansion, but the undead genasi interrupted that. Jak and Gill decided to sneak into the coffin room to stake as many vampires as they could before the sun went down in a couple of hours. As we discussed this a cackle rang out through the cavern, echoing on the walls and making it impossible for us to figure out where it came from.
We were almost to the doors at that point, and then Jak called that he saw movement up ahead. I shot at it with NATAS and managed to hit whatever the Hells it was. Oskar called out "hold your" and then began spewing blood. It was hella gross. Jak charged the figures as more shapes appeared in the darkness to the right of Bumbersnoot and I. Two of them hit me, so Bumbersnoot bit and tripped one, and then together we finished it off.
I saw Oskar's hammer go whizzing behind Bumbersnoot and I, followed by a flash of radiant light, as he hit one that was approaching us from behind. I could just make out Jak moving through the people attacking us, so I think he was doing okay at keeping the attackers at bay. I wasn't sure what was after us, since it was daylight out. Another guy hit me, so Bumbersnoot killed it, only for another to take its place. Something attempted to charm me, I barely shook it off. I had Bumbersnoot use his lightning breath on our attackers- that breath is hella cool. I'm so glad the Coldfire Initiative gave it to me. I felt a spell try to take hold of me as a single tear of blood rolled down my cheek, making me cringe; it was hella gross.
Among the human thralls that were attacking the party, was Bex. She was near the back, holding a rusty greataxe, when suddenly her mind cleared, and she shook off the vampire's charm that had made her a thrall. She had no memory of her time as a thrall, so unclear of her surroundings, she asked those near her what was going on; but none could answer her.
The vampire swung at me, and got its arm caught on Bumbersnoot, he bit it, but I missed. The vamp grabbed me and bit into my neck. Bumbersnoot bit at him, and I shot him with my Daring Sir, but I couldn't break out, I just wasn't strong enough. It took another bite of me, and Bumbersnoot bit it again, I hoped he'd get it off of me, but he wasn't able to break its hold on him. I could just make out Carmina and Oskar trying to help, but the vamp had a hard grip on me. Then some woman appeared and grabbed Oskar, and they both vanished.
Then a hella enormous woman appeared in rags and holding a rusty greataxe, I thought she was a thrall until she hit the vampire. Jak rushed the vampire after that, and then the vampire fucking bit me again to replenish itself, or because it's a douche. Could be either one really. When its teeth sunk deeper into my flesh, Bumbersnoot bit it again, tripping it, and it ran away. A thrall came up behind me and hit me, so Bumbersnoot and I killed it.
Amara yelled for Oskar to get his ass back here, and he suddenly reappeared. He tried to mime something to us, since he was still spewing blood, but we couldn't really tell what he was trying to say. With all of the thralls dead, we just had to wait for Oskar to regain speech. The enormous woman began bleeding from her eyes, and the Gill and Jak started getting pelted with magic missiles. Oskar finally regained speech, and Gill began swinging his ax around blindly, smashing a table. Jak went to break the cauldron in the blood room, since we figured that was what had been making everyone bleed.
Gill suddenly went limp, and we could just make out a figure holding onto him. Bex- the enormous woman- got a good grip on the shadow before it could run away, thankfully. I revived Gill and used Bumbersnoot's new lantern eyes to look at the hallway- the fucking doors were shut again. The vampire hadn't gone through the door, it grabbed Gill as soon as healed him, and bolted. Bumbersnoot and I followed, but I missed my shot with NATAS. Gill went limp again, but Amara revived him. The vampire started dragging the conscious and struggling boy away, so Bumbersnoot and I tried to grab Gill, but we weren't able to get him fast enough. Oskar joined our pursuit of Gill, just as Gill unloaded every charge of his frost ax into the vampire. As Bumbersnoot and I caught up to them again, I heard the vampire tell Gill to quit struggling. Bumbersnoot's teeth snapped closed on the air, and NATAS malfunctioned again.
Gill went limp again, and Oskar began speaking gibberish; but he stopped as soon as Amara told him to. She's good at that. The vampire took off with Gill again, and it made it through the doors again. When Bumbersnoot and I saw that, I had him lower his head and bust down the doors. His forehead was a little dented, but those doors wouldn't be getting shut again anytime soon. Oskar went barreling down the hall after the vampire, and I knew someone with a clear head needed to follow him, so I went after him, calling to the girls to go get Jak, he'd been gone for a while now. Bex went after him instead.
