Chloe: HP = 65, PP = 56, EP = 65, Status = Fine
Ashley: HP = 49, PP = 66, EP = 45, Status = Fine
NPC stats
Tesnya: HP = 60, PP = 50, EP = 100, Status = Fine
Jenn: HP = 50, PP = 65, EP = 45, Status = Fine
Charles: HP = 76, PP = 71, EP = 53/57, Status = Fine, Eldritch Lantern
Nina: HP = 35, PP = 50, EP = 55, Status = Fine
"Uhhhh....." Jenn groaned wordlessly following Ashley's question, but after a few moments she sat up. After closing her robe once more, Jenn climbed wordlessly back into the pew and passed out again. Nina had seemingly passed out on the floor, and after he helped Chloe up into her pew Charles gently lifted the druid up and placed her down. "I wish we had some blankets.... Well, I guess the robes are better than nothing," he said quietly, and he shot Ashley a thankful look when she said that she would take second watch. He was the only one really awake when she spoke next, and responded as quietly as he could; "You want to get some more rest first, or start now?"
"I'll be fine" Ashley wasn't entire sure how long it was until dawn, but without the full weight of exhaustion she was sure she'd spend most of the time lying awake in any case. She raised a hand to bring back her lantern, so that Charles could safely drop his, and tried to sit such that it would be difficult to fall asleep while she was supposed to be keeping watch.
The storm mage briefly considered waking someone else after a few hours, but discarded the thought. The other women had gone through the rigors of pregnancy and childbirth in addition to everything else, after all, and Charles had already stood his turn. Maybe it would have been fair to ask him to keep on for a little while, but then again perhaps not. And it was always harder to fall asleep when you were trying to... her thoughts ran in circles to keep moving, and she started keeping watch.
Sweat dripped and flung off Chloe's naked body, her breath coming in short gasps as she was taken from behind forcefully. Not that Chloe minded she herself was doing her best to meet the powerful thrusts. Her heavy tits swaying underneath her like a pendulum marking the time of each thrust. Her voice moaned in approval with each thrust and knew she wouldn't or couldn't last much longer. She could feel the firm grip of her lover had on her waist as they sped up. Each thrust becoming deeper more insistent and more forceful. Her own hands clawed into the ground attempting to find purchases for the rough ride she was experiencing. "HARDER! FASTER!" Chloe was shocked did they just come out of her mouth. Her own shock faded quickly as her lover seemed to tense getting ready blow. She could feel her own body tighten around the invading object and her back began to arch as she reached her climax. A passionate cry escaped her mouth as she lost all muscle control from her orgasm. Her body tingled all over and her vision faded briefly as she felt her partner reach their own soon after hers. Like a puppet with their strings cut Chloe fell forward completely exhausted. Her sweat soaked hair blocking her vision as she breathed heavily from the bout of love making. A familiar voice soon broke her afterglow "Oh no no no my fuck toy I'm far from satisfied." A brief moment of confusion washed over Chloe as her lover rolled her over. "No this time there is no escape for you I will have your soul and you will be mine for the rest of your life!" The visage of the alien woman from the ship emerged from the darkness. "Now my pet lets put a baby in that belly of yours humm" Chloe tried to scramble away but the alien woman's tendrils had already wrapped themselves around her limbs and pulled her closer to the alien. "NO NO NO" the alien woman just laughed at her objections as she was pulled closer to the aliens tenticock.
"NO!" Chloe woke from her nightmare in a jolt and fell to the floor. She lay a moment shivering from the cold and well other things. Looking around to see if her sudden outburst had woke anyone her face flush with embarisment. Satisfied that all seemed well and muttering an apology to anyone she woke Chloe slowly picked herself up off the floor. Falling back asleep was out of the question as the images of the alien woman still persisted so she decided to do something else hopefully constructive with her time. Gathering up some loose bricks in a pile on a clear spot of floor she began to channel minor fire magic to warm the bricks while doing her best not to set the old church on fire. While an actual fire would be to dangerous hopefully the heated bricks would hold enough heat for awhile to at lest warm her up.
