Renew the Pact: Time of our Lives, part 12

Log Info

• Title: Renew the Pact: Time of our Lives, part 12
• Emitter: Whirlpool
• Characters: Paenitia, Aryia, Seyardu, Lyme
• Place: Goldcoast of Veyshan, Tashraan, Temple of Navos
• Time: Friday, August 20, 2021, 9:32 PM
• Summary: Shaevin stops time. Everyone rushes to attack, either him or the attending Navosians. Blows rain down, or up in the case with Paenitia, as she, Lyme and Aryia concentrate on him. Shaevin attempts spells and discovers that Navos has abandoned him. Althea remains with Seyardu, and she silences him after he emits a noise that leaves Paenitia stunned. The other Navosians start vomiting spiders, or turning into spiders, despite Aryia's best efforts to beat them down. As these spiders collect into a larger, walking version of the void, the group battles on in silence. No one can hear the screams or the disgust of the combatants.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  Appearing, in Order  =-=-=-=-=-=-=
Paenitia     3'0"     34 Lb      Halfling          Female    A Lucht knight, dark skinned in bold feathery finery.
Aryia        4'8"     110 Lb     Shadow Elf        Female    A heavily scarred mul with a curious look about her.
Seyardu      5'6"     150 Lb     Sith-Makar        Female    A friendly silver sith-makar with a perpetual squint.
Lyme         7'2"     435 Lb     Orc               Butch     Black-skinned oruch of suitable stature
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  NPCs of Note  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Shaevin      Hostile             Dawn Elf          Male      A priest of Navos, young and corrupt, a secret Voidist.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  As the GM  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Whirlpool    5'0"                Otyugh                      I am stinky!
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

Previously

Inside the Temple of Navos, the fugitive adventurers hear chanting. They sneak closer, it gets louder, and the words are not anything Navos related. Seyardu can't tell which god it's for, but it isn't good. The come upon the chamber where the ritual is being performed. It's impossible to enter without being seen, and they briefly debate a dynamic or more cautious entry. Caution is chosen. Inside they discover a group, all who seem to be strangely absent pieces, as if they were carved out, but not in any way that injures or impedes them.

Except Shaevin, who is whole, and sarcastically asks the party to leave. Everyone has had enough of him, with Paenitia calling him out and Aryia getting ready to punch him out, and Lyme and Seyardu instructing him to get on with whatever explanation he's got.

Aryia's sudden stalk forward does not catch him off guard, not even a little. There's a subtle step back, a sway.

"Well, yes. We're casting out to something that -- well, it's a bit late now. You'll see. Unfortunate, but that's the price you pay -- and honestly if you'd just waited a little longer..."

There's a spiraling blackness at the center of the chamber, an absence of light that swirls into shrieking being, a voice that Definitely Shouldn't Be.

"You see, the problem with a Void: it's always hungry. We just need to feed it a little longer and we can fix *everything*."

His eyes are shining, now. "Put it all back, we have all the time."

And then time stops.

Now

"Ignore me at your Peril! I am Sister Paenitia and Tarien thinks you are a joke!" The Red Knight shouts, as she charges through the chambre, around the void at the centre to swing her warhammer at Shaevin.

GAME: Paenitia rolls weapon5+2: (11)+9+2: 22 (+2 Charge)
GAME: Paenitia rolls damage5+6: aliased to 1d8+1+6: (2)+1+6: 9

Her warhammer hits hard. A glancing blow but not easily ignored. She's spent a frustrating day and night and puts some of that into the swing.

The Navosians take a moment and, as one, bend forward in various, herky-jerky movements. Out of the holes in their body spill swarms of ...

... spiders.

Tiny, black spiders.

Obsidian black with long legs, but like the holes in their body, they seem to be more like gaps in reality than actual spiders.

That can't be good.

It's like seeing a spider shaped hole in one's vision.

There are about seven Navosians left. 'About', because it's difficult to tell if they should be counted fractionally or as wholes. Depends on if every spider counts as a navosian or not.

<OOC> Aryia says, "if the closest one is within 20', I'll just flying kick flurry them and knock them out"
GAME: Aryia spends ONE point of KI POOL.
GAME: Aryia rolls weapon0: (11)+11: 22
GAME: Aryia rolls weapon0: (5)+11: 16
GAME: Aryia rolls weapon0-5: (5)+11+-5: 11
GAME: Aryia rolls weapon0: (6)+11: 17
GAME: Aryia rolls damage0: aliased to 1d8+2: (2)+2: 4
GAME: Aryia rolls damage0: aliased to 1d8+2: (1)+2: 3
GAME: Aryia rolls damage0: aliased to 1d8+2: (7)+2: 9

Aryia's brows pinch at the sight. Of course. Of course it was some dumb ritual lead by some dumb priest that had some dumb ideal. And you know what messed with dumb rituals? Knocking out the people that conduct them. The shadow elf had been practicing her signature drop kicks, her sprinting towards the closest one and jumping into the air. She flips over, over heels coming down on them with a 'thud, thud!', followed by two hay makers, trying to flick that lantern switch off on the jaw.