When I caught up to Oskar he told me to go down the hall to the left, and that fucking vampire dropped down on top of me. Amara- having ignored me- yelled at me to break free, and I struggled harder, but still couldn't do it. The damned vampire bit me- I was getting hella fed up with being bitten- and Bumbersnoot twisted around and ripped it off of me. I dropped an acid beetle on the vampire and hit it with my quickrazor. Carmina stabbed it and it turned into mist; Amara called to Oskar to do something, so he cast daylight and the vampire turned into ash.
We went into the room the vampire had been guarding, and it was filled with sarcophagi, we hoped Gill was in here. I pushed open one and it was completely empty. Carmina and Amara shoved open another one so hard the lid flew across the room. Inside was a body wrapped in a burial shroud- it was Sylvia! Now we just had to find Gill. The next one I opened had another body in it... it was a fucking vampire spawn that grabbed me and attempted to bite me. I managed to wriggle free, and Oskar and Bumbersnoot killed it. The next one Oskar opened had a spawn in it too- we killed it quickly. Oskar found Gill after that. Now we could get the Hells out of here.
While Oskar and the girls tended to Gill and Sylvia, I went to find Jak. He appeared dead, and was wearing Bex's face... Bex herself didn't have a face, and was unconscious. I revived her, and she immediately jumped up and ripped her face off of Jak. It wriggled free of her grasp and flew right back to Jak. It was at that moment Oskar walked in. He didn't have the magical energy to revive Jak, so I suggested he funnel what he could of his magical energy through my ring of spell storing. I dumped the mirror image spell Quinn had never used, to make sure Oskar had room. It worked!
Then Bex's face began molding to Jak's, so he quickly ripped it off and handed it to her. Oskar was able to heal her enough that her skin regrew- and she not had a horribly misshapen sack of skin that was her old face. Bex was convinced Jak had done that to her, which was not even a little possible. Jak said it was a witch, which made perfect sense.
We needed to find a place to hole up, so Oskar took that book of Jak's and tried to make a deal with it... it somehow made Oskar banish it. I quickly flipped through the magic books I'd found, and found one of them was a portfolio of scrolls. It had teleportation circle in it, but I didn't recognize the symbols listed for the cities there- they definitely were not Baldur's Gate or Friendly Arm Inn. I asked the others which one to choose, so Oskar ripped the scroll out of my hand and cast it.
After a moment, we found ourselves back in Luskan. Unfortunately our travels moved us to much closer to sunset. We only had a few minutes to get Sylvia to a temple. I boosted Jak's speed and shrunk Oskar so he could fit on Jak, and they went running with the unconscious Sylvia to the temple. Oskar was able to get Sylvia resurrected just before the sun sank over the hills, saving her from turning.
Before settling down to rest, Oskar set up the ritual to attempt to bring Quinn back to life. Jak and I had to aid him with the ritual, and we had to make offerings to Moradin. Oskar put forth a bunch of money and used Steve as a focus. I put Steve's ink on Quinn's Neptunian Trident, and told a story about our adventures- before Wave. Then it was Jak's turn, and he started speaking in a vile language that turned the warm, mithril light of Moradin that was shining on us in the circle, red. When he was done, Quinn was nothing but a smoking corpse. Oskar burned her body, and we all went to rest. I spent the rest of our time repairing Bumbersnoot to bring my poor puppy back.
Considering how useless I'd been in that battle, I've come to the conclusion that I should begin studying wizardry. That way if I'm ever stuck without my stuff and my dog again, I'll have spells that can actually hurt people. I can even make the clockwork ladybug I'd been designing, and make it my familiar.
Jak's twisting of the ritual turned Quinn into a revenant. She was brought back to "life" at the end of the party's rest, and awoke confused.