Trying to heat some bricks or stones with fire magic to make a small a heat source
Chloe: HP = 65, PP = 56, EP = 65, Status = Fine
Ashley: HP = 49, PP = 66, EP = 45, Status = Fine
NPC stats
Tesnya: HP = 60, PP = 50, EP = 100, Status = Fine
Jenn: HP = 50, PP = 65, EP = 45, Status = Fine
Charles: HP = 76, PP = 71, EP = 53/57, Status = Fine, Eldritch Lantern
Nina: HP = 35, PP = 50, EP = 55, Status = Fine
Charles gave Ashley an appreciative smile again at offering to take watch, and was quickly asleep. He was awakened violently by Chloe's scream, but he was the only one. The man quickly went back to sleep following her apology, and that left Ashley and Chloe as the only two among their group who remained awake while Chloe created a heat source for them. It certainly made things more comfortable for them once the stones began emitting warmth, though none of the others were awake to enjoy it at the moment.
Ashley moved over to Chole's heat source, but not so close that it might lull her into sleep. She had briefly considered trying to move Jenn, but decided against it on the basis that the water mage needed more sleep more then she needed more warmth. She considered talking to Chole, but wasn't sure quite what to say. The woman had clearly had a nightmare, it was easy to guess the subject, and she was just as clearly dealing with it just fine on her own. Ashley went back to watching the doors and the shadows for any threats, waiting for the dawn.
Chloe stopped channeling fire magic when the bricks began to glow a reddish orange and simple sat in silence for a while. Chloe's mind wandered from event to event over the past few days until it finally locked onto her recent imprisonment aboard the alien ship. As distasteful as the memories where she forced herself to go over them in order to master them before they mastered her. Going over the details in her mind quickly brought a minor flush of arousal as well as a sinking feeling in her gut. This is what she had to overcome. If her nightmare was any indication a part of her deep inside her psyche liked what the aliens had done to her. Taking a deep calming breath she stared into the stones. "I wonder if this is how Grace feels.." Chloes head sank lower as new thoughts flooded her. She hadn't seen Grace in two whole days. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt at how she took off without Grace to the festival. It had seemed innocent enough just some free time away from Grace what could go wrong right she wouldn't even notice. After all everyone needs a break right. Chloe could feel water pooling at the corners of her eyes. Well something did go wrong and now your best friend someone you love is missing. She could be dead or worse a slave to the aliens. Given her condition how long do you think she could resist them. A sharp intake of breath helped prevent the oncoming sob but couldn't stop the tears slowly running down her face. She had to stop or it wouldn't be long before she became a crying wreck. "No shes stronger than that... and Im stronger than this." Her self abusive and thankfully mostly internal monolog ended as Chloe drew her knees up to her chest and sat staring at the stones.
Chloe: HP = 76, PP = 65, EP = 75, Status = Fine
Ashley: HP = 49, PP = 66, EP = 41/45, Status = Fine, Eldritch Lantern
NPC stats
Tesnya: HP = 65, PP = 55, EP = 110, Status = Fine
Jenn: HP = 52, PP = 69, EP = 47, Status = Fine
Charles: HP = 81, PP = 75, EP = 60, Status = Fine
Nina: HP = 35, PP = 50, EP = 55, Status = Fine
The night dragged on uneventfully, and whether or not Chloe kept herself up through it or went to back to sleep under the warmth of the stones she'd heated was a decision left solely to her. Jenn and Tesnya slept the sleep of the dead, not stirring or making a sound until the morning light came up. Whether their sleep was untroubled by nightmares or not was unknown, but none of them seemed to show it. The only who slept ill besides Chloe was Charles, the many tossing and turning on the bench he'd taken to sleeping on.
Dawn came some hours later, and the morning chill pressed upon them insistently despite the still warm stones. That woke most of them up fully, Charles sitting up with a grunt and glancing around blearily. He didn't look particularly well rested, but he got to his feet wordlessly anyway. For that matter, nor did Jenn and Tesnya, who both took a few moments to climb off of their cots and get to their feet. "Lets get out of here. Now," Jenn said vehemently, and the others nodded along with her and started toward the iced over door so long as Chloe and Ashley raised no objections.