As Aryia topples one of them, Shawvin stumbles back from being struck with a warhammer, "You dolts! I was HELPING you."

Of course, he may be lying given the circumstances, or he may have a very wrong idea of what help 'looks' like in this case. One never knows.

He quickly intones a spell, however, and holds his hand out. It sure SOUNDS like a Navosian prayer, but nothing happens. Seems the God has withdrawn his support for plainly obvious reasons. He probably hasn't had it for a while.

Still, while thre's nothing *initially*, the ground beneath Paenitia begins to dissolve, pulling her into it like quicksand.

GAME: Lyme rolls 1d20+9+2: (13)+9+2: 24
GAME: Lyme rolls 2d4+6: (3)+6: 9
GAME: Paenitia rolls reflex+1: (9)+6+1: 16

Lyme charges in, swinging his war-falchion. He catches Shawvin on the air, right after the spell goes off. It's not solid, but it is, at least, unpleasant.

GAME: Seyardu rolls knowledge/religion: (7)+6: 13

The cultists have ceased their chanting, and switched to vomiting spiders. Spiders are spilling out of them except the one that was knocked out.

There's a void in time and space and spiders made of nothingness. Unsettling.

Seyardu was the last into the room, finding the strange sight.

"Sure you are." She states, offering her own holy symbol beneath her armor. "Celestial mother, help us all through this challenge. And hold this lost soul accountable in the eyes of the guardian." She offers in prayer. It was a familiar feeling to those present, of a bolstering strength. Seeing the spiders not escaping the unconscious form, she draws a sap, and charges the nearest, preparing to bring it down on their skull, to disrupt the ritual further. <Draconic>

<OOC> Lyme says, "Power Attack the douchey man."
GAME: Lyme rolls 1d20+9-1+1: (7)+9+-1+1: 16

Lyme tries to follow up at the priest, but he swings a little too hard and catches only air.

As the spiders spill out of them, several of the Navosians start to twitch and collapse, their bodies hitting the ground with heavy thuds.

The spiders start to swarm forward to a central point *between* the group, merging together into a solid whole.

GAME: Paenitia rolls weapon5: (9)+9+1: 18 (+1 Prayer)
GAME: Paenitia rolls weapon5-5: (19)+9+-5+1: 23 (+1 Prayer)
GAME: Paenitia rolls damage5+6: aliased to 1d8+1+6: (8)+1+6+1: 16 (+6 Cav Challenge, +1 Prayer)
GAME: Paenitia rolls damage5+6: aliased to 1d8+1+6: (1)+1+6+1: 9 (+6 Cav Challenge, +1 Prayer)

"The chance to help was earlier, when we bring this to you!" Paenitia says, swinging her warhammer into Shaevin's side. A good solid wack on the hips.

There is a return swing coming, "Not to pretend it in the middle of the night when we find you with pants down and full of spiders!" This one hits robes. She catches his leg, but only barely.

There is hope that her words might sting.

GAME: Aryia rolls weapon0+1: (12)+11+1: 24
GAME: Aryia rolls weapon0+1: (4)+11+1: 16
GAME: Aryia rolls weapon0+1-5: (2)+11+1+-5: 9
GAME: Aryia spends ONE point of KI POOL.
GAME: Aryia rolls weapon0+1: (12)+11+1: 24

Aryia does a flying kick to another Navosian cleric, stomping her mouth and ceasing their spider disgorging.

GAME: Aryia rolls will: (11)+6+1: 17 (+1 Prayer)
GAME: Lyme rolls will+1: (16)+6+1: 23
GAME: Seyardu rolls will +3: (3)+8+3: 14
<OOC> Seyardu says, "Can I do a re roll?"
<OOC> Whirlpool says, "If you want to spend the RPP."
GAME: Seyardu rolls will+3: (8)+8+3: 19
GAME: Paenitia rolls will+1: (1)+5+1: 7 (EPIC FAIL)

There is a sound..

... Sort of.

It is both a sound and the *absence* of one, at the same time. It is both blasphemy, everything and nothing at the same time. It pierces the ears, flesh and bone and the soul all at the same time, erupting in pain inside each of you. Pain severe enogh to make Paenitia drop thei rweapon and collapse to the ground. It *hurts*. And all because that Navosian opened his mouth. His just just hangs open and he emits it.

It is a sound of all consuming *hunger*.

Seyardu winces from the unearthly noise, nearly dropping to her feet. But perhaps it was the divine warding of Althea, or perhaps Navos helping against his blasphemous follower, but she pulls herself back to her feet. They squint at the cleric.

