The item Eggbert has found is not a spear, it's a stave - think bigger than a wand, smaller than a staff. It's got a pointy head but it's strictly ornamental, not a weapon. Any plan based on stabbing the Snakemother with it will likely result in someone else dying
if it's not a weapon, we can use its metal tip to attract thunder and to make sure lightnings strile excatly where we want ? (keystone ?) Can Eggbert carry it in his wraithform?
Why don't you wait and see what it is before you go exploding it?
People in wraithform can't interact with the solid world at all. All their gear becomes unsubstantial too, so the same rules apply. Why don't you ram one of your less valuable swords into the snakemother's skull then electrocute her brains or something?
I actually wanted to do that but I have no sword left if I look at my possessions from you last update, I wante dto check on the stave before using this method but you have just confirmed me it is not the best of them ! (again)
Seu is going to pick one of HIsston blades (unless he has an old useless sword he can move with more strike with more accurately) to stick it in the Snakemother to attract the lightnings of Rambulge directly to her insides.
I'm pretty sure you are still carrying your old Ironsword +1. It has a much longer blade
To carry out this plan you must make a successful called shot (-4 to hit) and pass a strength test to shove the sword into her skull deep enough. Then Rambulge has to successfully use his scroll, which has a 15% failure. Bari's prayer will last this one more round so your chances of success will be highest now. It's not the worst plan ever - it's got a good chance to work, but you are on your 1 attack round, so one chance only...
You must make sure to let Rambulge know the plan before you get going too
A paladin has many assets to rely on, a good training, fighting skills; weapons and armour, but amongst all of them, none is as powerful as faith.
Seu picked his former ironsword and hold it tight in his hand. The lady was guiding his hand and his sword would guide her wrath to the Snakemother...
"RAMBULGE ! I AM GOING TO OPEN THE WAY ! LET THE LIGHT OF THE LADY GRACE THE JUST AND SMITE EVIL !"
Seu will hit to stick his sword in the Snakemother's head. it should prove a good guide for Rambulge's lightnings and it should cleanse its evil brains anew...
You heard the man Bruno, this is a one chance opportunity no pressure at all !
EDIT :
Now we know the stave is not a spear of some sort I would advise you to be extra careful with it. The way I see it, it's either :
- The Snakemother's Dildo (you do not want to touch that)
- A new phallic shaped club/staff for our Cleric (we're in Pieter Onne-dray's temple after all) and you know how gross Bari can get so try to guess why the oak is so polished... you do not want to touch that either)
Seu's voice echoed around the room, an unmistakeable call to action.
Rambulge nodded and hurriedly dug his lightning bolt scroll from his pack. He had an inkling about what the paladin
was about to attempt and the thought made his bowels turn to water and his knees to rubber. All his life he had been
an outsider, mocked and ridiculed, and eventually cast out by the ones he loved best. Now he had companions he would
risk his life for, and who would return the favour in a second, but could he do what needed to be done when it counted
most? One chance.
Seu knew the time had come for all-or-nothing. This monster had to die or none of them were leaving here alive. His
shield arm was burning with pain, his hand was numb, but there was still strength there. The Lady would not desert him
in this foul place, even so far from home, he could feel her guiding his hand. He sheathed Flamebrand and drew his
faithful Ironsword from it's battered sheath. One chance.
Yngwie unlimbered his guitar and ran his fingers across the strings, feeling The Music swell and pulse around him. The
Music was life, The Music was soul, it was faith, and love, it was hope, and power, and strength. It moved through
him, lifted him above the darkness and terror, and soothed the tiny soul slung across his back, the life that was now
his to protect. He thought hard about what was about to happen, and chose his song with care. One chance.
Bari's soul soared with his chant of faith to Jordann, the words echoing through the chamber of horror they were
trying so hard to cleanse. The fate of all mortals was in the hands of the gods (and a few other parts as well, in
Jordann's case) but sometimes, acts of men were better than acts of god. As he raised his head in prayer to his
goddess, he felt her presence close to his ear, and her whisper in his mind. One chance.