In the morning light the ice, which had remained frozen thanks to Jenn's enchantment, looked very strange. The glare made it look black. When they got closer, however, they realized that it wasn't black. It was dark, bloody red.
Chloe visibly paled at the sight of the frozen blood. "It's another illusion right?" Reaching her hand out to touch the door her hand hesitated. She remembered all to well the burning sensation she had felt before and even though she knew that the burning blood in the room was an illusion she was having doubts. The thing they killed was the sources wasn't it then how could this be here?
Ashley glanced at her lantern, which had kept burning through the night. "No. It's not an illusion." She tried to think. It didn't have to actually be a block of frozen blood. It could just be a little red dye mixed in, and that might be enough to change "nearly black" to "very dark red". Somehow that didn't seem likely, though.
What the hell could do that? Creating real, solid matter was no easy task, and working it into an existing enchantment could hardly be trivial either. But doing all that without Ashley noticing... that was bad. There was certainly one god operating in the area, maybe there was another? Maybe even whoever's church this was? She stalled for a moment while she thought. "Um, Jenn? Please tell me that your charm turns things red to warn that it's about to run out..."
What could they do? They could ignore the fact that the ice seemed to have turned to blood, melt it down and try to get home. That didn't sound great. Blowing a hole in the wall and running like hell sounded slightly better, but only slightly. Just staying put was nonsense.
Exploring the church further, now, was an interesting idea. If this activity was tied somehow to the church or its god, then exploring could give them information on exactly what they were facing. Or it could drop them further into it. A well informed and well prepared wizard could take on almost anything, and six might even manage a god. But there were a lot of assumptions hidden in that thought. "If not... either we explore the church more, together, and try to figure out what's going on, or we prepare ourselves, blow a hole in the wall, and run like the wind."
Chloe: HP = 44/76, PP = 65, EP = 75, Status = Injured
Ashley: HP = 49, PP = 66, EP = 41/45, Status = Fine, Eldritch Lantern
NPC stats
Tesnya: HP = 65, PP = 55, EP = 110, Status = Fine
Jenn: HP = 10/52, PP = 69, EP = 47, Status = Badly Injured
Charles: HP = 81, PP = 75, EP = 60, Status = Fine
Nina: HP = 35, PP = 50, EP = 55, Status = Fine
Attack (Slam vs Ashley) : Miss.
Attack (Axe vs Jenn) : Hit.
Damage: 3 + 4 + 5 + 1 - 4 + 40 - 7 = 42 damage. Jenn is now naked.
Attack (Claw Arm vs Chloe) : Hit.
Damage: 9 + 2 + 23 - 1 = 32 damage. Her armor is at 8/25 TP.
"No," Jenn whispered weakly from behind Ashley when she asked about her enchantment, "It definitely does not do that." Her lantern had only confirmed that it was definitely not any sort of illusion, and Charles stared thoughtfully at it while Nina clutched at Chloe's side fretfully. "This wasn't us.... Maybe something happened to it from outside? Like a bird crashing into it or something..." he trailed off, clearly not thinking much of his own theory as he examined the wall that had been turned from ice to frozen blood over the night. "I'm all for the idea of blasting our way through the wall. Any opposed?" Jenn and Nina didn't seem to mind that plan either, but Charles was quick to point out, "If it's the same creature that killed those people and monsters out in the woods and attacked Chloe, then just not being in this church won't be good enough to ensure our safety. This place seems to be the center of its power, this is the only place that might allow us to destroy it permanently!"
Ashley felt a sudden prickling at the back of her neck, and she turned instinctively and held her lantern a little higher, casting light over Jenn's once more terrified face and making her look even paler than usual in the wan light cast by it. There was a moment of deathly silence as they light enveloped the room they'd just left, and Ashley could see rivers of blood with worms and maggots and beetles and all manner of other horrible crawling things spread throughout them. The light revealed a mass of blood flesh slowly growing in the doorway leading into the chamber they'd slept in that the rivers seemed to be converging towards, their sources seemingly being the very walls of the room, and occasionally a bat or a crow would silently flutter into the mass and dissolve into it like the assorted crawling things seemed to be doing.