We were sitting around the breakfast table, when we heard a voice call out. Gill was the only one not at the table, but it didn't sound quite right to him. When the owner of the voice came around the corner, it was Quinn. Jak charged her instantly, began beating on her, and broke his hand on the wall. I thought she might be a revenant, but she'd gone feral while Jak was pummeling her, so we had to knock her out again. I wondered if I could use a stunning shot with NATAS, instead of one that may kill, and she instantly confirmed that I could. I shot her, then Bumbersnoot bit and tripped her. Quinn savagely ripped into Jak's leg with her teeth; then Oskar began throwing hammers at her. Carmina beat the shit out of her, and then Jak dropped her; then he started speaking in tongues again, and his wounds closed. I told Oskar I thought she was a revenant, so we should revive her, and he yelled "undead is undead" at me. There was no reasoning with him right now.
Oskar performed last rites for Quinn, and when he pulled Steve out for them, Steve was undead too! We killed the octopus quickly, and added him to the pyre. Before leaving we gathered Quinn's things and divvied them as needed. We left her bag of devouring in the mansion with her, since Oskar did not want it. When we stepped out, Jak closed the mansion, which I wish he hadn't done, it would give us a place to fall back to later if need be. At least this time I have my dog and my stuff, so I'll be effective in this battle/rescue mission. Finding Sylvia was our sole objective and priority. Though Oskar really wanted to kill Ctenmiir too.
Outside of the mansion was pure darkness, and it was cold. Oskar tried to dispel the darkness, but he was unable to. We began deliberating- something we should have done in the safety of the mansion, but the undead genasi interrupted that. Jak and Gill decided to sneak into the coffin room to stake as many vampires as they could before the sun went down in a couple of hours. As we discussed this a cackle rang out through the cavern, echoing on the walls and making it impossible for us to figure out where it came from.
We were almost to the doors at that point, and then Jak called that he saw movement up ahead. I shot at it with NATAS and managed to hit whatever the Hells it was. Oskar called out "hold your" and then began spewing blood. It was hella gross. Jak charged the figures as more shapes appeared in the darkness to the right of Bumbersnoot and I. Two of them hit me, so Bumbersnoot bit and tripped one, and then together we finished it off.
I saw Oskar's hammer go whizzing behind Bumbersnoot and I, followed by a flash of radiant light, as he hit one that was approaching us from behind. I could just make out Jak moving through the people attacking us, so I think he was doing okay at keeping the attackers at bay. I wasn't sure what was after us, since it was daylight out. Another guy hit me, so Bumbersnoot killed it, only for another to take its place. Something attempted to charm me, I barely shook it off. I had Bumbersnoot use his lightning breath on our attackers- that breath is hella cool. I'm so glad the Coldfire Initiative gave it to me. I felt a spell try to take hold of me as a single tear of blood rolled down my cheek, making me cringe; it was hella gross.
Among the human thralls that were attacking the party, was Bex. She was near the back, holding a rusty greataxe, when suddenly her mind cleared, and she shook off the vampire's charm that had made her a thrall. She had no memory of her time as a thrall, so unclear of her surroundings, she asked those near her what was going on; but none could answer her.
The vampire swung at me, and got its arm caught on Bumbersnoot, he bit it, but I missed. The vamp grabbed me and bit into my neck. Bumbersnoot bit at him, and I shot him with my Daring Sir, but I couldn't break out, I just wasn't strong enough. It took another bite of me, and Bumbersnoot bit it again, I hoped he'd get it off of me, but he wasn't able to break its hold on him. I could just make out Carmina and Oskar trying to help, but the vamp had a hard grip on me. Then some woman appeared and grabbed Oskar, and they both vanished.
Then a hella enormous woman appeared in rags and holding a rusty greataxe, I thought she was a thrall until she hit the vampire. Jak rushed the vampire after that, and then the vampire fucking bit me again to replenish itself, or because it's a douche. Could be either one really. When its teeth sunk deeper into my flesh, Bumbersnoot bit it again, tripping it, and it ran away. A thrall came up behind me and hit me, so Bumbersnoot and I killed it.
Amara yelled for Oskar to get his ass back here, and he suddenly reappeared. He tried to mime something to us, since he was still spewing blood, but we couldn't really tell what he was trying to say. With all of the thralls dead, we just had to wait for Oskar to regain speech. The enormous woman began bleeding from her eyes, and the Gill and Jak started getting pelted with magic missiles. Oskar finally regained speech, and Gill began swinging his ax around blindly, smashing a table. Jak went to break the cauldron in the blood room, since we figured that was what had been making everyone bleed.
