Suddenly, two horrible figures smash through the earth in front of you, their eyes blazing in the night. They look decayed, almost as corpses, with their fingernails hardened and long like claws, and their long tongues snake out of their mouths horribly. They come rushing at you, screaming like banshees!
Notably, the wailing, which is very close now ahead of you, stops when the two creatures begin screaming.
Daegwyn attacks immediately with his staff, hoping to send these abominations of nature to an eternal death.
He misses badly, but the two dash past him madly, trying to attack those on horseback behind him.
Forte jumps off his horse, his mace in hand. "Come on!" he shouts to the mace as he advances on the creatures. "You like to kill dead things, don't you!!?! Kill these and we'll give you a worthy name!"
Arkady starts from his happy reverie as the beasts burst forth. Spurring his horse to the charge he lashes out with the sylmar blade hoping to cleave one of these foul beasts in twain.
One of the monsters bites Arkady's horse on the leg. The steed does not scream, but simply stops moving entirely. It's bulk stops Arkady from effectively hewing at the creature.
Jumping from the saddle Arkady pursues the ghouls. He shouts loud and fierce.
Grunting in frustration, Ullar aboard Zephyr tries to circle around, fighting these what he thinks are undead with his axe; aiming to smash their heads off. Ullar's eyes are dull, although that is hardly visible to anyone and he feels as if his life force, which enabled him to get this far, is ebbing away from his body.
Ullar rouses up his axe, but feels the monster grab hold of the horse's neck, leaping forward to bite him on the side. Both he and Zephyr freeze in place to the relatively minor wounds.
Wishing he was a better rider, able to fight from horseback, Rhees dismounts away from the creatures. He tries to fight close to his mount if he can - keeping the extra spears on his mount close by if at all possible. If this tactic works, he plans to leave any successful thrusts in the body and grab a fresh spear - anything to keep away from these vile creatures.
Giovanni Caboto dismounts in tandem with Rhees, unbinding his rope coil and draping it around his neck. Taking his horse's reign's in his left hand he moves and extends his right towards Rhees. "My spells are spent, and my meager ropes and dagger my only weapon. Pass me your reigns that you might better fight afoot with your spear. Retreat when you are wounded retreat, and I will step in with my knives, taking your place" offered the Florentine mage.
In a masterful attempt stating the obvious, Pietro yells when dismounting. Be careful, try not to get hit by them!" He gets the small necklace which is his holy symbol, from underneath his shirt. Holding it for a moment, he releases it again. The small necklace is in clear view at the moment, shining with a dim blue light. The priest of Hermes raises his hands in the air, fists clenched. Never taking his eyes from the two abominations, he continues. "Hermes, wise god, channel your energy through this vessel. Let these unnatural beasts go back to the place they came from. Let the death have the peace they deserve!" Fists open, palms towards the creatures, he finally screams at the creatures "May Hermes take care of you once and for all!"
Seeing the threat Pietro poses, the two begin rushing at him, ignoring Arkady, Forte, and Daegwyn to do so. As they rush to strike the two monsters from behind (Arkady having to dismount first), Pietro's power takes hold over them, driving them back with unholy fear, right into the waiting weapons of the warriors.
Daegwyn misses once again, his staff paling in comparison to Arkady's magical blade and Forte's mace, which has begun to glow with a dim green light. Arkady's blade crashes into his opponent's leg, while Forte's mace smashes directly into the second ghoul's head! A greyish mist rises up from the thing as it falls, but does not go into the weapon, as Forte expected it would, but rather disperses into the mist all about you, which seems to gather around you, as if it is savoring the creature's soul!
Concentrating on the battle, Forte does not seem to notice the odd greyish mist and its strange behavior.
Surrounded, unable to flee Pietro's holy power and surrounded by opponents, the thing lashes out wildly at all of the three, just glancing against Arkady's cheek. A minute wound at best, but Arkady freezes at the touch.
A stark laugh of derision dies on frozen lips as Arkady's body fails him.
It's reward for such an attack is being literally crushed between Daegwyn's wide-swinging staff and Forte's hungry mace. Once again the greyish mist rises up, and once again it evaporates into the thick stuff around you, which is actively surrounding you now, moving almost as a living creature! Forte's mace continues to glow with greenish light, it's hunger unsatisfied.
This time, Forte notices the mist and looks a bit puzzled.