She only had enough time to call out a short warning before limbs and a head erupted from the mass of rotting meat, the stench of which came over the group in an overpowering wave. Chloe never knew what hit her, the sudden stench powerful enough to momentarily to leave her dizzy, and Ashley only weathered it by clamping a hand over her mouth. The body shot toward them before it had even finished materializing, hurtling across the room like a thrown spear. They had all turned toward in by the time it started moving, but even Ashley couldn't bring any response to bear against it quickly enough to halt its charge. The thing's right hand appeared identical to that of the creature that had attacked Chloe, complete with its massive wicked looking axe, while its left turned into one identical to that of one of the hunter lizardmen that they'd had to fight numerous times. Both of its legs seemed to have come from the lizard creatures as well, while its torso was an unidentifiable tangle of meat that looked like it had been woven together somehow. Its head was now covered in a filthy cloth sack through which a single eye was visible, glowing hatefully in a brilliant blood red as it came hurtling toward them.
Ashley just barely had enough time to step out of the way of its charge, pulling Jenn along with her. Had she not moved aside when she did, she would have been caught between the charging monster and the wall of ice, which met with a crash that caused the front of the church to shiver violently. Jenn wasn't so lucky. The thing swung its axe and claw viciously just before it slammed into the ice wall, and the ragged blade tore into the water mage's upper back and opened up a gash that went from one side of her body to the other, thankfully not cutting deep enough to cleave through her ribs or spine but still causing her back to quickly become soaked with her blood. It was so close that Ashley could see the maggots crawling along the blade, some of which had landed on Jenn's flesh and were already burrowing in. The axe continued soaring forward after taking a small chunk of her with it and thudded into the ice, burying itself into the bloody ice and causing it to crack and darken visibly.
The claw hand landed on the wall next to the icy barrier following the massive monster's impact, but not before tearing into Chloe's side. She didn't get any maggots into her, thankfully, but there were still a quartet of jagged claw marks on her and a chunk of her robe was badly torn, already starting to soak with blood. "Holy shit!" Charles yelled in surprise as he took a step back from the monster, which was now flailing wildly and attempting to tear its axe free of the wall. An extra limb was flopping bonelessly out of its side, apparently taken from another human judging by its appearance. Tesnya, Ashley, Jenn, and Charles were on the thing's right side, while Chloe and Nina were on its left. Upon being struck, Jenn's eyes bulged and she had gone utterly silent, but after Charles' outburst she let out the loudest blood curdling scream that any of them had ever heard.
"GET-THEM-OUT-GET-THEM-OUT-GET-THEM-OUT!!! GET THEM OUT OF MEEEEEE!!!!" she had collapsed a few feet away and was clawing at her back as if in pain, which she undoubtedly was. She was still standing, but her back was soaked in blood and her robe had half fallen off, revealing her full breasts once more. Nina had pulled Chloe out of reach of the clawing arm, and that alone had kept her from taking more slashes across her body. The pale druid was staring at the abomination in mixed shock and horror, as if she wasn't quite sure if it was real, but the wounds on Chloe's side were most definitely real, and the thing was within the radius of the light cast by Ashley's lantern. It was most definitely real.
The thing hadn't made even a single sound as it attacked save for those made by its movements, and it continued that now as it tore the axe out of the ice and wheeled on Ashley and company. Charles and Tesnya got between it and Jenn, but that also put them in Ashley's way if she wanted to use any of her most powerful wind blasts. Of course, they'd also have probably hit Chloe and Nina, who were blocked from their view by the bloated monstrosity's hulking form.
"Nina we need another set of hands summon something!" Chloe yelled as she dragged Nina with her away from the abomination. Attempting to position herself with in 10 feet or so of Charlies, Jenn, and Tesnya before casting her own spell. The gashes from the claws hurt like hell making it hard for her to concentrate but she had to succeed. Letting her healing magic flow she hopped to envelope her friends in a regenerative aura.