Gill suddenly went limp, and we could just make out a figure holding onto him. Bex- the enormous woman- got a good grip on the shadow before it could run away, thankfully. I revived Gill and used Bumbersnoot's new lantern eyes to look at the hallway- the fucking doors were shut again. The vampire hadn't gone through the door, it grabbed Gill as soon as healed him, and bolted. Bumbersnoot and I followed, but I missed my shot with NATAS. Gill went limp again, but Amara revived him. The vampire started dragging the conscious and struggling boy away, so Bumbersnoot and I tried to grab Gill, but we weren't able to get him fast enough. Oskar joined our pursuit of Gill, just as Gill unloaded every charge of his frost ax into the vampire. As Bumbersnoot and I caught up to them again, I heard the vampire tell Gill to quit struggling. Bumbersnoot's teeth snapped closed on the air, and NATAS malfunctioned again.
Gill went limp again, and Oskar began speaking gibberish; but he stopped as soon as Amara told him to. She's good at that. The vampire took off with Gill again, and it made it through the doors again. When Bumbersnoot and I saw that, I had him lower his head and bust down the doors. His forehead was a little dented, but those doors wouldn't be getting shut again anytime soon. Oskar went barreling down the hall after the vampire, and I knew someone with a clear head needed to follow him, so I went after him, calling to the girls to go get Jak, he'd been gone for a while now. Bex went after him instead.
When I caught up to Oskar he told me to go down the hall to the left, and that fucking vampire dropped down on top of me. Amara- having ignored me- yelled at me to break free, and I struggled harder, but still couldn't do it. The damned vampire bit me- I was getting hella fed up with being bitten- and Bumbersnoot twisted around and ripped it off of me. I dropped an acid beetle on the vampire and hit it with my quickrazor. Carmina stabbed it and it turned into mist; Amara called to Oskar to do something, so he cast daylight and the vampire turned into ash.
We went into the room the vampire had been guarding, and it was filled with sarcophagi, we hoped Gill was in here. I pushed open one and it was completely empty. Carmina and Amara shoved open another one so hard the lid flew across the room. Inside was a body wrapped in a burial shroud- it was Sylvia! Now we just had to find Gill. The next one I opened had another body in it... it was a fucking vampire spawn that grabbed me and attempted to bite me. I managed to wriggle free, and Oskar and Bumbersnoot killed it. The next one Oskar opened had a spawn in it too- we killed it quickly. Oskar found Gill after that. Now we could get the Hells out of here.
While Oskar and the girls tended to Gill and Sylvia, I went to find Jak. He appeared dead, and was wearing Bex's face... Bex herself didn't have a face, and was unconscious. I revived her, and she immediately jumped up and ripped her face off of Jak. It wriggled free of her grasp and flew right back to Jak. It was at that moment Oskar walked in. He didn't have the magical energy to revive Jak, so I suggested he funnel what he could of his magical energy through my ring of spell storing. I dumped the mirror image spell Quinn had never used, to make sure Oskar had room. It worked!
Then Bex's face began molding to Jak's, so he quickly ripped it off and handed it to her. Oskar was able to heal her enough that her skin regrew- and she not had a horribly misshapen sack of skin that was her old face. Bex was convinced Jak had done that to her, which was not even a little possible. Jak said it was a witch, which made perfect sense.
We needed to find a place to hole up, so Oskar took that book of Jak's and tried to make a deal with it... it somehow made Oskar banish it. I quickly flipped through the magic books I'd found, and found one of them was a portfolio of scrolls. It had teleportation circle in it, but I didn't recognize the symbols listed for the cities there- they definitely were not Baldur's Gate or Friendly Arm Inn. I asked the others which one to choose, so Oskar ripped the scroll out of my hand and cast it.
After a moment, we found ourselves back in Luskan. Unfortunately our travels moved us to much closer to sunset. We only had a few minutes to get Sylvia to a temple. I boosted Jak's speed and shrunk Oskar so he could fit on Jak, and they went running with the unconscious Sylvia to the temple. Oskar was able to get Sylvia resurrected just before the sun sank over the hills, saving her from turning.
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