Eggbert ran forward and took hold of the wonderous stave. It's smooth oak handle was polished with care and showed no
sign of age. The golden head was a tall triangular prism, solid and beautiful. An incription on each triangular side
read 'ARIA'. The gnome pondered the meaning. The stave radiated an aura of holiness that was palpable, even to one
such as Eggbert, who put more stock in the endless mysteries of the physical universe. When you peel back the layers
of probability, relativity, the machinations of life, was it inevitable that you would come to a point where the lines
no longer blurred, where the questions all had answers, where there was no longer any doubt? Could it ever just come
down to... One chance?
Robin knew all about the way of nature, the law of tooth and claw. Kill to live, don't live to kill, that was how it
worked. Take no more than you need, give thanks for what you get, respect life and honour your prey. What lay in this
place was evil that must not be allowed to continue, a perversion of nature that knew no law, no pity, no respect and
no concept of the delicate balance of life. The ranger readied his bow for the final assault. He wasn't in the
business of giving up, not with everything they had at stake. Come what may, there was always... a chance!
The Snakemother exhalted in the pain of her adversaries. Dark blood ran from her many wounds but her rage had taken
her to a place far beyond pain. She tasted the air and it tasted of fear, blood, pain, and... something she couldn't
recognise. Something utterly alien to her. Something she dismissed in a moment, something irrelevant.
That thing was hope. Once chance...
Robin let fly with his arrow, glancing it off the belly scales of the coiled up horror. He cooly pulled out another
arrow and prepared to fire again.
Yngwie smiled a grim smile. "Time to crank it up to 11 again," the elf muttered. He lifted his head and shouted aloud,
"Paladin! Strike like you have never struck before! The Music is with you!" He thumbed the guitar strings with power
and skill, unleashing a riff to destroy evil and light up the sky!
Rambulge began reading the words of his scroll, the spidery mage-script lining up in his mind, crackling with magical
energy. The power he was trying to harness was familiar to him, but so much more powerful. One slip now and he could
well fry himself and everyone around him. Don't choke... don't choke! Lemmy wriggled in his pants reassuringly,
lending him a calmness of spirit from his wise toad mind. "I can do this," he thought. I CAN!
The Snakemother lifted her body high, her head grazing the roof. Long sticky strands of black blood hung from her
lips, and trickled and spurted from gashes, slashes and stab wounds all along her massive, sliding bulk. Her vision
was red, red with blood, red with rage, and her sights were firmly set on the figure before her. The paladin's aura
was anathema to her, his very presence filled her with revulsion. Every breath he drew was an insult to her in this,
her chamber, HER sanctuary. He could not be permitted to live any longer!
The Snakemother brought her mighty head down in a thundering crash that shook the cavern to it's roots. Seu leapt
aside with almost superhuman grace, ready for her next move, but wasn't prepared for the impact of her tail coming
from behind. The massive blow knocked him off his feet and sent him flying towards the waiting jaws of the
Snakemother, who opened wide and prepared to end his life. With blood pounding in his head and his back and ribs
aflame with agony, Seu saw the darkness of her throat looming, the rows and rows of backwards-facing teeth ready to
accept him into their midst, the disgusting pink tongue curling out to reach him, to taste him. Time slowed to almost
a stand-still. Every detail was in perfect clarity. Individual notes of Yngwie's song hung in the air like vibrating
strands of some beautiful web. This must be what Eggbert called 'relativity,' he thought. He had time to think about
all they had accomplished, and all they had yet to finish. He had time to wonder, time to regret.
He had time to act!
The great maw of the Snakemother yawned large in his vision. Seu reached out with his hands and prepared to sell his
life dearly should he be swallowed, but the Snakemother's timing was off, and as she snapped her jaws closed, all she
met was empty air as the shining knight sailed on past her nose. Seu found himself sliding down the bulk of the
Snakemother's body and hit the ground with a thud. He rolled to one knee, his sword planted in the shattered stonework
of the floor. He was still alive, still breathing! Now it was his turn!