Casting an intensified empowered Regenerative Aura (Emanation, Healing) lvl 5 body spell if I got my maths right it should be 189 hp gained initial cost being 21 ep. 2d8 (maxed from Physician doubled from Intensify) + 5 (mind/8) * 9 (5 base + 1 Healer +3 empowered) at lest I hope I did that right.
Ashley watched in horror as Jenn screamed and clawed at her wound. Normally, she was sure that maggots wouldn't do any serious harm to a living person, preferring dead flesh. But then rivers of blood, death, and decay didn't normally form into flesh golems and start attacking the living. All around, it was probably a good idea to heal the water mage as soon as possible. Ashley's talents in healing weren't anything to write home about, but hopefully it wouldn't take much to expel the foreign beings and stop the bleeding.
Of course, that would mean the chance that the homunculus had that much longer to attack someone else. Wind was out of the question without a serious change of position, and even then dangerous this close to her allies. Once again, Ashley had cause to be glad for the broad education she'd received at the University, as some of the more powerful types of arcane power seemed perfectly suited to the task.
There was no question of one or the other. Ashley knew that she needed to do both, and as quickly as possible. She split her concentration in two, and reached towards the writhing water mage with one hand while the other rose towards the monster, crackling purple fire forming in a sheathe around it. Either spell on its own would have been almost trivial, but trying to work two spells at once made the act stretch Ashley's concentration to its limits. Her eyes were on the monster, judging a path that would go clear of her allies, while she listened for Jenn's breathing to guide her healing. The air mage could hear some of the others speaking, yelling, see them moving, but she drowned out everything that wasn't involved with her spells. She drew in raw energy, and let out a grunt of effort as she released two spells at once.
Quicken spell: 4 EP, -10 casting for one turn. Cast two otherwise unmodified spells.
Healing Touch, Lesser: Body level 2. (2d6+10)*2 healing, on Jenn.
Eldritch Blast: Arcane level 3. (2d4+11)*4 damage. Ignores armor. Targeting the enemy.
Chloe: HP = 76, PP = 65, EP = 52/75, Status = Fine
Ashley: HP = 13/49, PP = 66, EP = 30/45, Status = Badly Injured, Eldritch Lantern
NPC stats
Tesnya: HP = 17/65, PP = 55, EP = 98/110, Status = Badly Injured, Energy Blade X = 11
Jenn: HP = 52, PP = 69, EP = 39/47, Status = Fine
Charles: HP = 49/81, PP = 75, EP = 54/60, Status = Injured, Prone
Nina: HP = 35, PP = 50, EP = 49/55, Status = Fine
~~~~~
Enemy: Taken a total of 140 damage
Rolls
Chloe uses an Empower, Intensified, Regenerative Aura. That's 19 EP, 4 points over her Spirit Ceiling, so 23 EP and 4 HP. All creatures within 25 feet of her regain some HP if she succeeds.
Casting: Success.
Healing: 189 HP regained for everyone! Including the monster. >.> You did do the math right.
Ashley uses Quicken Spell for 4 EP, Healing Touch for 2 EP, and Eldritch Blast for 4 EP. Total 10 EP, when Ashley's Spirit Ceiling is 9. That's 11 EP and 1 HP.
Casting: Both succeed.
Attack (Eldritch Blast) : Hit.
Damage: 1 + 4 + 9 + 2 = 16 * 4 = 64 damage.
Healing: 3 + 4 + 10 = 17 * 2 = 34 HP restored on Jenn.
Charles Casts Bone Grinder, a level 4 bolt Spell from Body
Casting: Success.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 1 + 4 + 7 + 2 = 14 * 4 = 56/2 = 28 damage damage.
Jenn flees for her life! And shoots an Ice Spike over her shoulder in the process.
Casting: Failure. Or not.
Tesnya summons an X = 11 EP Energy Blade and slashes with it.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: (2 + 1 = 3) * 11 = 33 + 15 = 48 damage.
Nina casts Move Earth, a level 4 Nature Spell.
Casting: Success.
Equivalent to Animate with X = 6.
Grapple: Enemy wins. They are not bound.