"Out of excuses?" She asks, holding her breastplate for a moment. "Be quiet." She offers in prayer. Around the Mul'niessa, and those near her, was silence. Seyardu moves into the area as well.

<OOC> Lyme will take another swing at Hungry Man with power attack.
GAME: Lyme rolls 1d20+9-1+1: (4)+9+-1+1: 13

Lyme swings again, trying to end they hunger, but it's so hard to swing and avoid and and and...

GAME: Paenitia rolls weapon4-1: (9)+9+-1: 17 (+1 Prayer, -1 sickened)
GAME: Paenitia rolls damage4+6: aliased to 1d8+0+6: (5)+0+6+1: 11 (+6 Cav Challenge Target, +1 Prayer, Silvered)

The Red Knight staggers as the unearthly scream washes over her. Perhaps it's her height and sensitive ears, or maybe the shape of her mask causes the sound to be extra resonant. Her inner ears swirl, it's as if she's spun upside down, her sense of balance thrown completely off and her stomach suddenly heaving.

Her warhammer drops from her. She clasps her free hand over an ear while ducking her head under her shield. Her stomach lurches with dry heaves. It takes a great effort to hold her mouth closed, and keep the bile down.

As the silence descends, a modicum of control returns. She draws her sword, it flashes in a silver arc to slash at Shaevin's shoulder. A cutting blow.

Some of the conscious Navosiains' bodies begin to break down as they willfully dissolve themselves, seeking to feed the Void, perhaps. It's hard to understand what madness is present here.

Either way, the *conscious* of them are still sending a few more odd spidery lines to the growing mass of blackness at their center, strengthening it, even as their own bodies seem to start cracking apart.

It sits up.

This ... spider-made thing. It's *moving*. Moving anti-creation that sits up and twirls around, limbs cutting through the air, leaving black lines that linger for a moment before dissipating. It advances towards the Shaezin, then snatches the injured, screaming half-elf priest.

Silently screaming, anyway, in this magical quiet.

His eyes get wide as his pleas become literally unheard.

<OOC> Aryia says, "im... gonna flurry the void spider."
GAME: Aryia rolls weapon0+1: (18)+11+1: 30
GAME: Aryia rolls weapon0+1: (2)+11+1: 14
GAME: Aryia rolls weapon0+1-5: (3)+11+1+-5: 10
GAME: Aryia spends ONE point of KI POOL.
GAME: Aryia rolls weapon0+1: (15)+11+1: 27
GAME: Aryia rolls damage0+1: aliased to 1d8+2+1: (4)+2+1: 7
GAME: Aryia rolls damage0+1: aliased to 1d8+2+1: (1)+2+1: 4

It felt strange to have one's sense of hearing vanish at the snap of a prayer. But compared to the empty sound of silence, it was far more preferred than that of the sheer void that wracked her ears and her body that the so called 'priest' wrought upon them. She had a choice to make. Deal with the void spider, or shut the priest up, as knocking out these other people seemed to do little. There was too many of them, and by this point, they were far too gone.

So Aryia does what Aryia does best.

She drop kicks nothingness. It's all eerie, silent, no crunch, no footfalls, no hissing from the shadow elf. But she's mouthing something as she punches down.

"I fucking hate churches."

GAME: Seyardu rolls 1d20+8: (9)+8: 17

This was, expected, but unexpected. And the cleric was caught in the grip of the strange creature that was both there and not. And there were more spiders crawling towards it from the prone cultists.

"This one asks for more assistance, to smite this one's foes." She offers in prayer, summoning a large, spectral sword in the air to swipe at the spider. Only, it swiped where it had been a moment before, through one of the lingering voids of anything it left in its wake.

<OOC> Lyme will try it again, PA the douchenugget :)
GAME: Lyme rolls 1d20+9: (10)+9: 19
GAME: Lyme rolls 2d4+6+1+3: (5)+6+1+3: 15

Lyme hits the screamer across the face with his sword, shearing the face open -- at least, that's what it feels like. He ... can't tell, though

GAME: Paenitia rolls weapon4+1: (1)+9+1: 11 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Paenitia rolls weapon4+1-5: (4)+9+1+-5: 9

It's eerie, the little Lucht Knight swinging her sword, no clanking of her armour, no taunting demand. She might be speaking under her mask, but it hides all signs, and the spell, all sounds.

There's a flash of light, then a second.

Shaevin may be mortally wounded from Lyme's attacks, but Paenitia's both miss and do nothing to speed him on his way.

Combatty

 ===================== Current Initiative Order - Round 1 =====================
 ---Init--Name------------AOO-Notes--------------------------------------------
     23   Lyme             1  
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  >> 22   Paenitia         1   <<
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     21   The Navosians       
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     10   Aryia            6  Flat-footed (0 rnds remaining)               
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     9    Douchey Navosia     
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     2    Seyardu          1  Flat-footed (0 rnds remaining)               
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ==============================================================================