Rising to his feet, the paladin ran at the Snakemother, his Ironsword held high. Yngwie's frantic playing reached a
crescendo. Bari attempted to match the elf's singing, but, not knowing the words, settled for vocalising a deep
counter-harmony that resonated with The Music. The Snakemother lunged forwards,intending to end the paladin's charge
before he gained more impetus, but Seu was ready for that. He faked to the left then dived right, catching the monster
off-guard. As her head met the floor in a failed attack the paladin closed the distance in one, two, three giant
strides and then leapt for all his worth, using one of Robin's protruding arrows as a foothold to launch himself onto
the back of the Snakemother's neck.
"Flash before my eeeeeeyes!" sung Yngwie.
The paladin gripped with his legs and knees as hard as he could, and raised his Ironsword high.
"Noooow it's tiiime to diiiie!" bellowed the elf.
With a great cry to the Lady, Seu plunged it down as hard as he could, putting every fibre of his being behind that
one savage thrust. The blade penetrated scale, skin, flesh, and bone.
"RAMBULGE! NOOOOOW!"
"Buuuurning iiiin my braaaaain!" Howled Yngwie.
As the Snakemother felt the hot point of pain enter her skull, she reared up, crushing her head against the roof,
unwittingly driving the blade ever deeper.
"I CAN FEEEEEL THE PAAAAAAIN!"
Seu held on as long as he could, but the impact of his body on the ceiling stunned him and he fell, his body dropping
to the hard stone floor. Rambulge, his mind ablaze, pointed his finger at the Snakemother's head and gasped out the
final line of the scroll, which disappeared with a crackle and a whiff of ozone.
From the spellsword's hand came a blue-white flash of light, and a long arcing beam of electricity jumped from his
body to the Snakemother's head, binding them in a flow of hideous energy. Rambulge screamed as the feedback entered
his limbs, and the Snakemother squealed an awful, awful sound of agony as her brain was fried inside her massive
skull. Rambulge pulsed as another huge shock flowed through him from the tips of his toes to the ends of his fingers,
and his eyeballs glowed white in their sockets. Lemmy squirmed and twisted in his damp and smelly abode and arcs of
electricity radiated from his slimy body into the spellsword's thighs, causing his underpants to smoke considerably.
With one final pulsing charge from Rambulge, the Snakemother's head burst asunder, and her body, thrashing about in
her death throes, brought chunks of rock raining down from the ceiling to shatter onto the floor. Rambulge collapsed,
a puff of smoke wafting from his ears and mouth. Yngwie huddled against the wall and shielded his infant charge with
his body against the showering rocks. Bari's chant was cut off abruptly as a rock the size of a grape rapped him on
his Jack Johnson. With one final spasm the Snakemother's tail exploded through the wall of the treasure room, just as
Eggbert exited through the door holding aloft his trophies.
"Hey everyone, look at what I found, they might come in... handy... oh. Nevermind." The gnome looked sheepishly at the
giant carcass that dominated the cavern.
"By the gods," murmered Robin, emerging from behind the rubble of a shattered chunk of roof. The sunlight, free at
last to stream into the chamber from numerous holes in the roof, illuminated a scene of carnage, and victory. But,
where was Seu?!
Round 5
Robin makes a called shot on the Snakemother with a sheaf arrow +1. He misses.
Yngwie plays an inspirational song (+1 to hit).
The Snakemother attacks Seu. She misses.
The Snakemother attacks Seu with a tail lash, dealing 13 damage!
The Snakemother attacks Seu. She misses.
Seu passes a dexterity check to perform a daring leap!
Seu attacks the Snakemother with Ironsword +1, dealing 14 damage!
Seu passes a strength check to embed Ironsword +1
Seu takes 5 damage from environment (crushing).
Rambulge uses a lvl5 lightning bolt scroll on the Snakemother, dealing 50 damage! (double damage)
Snakemother is killed! 22000 EXP GAINED!
Party Hitpoints
Seu 2/45
Yngwie 7/23
Rambulge 12/14
Eggbert 18/18
Robin 30/30
Bari 24/24
Seu rolled one higher than required on his attack roll. Well done to all for surviving 5 rounds of punishment with a
giant snake thing
Oh God I had gooseflesh during the whole read, I couldn't listen to the song while reading but I know it by heart so it was just the same, James , you couldn't have piced a better song than this !