~~~~~
Attack (Slam vs Charles) : Hit.
Damage: 1 + 12 + 20 - 1 = 32 damage.
Resistance: Enemy wins. Charles is knocked prone.
Attack (Axe vs Tesnya) : Hit.
Damage: 2 + 3 + 4 + 4 - 4 + 40 - 1 = 48 damage. Tesnya is now naked.
Attack (Claws vs Ashley) : Hit.
Damage: 9 + 5 + 23 - 1 = 36 damage. Her armor is at 6/25 TP.
Chloe unleashed a tremendously powerful burst of healing magic that washed over the lot of them, instantly repairing Jenn's wound as well as her own, but the girl hardly seemed less panicked by this fact. Ashley simultaneously unleashed a bolt of magical energy at their foe, which tore a coin sized hole in its chest, and simultaneously grasped Jenn and pushed more healing magic into her, which only seemed to spur the girl's terror further. Jenn bolted from their ranks and ran at full speed for the door leading into the corridor that Chloe had been attacked in, trying and failing to cast a spell even during her desperate attempt to escape their attacker. Charles unleashed a bolt of energy that caused a part of the monster's body to sag inwards, but the creature didn't seem to notice. Tesnya, meanwhile, summoned a blade of blue light and slashed at the thing, very nearly severing the thing's claw arm off, but again it hardly seemed to notice. Finally, Nina cast another spell that caused the ground to well up and grab the monster's legs, attempting to hold it in place, but the abomination wrenched its limbs out of the stone's grasp and hurled itself onto the offensive once more.
The abomination surged forward, slamming its body into Charles and sending him flying aside. He fell and rolled into the wall near the doorway, but for the moment seemed to only be momentarily disoriented. The corpse-like thing slashed at Tesnya with its axe as it passed her, tearing a wide gash in the girl's belly that was quickly covered in maggots just as Jenn's wound had been, and just like Jenn Tesnya let out a scream of horror. The monster's charge continued past Ashley, but she wasn't left untouched by its passage either, as its clawed hand flopped momentarily before suddenly surging directly at her, long bloody lines appearing across her collar as its talons tore into her body. The object of its aggression, however, became all too clear as the monster rushed after Jenn.
Ashley looked down, and saw the bloody lines that had appeared above her breasts. There was a lot of blood. But her dress had taken at least part of the blow, and while it was nearly falling off now, there wasn't enough blood to be fatal. At least not immediately. And there weren't any maggots. Which was less then could be said for anyone that this beast focused on for more then a few seconds, judging from the wounds it had simultaneously inflicted on others, especially its terrifying axe.
And it seemed to be focused on Jenn. Why, Ashley couldn't begin to guess. Maybe just because she had been the first one it hit, or perhaps because it had been her magic that sealed the entrance. Mostly her magic. It didn't matter why. Reverting to her instincts between her injury and her fear, she ran off at a diagonal, trying to keep from falling too far behind but also making sure that the monster wasn't on a line between her and Jenn. Then she raised a hand and bent the air into a coherent beam and launched it at the creature's side, tearing apart pews that stood in its path.
Chloe's spell went off with out a hitch well if investing to much energy into a spell could be considered normal. Despite some slight steam from the over expenditure of energy Chloe seemed relatively fine. Unfortunately that couldn't be said for almost everyone else. Charles was bashed aside. Tesnya was nearly disemboweled by the creatures axe and even Ashly didn't escape unharmed. Worried now that the creature had closed the gap Chloe let her spell drop so as to minimize the risk of undoing all the work they had done hurting it. Conjuring up some offensive magic Chloe wished she had paid more attention to her Light magic teacher a lazer would be very helpful right now but instead she cast Bone Grinder. "Let see how far this thing gets without a spine".