Antonia stays on Grey. she moves to catch the other horses to be sure that they do not escape. She keeps her eyes on all of her comrades and waits for a time when she is needed, either to fight or to heal. She knows that her spells will not help at the moment and that they will be only of use later on so she waits for the groups need as she fights the horses fear while holding on to their reigns.
The horses are indeed quite spooked by this occurrence, and it is only through Antonia's calming touch that none flee, excepting those frozen by the touch of the beasts.
Pulling up sharply as Forte jumps off his horse, Rhune does the same, slipping from her horse. With her sword already drawn squints into the mist looking for any other forms.
Tolik barely takes notice of the occurings. Knowing he will be of little use in this fight, he pulls to the back, watching for anything coming from behind and continuing to try to get his bearings.
Both are dismayed to see two more of the creatures rushing out of the mist from behind them! Moving with amazing speed, they are upon Rhune and Tolik before they can react. Ducking, Rhune's magic chain mail saves her from most of the attack, but a claw gets through and grazes her temple. She feels none of the paralytic effect that has engulfed all others touched by the monsters, and so returns the attack, missing badly.
Tolik's spell-provided armor does not prove as impervious as Rhune's more physical sort, and the thing grasps him by his robe, pulling him close and biting him on the side. He also feels nothing of the paralytic effect, though the nearness of the monster sickens him and the danger he is in does not help. He flails weakly with his dagger, but finds no joy. He knows he is dangerously overmatched.
Rhune finds herself some purchase and thrusts at the thing again, but it dodges, unable this time to find a hole in her defense. Tolik feels the last vestiges of his protective spell dying as the creature snaps at him again, now having opened up a rather nasty wound on his side. His thrust is once again completely ineffective.
But help is on the way! Pietro and the warriors come rushing to assist you, Pietro once again raising his symbol of power. But it seems the energy has not returned to him quickly enough, as the monsters ignore his demands. They push away from Tolik and Rhune to engage the others. Daegwyn knocks the first beast backward, followed by Forte smashing it in the side of the head once again, destroying it's unholy life, followed by the same show as before.
His attention diverted elsewhere, Forte does not pause to consider the mist just yet.
The other, unable to free itself of Rhune, sees her blade smash into it's ugly face! However, not assisted by the energy powering Forte's weapon, she does not fell it, though it falls backward. It then turns, with a ghastly scream, and lunges at her, slashing her pretty face and then clawing downward. There is a sickly sound as Rhune falls to the ground, feeling her leg give way underneath her.
Daegwyn and Forte see that the monster has ripped forth her Achilles' tendon! It even now holds the slimy mess in it's hands! Quickly it licks the blood away with it's long abrasive tongue, dodging away from the two warriors. However, it does not see Rhees rising out of the mist alongside it, and he completely impales it upon a spear. It falls to the ground groaning horribly as it dies.
Screaming in agony, tears rolling down her cheeks as she drops the sword, Rhune grabs her ankle and just holds it. Feeling the blood seeping through her fingers she fights to remain conscious even as a wave of dizziness flows through her.
Noticing that Rhees' spear does not have the same effect as his mace, Forte turns to Tag. "Remember what the mace said to you, those many nights ago, Tag?" He looks down at the weapon briefly, before glancing back at Tag. "Perhaps 'Life Stealer' would be a good name for this... strange weapon?"
Forte's words echo emptily in the gloom. He looks around, expecting the bard's thoughtful face, but Tag appears to have vanished into the mist. Have the monsters taken him or has fear become Tag's new master?
Looking down, Daegwyn sees that the two they just killed emerged from some kind of tunnel underneath the stakeyard, bursting through the soft ground. Suspecting, he sees that the other two from in front must have done the same.
Unfortunately, there is little you can do about any other such creatures. Ullar and Arkady, along with both of their horses, are completely frozen in place, while Rhune bears a crippling injury none of you have the ability to heal. Tolik is also very badly injured. The rest of you are as well off as you were before the attack.
Remembering her Achilles' tendon, Forte rushes over to Rhune. "Shit!" he exclaims, before turning to look at the others. "Can anyone fix this?"
Rhune looks up at Forte and smiles wanly, "It may not be possible to fix my friend. At least not right now. See to Ullar and Arkady, we need to get out of here and quickly." she says swaying slightly as another wave of dizziness flows over her.