That was one brilliant piece of writing really ! Every sentence I was wondering what would b enext and I was scared to death about what might happen if any of us failed a roll !
This has been one hell of a team work, Robin has proven to be the most reliable damage dealer, Bari's spells have made the difference on many occasions (especially at the end it seems), Eggbert's spells and diversion have been most helpfull and Rambulge just gave th efinal blow and what a blow (at least you're not the one experiencing a near death experience this time ).
Thanks you gents, I love gaming with you for the tons of fun, hidden references and heroic sensations I get. It's always a pleasure to see we keep making the choices that feel right instead of going for the obvious ones.
Thank you for leaving the breast plate aside, thank you for playing an old illusionist geezer who pulls cards from the ears, thank you for playing a virgin spellsword who's scared of his mom and a Dr Spok kind of Ranger, thanks you for mastering such a game an dmaking this murder hobbo party, the most enjoyable I 've seen so far.
We're far from done here I understand that but that had to be said.
Robin looked about him as the dust from the ruined ceiling and surrounding walls settled, slowly he lowered his bow and relaxed his grip upon the bowstring.
They had done it.
Somehow, they had done it.
Robin looked around him trying to ignore the smell of burnt snake. Eggbert stood there holding two strange objects, the light reflecting from a bright shield and something else held in his hand. Rambulge smoked gently in the corner looking at the Snake-Mother in shock and awe. Bari and Yngwie stood near each other seemingly caught up in the after-effects of their duet and the warm glow around them. Even the baby was finally quiet and as for Seu...
Seu. Where was he?
The last Robin had seen off him, he had been falling from the Snake Mother's back. "Bari!" Robin yelled as he sprinted towards where Seu should have landed. "Bari! Seu is going to need some of Jordaan's love and lots of it! Quickly!"
. Firstly, what a fantastically written final scene. Well done Cap'n! Thoroughly enjoyed that encounter and honestly thought we were snake food at several points. I'm going to echo Asselman's comments of what fun it is to play this with you all on-line. Certainly, keeps you occupied and you never know what comes up next. I think we have certainly proven the characters all work well as a team and we can certainly dish it out when he need to.
Dr. Spock ranger? Not sure how that works but I think without all the added bonus from Bari and Yngwie we would have been worm bait quite early on. Really looking forward to how this develops and a big thanks for all the effort everyone puts into this game.
Many things had been emblazoned into Bari's memory over the course of the last few days, but that scene was always the most prominent. He told the story many times...
"Black and white?" the youngster asked, enthralled.
"That's right, son. Black and white. Dude was just a black shadow, hovering in the air, still as still could be, with the kinda lightning you only see when the gods are angry behind him. All over the place..."
"And the Snake Mother?" one of the others breathed.
"She was the black behind the lightning, man. She was everywhere." Bari flourished his hands as he suggested the possible dimensions involved.
"Yeah, but did it work? The lightning?"
Bari chuckled, his eyes gazing into the middle distance. "Hoo boy! Did it work? One day you might hear the phrase 'blowing chunks' - man, she blew so many chunks her head literally disintegrated. As I was saying - she was everywhere..."
The assorted listeners stared in wonder. "But - what about Seu? What happened to him?"
"It was the funniest thing. From where I was standing, I swear it was like he was propelled at a thousand miles an hour through the air 'cos of the explosion. I totally expected to see a paladin shaped hole in the ceiling - and Jordann knows, if there was anyone who'd survive going through a stone ceiling at a thousand miles an hour, it'd be him."
There was silence. A timid girl from the back row raised her hands. "That's not what happened, though, is it? To Sir Antheus, I mean?"
Bari grinned. "Nah. Actually, what happened was..."
Well. Text book Snake Mother take down, really. Straight out of the playbook.
If the author of the playbook was abusing LSD, that is. And Chartreuse. And maybe breath mints.
Captain, all I can say is that that was an amazing piece of prose, enthralling from the first line to the last. Your GM skills are extraordinary and it is a dashed picy that you live all the way on the other side of the planet - I suspect a long line of people form when you say you're starting a campaign up...