Casting an intensified empowered Bone Grinder at the creature
(Bolt) cost 17ep 4d4 (doubled by intensify) +7 *7(4 base +3 empowered)
Chloe: HP = 74/76, PP = 65, EP = 33/75, Status = Fine
Ashley: HP = 11/49, PP = 66, EP = 17/45, Status = Badly Injured, Eldritch Lantern
NPC stats
Tesnya: HP = 65, PP = 55, EP = 97/110, Status = Fine, Energy Blade X = 11
Jenn: HP = 52, PP = 69, EP = 35/47, Status = Fine
Charles: HP = 49/81, PP = 75, EP = 54/60, Status = Injured
Nina: HP = 35, PP = 50, EP = 43/55, Status = Fine
Rolls
Chloe uses an Empowered, Intensified, Bone Grinder. That's 17 EP, 2 points over her Spirit Ceiling, so 19 EP and 2 HP.
Casting: Success.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 2 + 1 + 3 + 4 + 7 = 17 * 7 = 119/2 = 60 damage.
Ashley uses a Heightened x5 Greater Gust. You did the math for me!
Attack : Hit.
Damage: 6 + 9 = 15 * 5 = 75/2 = 38 damage.
Resistance: Ashley wins.
Charles gets up.
Jenn flees for her life some more! And covers the ground in an ice slick using Ice Slick, a level 3 Water spell.
Casting: Success.
Damage: 2 + 1 + 7 + 2 + 2 = 14 * 2 = 28/2 = 14 damage.
Resistance: It's already prone. >_<
Tesnya pays her upkeep and slashes again.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: (2 + 4 = 6) * 11 = 66 + 15 = 81 damage.
Nina casts Way of Nature, a level 4 Bolt spell from Nature, healing Tesnya.
Casting: Success.
Attack: Hit.
Healing: 4 + 3 + 8 + 2 = 17 * 4 = 68 HP restored!
Gain 2 exp!
Ashley, though she was injured from the monster's claws, rushed away from her other companions and took them out of her line of fire. Chloe unleashed a bolt of magic that caused the thing's spine to crumple in on itself, its upper half folding backwards and its charge faltering. This gave Ashley a perfect moment in which to hammer against the creature with a powerful burst of wind, and Jenn screamed another spell over her shoulder that caused an ice slick to appear under the things feet. It careened into the wall with a titanic thud that shook dust and rubble from the ceiling, and Tesnya threw herself at it with her energy blade held high. A single cut took the abomination's head and right arm completely off, and with a final shudder the body went still against the wall.
Charles climbed to his feet and rubbed his arms, bruises already forming in the spots that had been directly hit by the walking amalgamation of corpses. "Is it dead yet?" he grunted painfully as he half limped over to them, but the thing's remains were already beginning to dissolve into its constituent pieces. "Where's Jenn?" Tesnya suddenly asked, still wincing in pain from the wound on her chest. Nina came forth quickly and unleashed a powerful healing spell that sealed her wound and caused the still wriggling maggots to dissolve.
The water mage was nowhere to be found, her whimpering cries and the falling of her feet the only sign they had of her continued presence. She was running deeper into the building by the sound of things.
Chloe reacted as fast as she could and released another wave of healing magic before chasing after Jenn. "SOMEONE BURN THAT THING BEFORE IT GETS BACK UP!"
Casting
Regenerative Aura (Emanation, Healing) lvl 5 body spell 78 hp within 50ft of Chloe
With the thing dismembered and beheaded, Ashley felt the pain of her injuries start to pile up. She knew she could really use healing... but she could also still hear Jenn running deeper into the church, whimpering. And while they had now slain two monsters inside the building, the second one had left Ashley more sure that it wasn't safe.
She straightened up and started after the water mage at a run, yelling ahead of her. "Jenn! It's dead, but we don't know what's in there!"
Running into the admittedly dangerous church while badly injured and disturbingly low on magic probably wasn't the best plan she'd ever had, but it still seemed better then leaving her friend in there alone. The eldritch lantern followed. It was a slow but steady leach on Ashley's remaining magic, just enough to keep it from regenerating. She briefly considered dismissing it so that she could regain energy, but instead dismissed the idea. The last time they had gone looking for monsters in the church she had been glad to have it. She now knew that some of the horror here was real, but knowing for sure what was real and what was illusion was too powerful of a tool to lose just for what energy she might gain in the next few minutes.