Watching the battle and being helpless, Arkady's conscious self echoes the wailing and gnashing of his voices. Inner screams echo as he struggles to will his body back into action.
Trying to focus on her surroundings as she continues to hold her ankle, Rhune sees the others. Calling to the others, "See what you can do with Ullar and Arkady. If we can't get out of here, then someone try and light a fire and quickly. It may keep the rest back if any more should show up."
Tolik scowls furiously, scanning the mists but seeing very little. Then, a puzzled look crosses his face as he looks down at his own injuries. Staring at his wounds, he begins to chuckle. Then he begins to laugh. Then, trying to stay quiet, he whispers, "And I was worried about making a bad impression with the gnolls." It must be the blood loss...
Daegwyn fears that more creatures may break through the ground at any time. "We need to see if we can get Ullar and Arkady moving. There could be more of these creatures in the tunnels ready to break through at any time." He turns to Rhune and sees that she is already being taken care of. Know that there is nothing more he could do to help her, Daegwyn moves over to Ullar. He looks at the wounds inflicted upon Ullar and his mount, looking for any signs of poison or what exactly could have caused them to go rigid.
He cannot tell. There is some dirt at the edge of the wounds, caused by the nasty fingernails of the creatures, but it does not look poisonous or suspicious. He cannot feel any type of paralytic effect from the contact.
Forte walks over to see what he can do for Arkady and Ullar. Getting a thoughtful look on his face, he turns to Tag. "Remember in the tombs? Some of us were paralyzed? It should wear off. Shouldn't it?" The large warrior looks at the frozen friends and their horses. "We can't move the horses. Do we load them on our horses and leave their steeds to these wild lands? Or wait out the paralysis?" He looks at the others, at least those who are still mobile. "What do we do?"
Caboto, holding the reigns of both his and Rhees' horses looks mighty miserable. Had it not been for Antonia's soothing presence, the two terrorized horses would have ripped his arms out of their sockets. He gives Antonia an extremely grateful nod, glad that his chest and arms merely ached. "Let's wait and see if the paralysis fades. We need these horses, if only to carry our wounded. Or to ride out of here" he adds in a mutter."
Caboto notices the churned earth that Daegwyn was inspecting. "Looks like Daegwyn found the ghouls' burrows or a tunnel or such." Caboto studies the patterns made by the surfacing ghouls, trying to anticipate from them where else further ghouls might climb forth and attack, keeping watch. "Likely a buried cairn. I would like to search it later."
"Search? In there?" Forte asks incredulously, pointing to the tunnel with his mace. "We don't seem to do too well in tunnels," he muses, remembering the exploding ruby trap from so long ago.
Caboto asks Forte as the scans the ground. "What about your new mace?"
"I didn't use it, so I don't know anything about it." He looks over at the new mace, still on his horse. "I'm not sure if the middle of battle is the right time to test a new weapon." He looks over at Caboto with a smile, "Perhaps I could attack some ants later?"
With a sigh, the large warrior walks over to Ullar and Arkady. "I know it's damned annoying and a little frightening, but you should be able to move soon." He quickly walks over to his horse, grabs the additional mace, and returns to stand watch between Ullar and Arkady.
"How long did the paralysis last?" Daegwyn asks.
"Not that long," Forte answers. "It seemed like a long time, but I think that's just because it's pretty scary not to be able to move." His eyes look to the upper left, as Forte searches his memory. Finally, he turns his gaze back to Daegwyn. "It didn't happen all at once, but one by one we all could move again. Really only a few minutes, I think."
"Then we should probably just wait it out," Daegwyn replies. "Let's circle up around Ullar, Arkady, and Rhune so that we will be better prepared if any more of them should appear."
Caboto leads his and Rhees' horse to an appropriate position.
Grimacing in pain and fighting the nausea, "If we can't move then light a fire, please. It may keep those things from coming again if there any more of them." Rhune replies in a very strained voice, one with any healing might recognize as being on the verge of passing out.
Pietro takes charge after the last two creatures are destroyed. "Daegwyn, help Rhune in between the horses of Ullar and Arkady, they will have some sort of cover over there. I will do the same to Tolik. Rhees, Forte, please look out for any more nasty creatures, and light a fire or some torches. We can't move everybody, and we can't afford to lose the horses. If this paralyzation wears off, we shall defend until they are unfrozen. I will try to help Rhune with the help of Antonia." Pietro helps Tolik up, slowly helping him towards the two frozen horses. "Come on Tolik, you can do it! Be brave as normally are, I'm going to move you now!"