Seeing as how we're all gushy and stuff, I thought I'd chuck my hat in the ring. I can't say I've done a lot of roleplay, but I love the characters of this party, who have all become beings we actually care about and want to see survive. I think this is the best roleplay experience I've ever had, and that's saying a lot given Ive no pen or paper, I've not rolled a dice - I don't even know what my stats are!
So, cheers all - thanks for making this what it was. And bloody good work for blowing up a giant snake. She took a hell of a beating...
Bari dropped down from the dais as Robin came running.
"Luurve? I can do that," the cleric answered, fiddling with the sack.
"No, hands are fine," Robin frowned, stopping Bari's arm before anything came undone. "Oh. Just a back rub, then." Bari shrugged, "I can do that too."
"Healing. Could you just heal him?" came the emotionless reply. Robin was getting used to this now. "He might be dying, y'know."
"Dying? That ol' Mofo? I bet he don't even know she's dead. He's probably under all of that shit" - he pointed at the splattered sticky mess that constituted the Snake Mother's head - "biting and punching. I'll go get him just the same." Bari started exploring the coils of the carcass.
"Seu? Oh Seu? She's dead now, okay? It's over - you can let go now..."
Healing - healing all round, really. I suppose he'd better find Seu first. Need someone to heal first...
Yes that was an exciting finale and very nice GMing. I really got the feeling that at any moment things could have gone horribly wrong.
A good plan to use the sword to conduct the lightning. Well played folks.
Eggbert was amazed to see that the monster was slain, reduced to a bloody mess by the combined attacks of his brave companions.
Seeing Hisston on the ground, Eggbert felt a pang of regret for having guzzled down his only healing potion. Seu was nowhere to be seen. Where was he? Had he been crushed by the falling beast?
For a long moment or two, Rambulge thought he was back in the chamber with the steam imps- he felt like he was being cooked alive by boiling jets of steam and he felt himself relax and succumb to his fate.
However things started coming back to him in a jumble, and he realised he lived still- Yngwie's song, Seu facing down the monstrous snake...the scrolls!
Rambulge's eyes shot open, then he closed them again with a smile.
Making no attempt to rise, he simply pulled at the waistline of his pants, allowing Lemmy to hop out.
The toad sat on the spell sword's chest, croaking excitedly...they had done it!!!
Eyes still close, Rambulge shouted " does it still live?"
I appreciate all the warm sentiments flowing around this D&D adventure. Just remember how much you love me when... well, when this next bit happens
"Does it still live?!" shouted Rambulge. A warm sense of elation, mingled with exhaustion and spent adrenaline from surviving yet another unspeakable horror, washed over the Spellsword. Then a strange, hissing voice coming from next to him caused something else unspeakable to wash over the Spellsword; specifically, his pants.
"Ssssss.... sshe livess not..."
Rambulge opened his eyes and slowly turned his head to the doorway of the room, beholding an enormous, heavily armoured snakeman wielding a huge, heavily ornamented and extremely deadly looking halberd.
"Uhmm... guys... GUYS!"
_________________________________________
Bari waded through ankle-deep foaming red mush, pushing aside the giant coils of the Snakemother's carcass to try and locate Seu. Robin worked his way around the other side, with a similar goal in mind. Something weird was happening to the gigantic corpse, it was rotting away at a far greater pace than any ordinary dead animal should - she was literally disintegrating before their very eyes!
"There is something foul at play here" muttered Robin, though he could detect no signs of acid eating away at his boots, or any other corrosive work at force - it just seemed like the Snakemother's corpse was too disgusting for this world and was exiting rapidly...
"Man, how we 'sposed to find SHIT in this mess?" complained Bari, right before he trod in a huge pile of snakeshit that had clearly been ejected from the rapidly vanishing coils of intestine that kept rupturing out of the splitting, dissolving skin of the Snakemother. "Well, I had to ask, didn't I?"
_________________________________________
Red. Dark. Water. Floating.