Instead, she drew her revolver and made sure it was ready to fire. The weight of the other gun she had found sat at her hip, but she wasn't familiar with the weapon, and only had one shot. The revolver was reliable, and had served her well when she'd run low on magic before. Perhaps it would do so again today.
Chloe: HP = 76, PP = 65, EP = 25/75, Status = Fine
Ashley: HP = 49, PP = 66, EP = 17/45, Status = Fine, Eldritch Lantern
NPC stats
Tesnya: HP = 65, PP = 55, EP = 96/110, Status = Fine, Energy Blade X = 11
Jenn: HP = 52, PP = 69, EP = 35/47, Status = Fine
Charles: HP = 81, PP = 75, EP = 50/60, Status = Fine
Nina: HP = 35, PP = 50, EP = 43/55, Status = Fine
Charles chucks a fireball at the corpse just to be sure.
There was no answer from Jenn, and the mage's fearful whimpers faded off into the distance. Chloe unleashed a burst of healing magic around them, healing Ashley's wounds at the very least as the lot of them charged after Jenn. Hearing Chloe's shout, however, caused Charles to pause briefly and turn toward the corpse of the abomination that had attacked them and send an orb of flame at it. Though he fell to the back of the group in doing so, Charles caused the rotting corpse to go up in flames, hopefully assuring that it wouldn't rise again. Ashley drew her revolver into her hand as they sped down the hallway as quickly as their legs could take them, she and Chloe in the lead with Nina and Tesnya close behind and Charles in the back. As they squeezed through the door, a loud, blood curdling scream sounded from somewhere within the church, the echos along the stone walls making it impossible to determine distance or direction with any real accuracy.
They passed the door in which they had found Chloe earlier, which was closed tightly, and proceeded through the door at the end of the hall, which had been closed when last they had come this way. It was now open, and as there was seemingly no other way in which Jenn might have gone that was the way that they went. That door led into a small dining room and kitchen that had likely been used by the priests that had once lived here, but was now decrepit and filled with the stench of rot. Meats and bowls of fruit left out for who knew how long had decayed into piles of foul smelling organic mush, and the cutlery and silverware visible was all heavily rusted or tarnished. The furniture seemed to have fared no better, the stone countertop in the kitchen being covered in cracks and dust and rubble, while the wooden chairs and table had largely rotted away and collapsed in on themselves.
The only sign of Jenn were her footprints in the ancient dust coating the floor, revealed by Ashley's lantern to be quite real rather than an illusion, which led over to the far side of the kitchen. There was a small pool of fresh, warm blood sitting beside a set of rickety wooden stairs, a rusty kitchen knife lying in the center of the pool with a handful of maggots squirming around in the blood that surrounded. On the right hand wall was another door, closed and barred from this side, but the stairs leading down seemed the more obvious direction in which they might find Jenn. Ashley's lantern illuminated a small patch of the floor below, apparently a root cellar judging by the dirt floor and packed earthen walls. Little was visible below, the stairs seemingly ending in a small landing with cramped hallways branching off in four directions, one directly behind them and traveling back the way they'd come, one to the left toward what would probably be the foundation of the church, one to the right that vanished into darkness, and one forward that also curved to the right. They could try to run down one together, peak in all of them, try to split up, or anything else that the group might think of in order to locate Jenn, if they wanted to go down into the cellar at all.
Ashley cursed under her breath. A five-way intersection, including the stairs. That was just typical. They could split up... but this was a dangerous place. There was rash, and then there was just plain stupid. Instead, the air mage took a few deep breaths and calmed herself down. It wasn't perfect - she could feel the air stirring around her despite her efforts at control - but it was good enough. She held one hand palm-up in front of her, and concentrated on Jenn, building a picture of the other woman as she had last seen her. That picture didn't do much for keeping herself under control, but the accuracy might prove important for the spell.
Then she released a measured amount of energy, and hoped that her spell would point out which direction Jenn and fled, or at least narrow it down. As she did so, she realized just how low her energy was getting and quickly dismissed her lantern. Still out of breath, she muttered "Someone else hold the lantern, I'm almost done..."