Forte continues to hold his maces, and asks Rhees, "Do you have any torches? I don't."
Tolik gives Pietro a dirty look, and pushes off the help. "I'm fine. Lemme alone!" Tolik rises by himself, and favoring his uninjured side, limps carefully away from the edge of the group towards the middle, but not far. "It's not like the others don't need more help," he mutters under his breath, then set to work to see if he can determine the nature of the paralysis that is affecting some of the others.
Having no experience with any such effects, and not having felt any such effects when the monster struck him, Tolik is equally mystified as Daegwyn was about the cause of the paralysis.
Pietro grins at the wounded elf. "You will live, you are already scowling again. Now, if you would stop doing that, I would really worry!" Leaving Tolik to himself, the priest moves over to help the others.
Rhune grits her teeth as they move her in between the horses. The pain washes over her like hot coals. She settles down once more trying to get comfortable but failing miserably.
As Rhune and Tolik are in relative protection, Pietro looks up, ordering Stephen "Stephen, get of your horse and relieve Antonia trying to calm them. I need her for a specific task! Rhune, I am going to do something new here, I never tried this before, and I do not think that Antonia has either, I want to try it though. Antonia, the thing we are going to do is quite simple. I will hold the torn tendon together, while you concentrate on that will all your will and use one of your healing prayers after that. It might help put the tendon together, I think we have to try it now. Agreed?"
Antonia agrees preparing to do as Pietro has asked. She delves into the spell power she has saved for times like this and places her hands upon the wound. In her minds eye she sees the flesh knit itself together, moving from the outside in. She turns her will into a needle and thread and watches as sinew twines together again, as skin adheres to itself. She smiles in weary satisfaction when she sees that Rhune will walk again. She then moves away for the other who worry so much about their friend to get close and see for themselves that she will be fine. Antonia ruffles Shadows fur as she moves back to the horses to continue to keep them calm.
"Rhune, this is going to hurt badly, here, get this small stick of wood, and bite on it as hard as you can. If you can faint, please do it." Pietro smiles reassuringly to Rhune.
Rhune listens to Pietro's explanation. "I understand. Let's get this over with." she replies as he ties the belt to her leg. Another wave of dizziness washes over her but she manages to fight it.
"It will be over before you know it. Antonia, are your ready? After I tie my belt on her leg, please sit on it, we need that against her thrashing." Pietro gets his belt, and securely ties it to Rhune's leg. "Now, sit on Rhune's leg, and keep it that way." As Pietro pulls the tendon on one side, Rhune screams her lungs out, after which she immediately faints.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH" she screams as he pulls tendons together, then she promptly passes out.
He gets the other side of the tendon as well, and holds them together. "Now Antonia, do the best you can!"
The magic takes hold almost immediately, reforging torn tissue and healing the ripped flesh around it. It looks like a masterful spell, as it heals up the injury nicely, leaving only the trace of it behind. As it is being cast, Ullar rouses himself from his freeze, shaking the effect like a duck shaking water off it's back. By the time Rhune is conscious again, both horses and finally Arkady have shaken it off as well. There does not seem to be any lasting effect other than a bit of haze on the brain, which isn't unusual for Arkady in any case.
As his body releases the pent up inertia of his attack carries him forward, the rest of his laugh emerging. Stumbling, Arkady gets a grip on his body's momentum and stops. "What were those things??"
Coming around finally Rhune takes a deep breath. Then looking up at Antonia and Pietro smiles, "Thank you both. It feels better already." she replies still a little weakly as she tries to flex it wincing as she does.
You are saddened to find that Antonia's surface healing did not completely take care of Rhune's nasty wound. She has a terrible limp, and will have difficulty walking. Running will be impossible until the wound is seen to by someone with more skill or power, or she gets weeks of rest. The others assist her in mounting her horse.
Hopping to her horse with the help of the others, Rhune settles onto the animal, putting her injured foot in the stirrup gingerly.
Even though the wound did not completely close, there is a look of relief on Pietro's face. "Antonia, you did it! Amazing, I just hoped this would work. That wound still needs work, but her tendon recovered brilliantly" A shine of wonder and pride is seen on the elf's face.