So this is it? Thought Seu. I died. I'm dead. I'm being reborn. This redness, it's a womb. I'm floating in a womb. Soon i'll be born back into the world, a baby with the mental powers of a man. I will continue my quest for good, fight evil with my tiny mitts, and a baby sized sword that they will forge me, for who could deny the power of an infant such as I? I will learn to crawl in my armour, and they will build a trap-door directly into the ass so when I crap my tin pants they can scoop it right out. Hey.... HEY? Why didn't I think of this before?? A DOOR in my ASS! When I crap myself, I can simply open the door to my ass and scoop it out! Open the door to my ass! OPEN THE DOOR TO MY ASS!!
"Woah there man, take it slow!" Bari was overwhelmed by Seu's sudden sexual awakening. He'd been a bit surprised when the Paladin had suddenly burst out of the big pile of guts in front of him,waving his arms and shouting, and the proposition was a sweet one, but, priest of Lurrve though he was, even he had difficulty finding the paladin attractive right now, covered as he was in a thick goopy layer of entrails, gore and slime. "You've been knocked around pretty bad, fella - you should rest up a little before we try any backdoor shenanigans, okay? Don't worry now, papa bear's got you..."
Bari led Seu out of the sickening swamp, and lay the bewildered paladin down, so that he might administer some of Jordann's healing powers to him.
Bari casts Cure Light Wounds on Seu, restoring 6 HP
Seu's HP 8/45
_______________________________
Yngwie dusted himself off and checked the baby strapped to his back - miraculously, she seemed unhurt, but was fussy and whinging. He lay her down on the floor with the cloak under her, and checked her over for signs of hurt. Satisfied, he scooped her up and made his way to where Eggbert was examining the treasures he had found.
"Fascinating," murmered the gnome, "this shield's surface is so highly polished, it's remarkable. One feels oneself being drawn into it's depth's..."
"Be careful, that's no accident, that shield is powerful," Yngwie said. "It's one of the great treasure's of the temple, the Mirror Shield. Not only does it protect against the deadly gaze of creatures such as the basilisk, it also has the power to bind a thinking creature into a trance if they gaze too long into it's depths... leaving them quite helpless..."
"Remarkable," repeated the gnome. "And what about this stave? It feels... godly, somehow?"
"Yes, that stave belonged to the high priestess of the Order of Onne-Dray. It can only be wielded by a good-hearted cleric. You should give it to Bari, I expect he shall be able to tap it's powers, though I know not what they may be." Yngwie looked about him, to see what the others were doing. Rambulge appeared to have his hands down his pants, which were still smoking away. Bari was tending to Seu, and Robin had located Hisston at the back of the cavern... Oh! Hisston!
Yngwie hurried over to Robin. He was turning over Hisston and checking his breathing - the creature's chest was rising and falling but his breaths were shallow and halting. He had taken a big hit from the snakemother, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. It didn't look good.
"We need to awaken him, he knows the exit from this room! He promised to tell us!" there was an urgency in Yngwie's voice. He suddenly had a very bad feeling.
Just then, Rambulge's panicked cry filled the room. The others all looked up to see what was wrong. The spellsword was shuffling backwards on his bum, away from the doorway leading from the spawning chamber they had blown to smithereens. The fires had abated somewhat now, and in the frame of the doorway stood a huge snakeman, the biggest they'd yet seen.
His armour was dark, wrought with fine detailed depictions of entwined snakes. On his breast was emblazoned an emblem of a coiled up serpent. In his hands was a massive halberd. The beast stepped forwards, and in halting common speak, said these words.
"ALL WHO WISH TO DIE A WARRIOR'S DEATH STEP FORWARD NOW AND FIGHT ME, OR DIE WHERE YOU STAND AS CRAVEN SCUM. I AM THE GREAT SIRE OF THE YUAN-TI. YOU HAVE KILLED MY MATE. I WOULD HAVE MY VENGEANCE."
At this statement, snakemen archers began filing in to the room behind him, forming a rough semi-circle around him of a dozen bows, strings humming with tension, cruel-tipped arrows pointed at every one of their hearts...
P.S. I love you guys too! xx This is my first 'real' D&D campaign as DM, (i tried once before about 15 years ago but it was a big floppy failure...). I don't think this adventure could have worked with any combination of people other than you folks - it feels genuinely special that we all seem to be on the same wavelength and want the same/similar experiences from this adventure. I shall do my best to keep it at the standard you've come to enjoy!
Fora few seconds Robin was tempted to reach for a new arrow and let rip but then seeing all the archers, he figured he wouldn't want to be shafted - in more than one way.
From where he knelt next to Hisston and Yngwie, Robin whispered lowly, "get Hisston on his feet and moving. He may be able to help here". Robin looked over to the large shield and wondered if it may be useful and in doing so saw the great bloody (in many, many ways) shape of Seu emerging from the Snake-Mothers corpse.
Cheers Cap'n, knew we could rely on you :p.
Robin going to try and help get Hisston up and moving. At the moment, I am not using the last healing potion I have on me.
Stuffing Lemmy back into his freshly soiled trousers, Rambulge scuttled backwards on his prosterior, gibbering and cursing the turn of events.
He could imagine the brute's halberd spitting him open from crotch to brow all too well...he hesitated wether to stand or not, he sure didn't wasn't in a rush to meet this one in close quarter combat.
He prayed somebody could bring Hisston around and that somehow their former captive might be able to bring these Yuan Ti around...
Seu was still holding Bari in his arms (or was it the other way round) with strong will to suck his thumb. His helmet and plated glove prevented him from doing so but what took Seu out from his semi-conscious state was the very strong evil aura that filled the room at once.
Seu stood while removing his helmet and he watched the room that had been their battle ground swarming with yuan-ti with in the middle one huge Snakeman like they had not seen any before.
The words of the Snakeman were crystal clear and the message behind them left no doubt in the paladin's heart. A warrior using such words sent his message from the bottom of his heart and any true warrior could only answer such words in the same langage...
Seu knotted his hair back in place (they were messy and had plenty of dry tips with which he would have to deal later on) and the mess that his face was suddenly enlightened with a huge smile in which you could barely see the white teeth between the blood stains...
" How come evil doers fall back and cry out for honour and justice when they're the ones being robbed ? Have any of your victims received any righteous treatment ? I doubt it... You want your vengeance ? You shall have it but you will find me standing in the middle if you make one step towards my friends."
Putting his helmet back on, Seu wispered a few words to his companions : " We're in now shape to face that many yuan-ti but they don't need to know that, we've just executed their leader. We can play the Hisston card but remember that he just got what he wanted, the snakemother is dead, so there is nothing compelling him to fulfill his part of the deal... the final move on the Snakemother was a leap of faith because we bet our fates in our own resolve and the will of the Lady. Would you place your fate in a traitor's hand and the will of evil creatures? "
His left hand was holding his damaged shield (the face of the Snakemother could almost be seen in negative in it) and his right hand was caressing the hilt of his sword...
Bari shared the same resigned stare the rest of the party had for the latest arrivals.
"Huh." His mind raced with the physics required to sire anything with a 200' snake. "Brother's gotta have a little something extra to be so confident..."
Still, Seu seemed pretty confident too, given how badly he'd been knocked about by the Snake Mother. Maybe he also, y'know? And this whole ass thing? What does it mean, Jordann?
But that was for another time. For now, it seemed like more snakes were aching for some tough luurve. Bari cracked his knuckles. He was all out of prayers now, so it'd have to be the hard way. Silence descended on the scene as the echo of Seu's retort died. Nothing but the crackle of fires beyond the yaun-ti, their low light silhouetting the menace of their powerful shapes. A brief gust of wind tousled the paladin's hair.
Just then, the gnome scuttled out of the gloom, presented the stave to Bari and the shield to Seu. No one spoke - a brief nod was enough. His job done, Eggbert scampered out of the nomansland between the two parties back to the relative safety behind his friends. Bar considered the polished wood he'd just been given. He didn't recognise it, but it felt familiar.
Bari will take the staff and then cast as many cure light wounds on Seu as he can reasonably squeeze in. He has four left. Unless, that is, if the stave has some sort of Power Word Kill or equivalent that could be leveraged in this situation...
