Nashkel Mine

Sheemish grits his teeth in frustration and pain as he pulls the poisoned dart from his neck. But heeding Stella’s prompting he aims at the "real" Mulymuly in the back. As his lightning arcs from his fists it looks as if his aim is off once more, but then stitch is there to lend her help. Hovering in the air a short distance a had she gives a soft pulse and the lightning is nudged slightly to the side. It impacts heavily into the enemy, convulsing through his armor.

Sheemish deals 13 lightning damage to the moop

HP 18
AC 17

Round 2 Summary

Calliope darts forward again to repeat her fiery spell, and one of the zombies clubs her hard with its stump of an arm (Calliope takes 7 dmg). Its a heavy blow, but the eldadrin recovers and finishes her move set, returning to the rear of the party after unleashing her flames. Two charred zombies fall to the ground. One of them gets back up (Z3 passed its Undead Fortitude save and remains at 1 hp). Sometimes the undead are hard to keep down!

The zombie that clubbed Calliope turns toward Sheemish in a sudden, shambling rush! Just as it bites down hard on his forearm (Sheemish takes 9 dmg), Sheemish notices that he can just barely make out a charred nametag on its tunic: Jof. He manages to shove the monster away, then channels his lightning gauntlets down the passageway to hit Mulahey, who grunts heavily. Aiwe's thrown mallet collides with the evil priest next, hitting him squarely in the face. Mulahey spits out a broken tooth and eyes them both with hatred in his eyes, then casts a quick spell.

Sheemish manages to resist the crazed force intruding on his thoughts, but Aiwe suddenly notices that she's got a dead dwarf laid across her shoulders. She's standing outside the Nashkel Inn. Next to her, Mulahey drops his own dwarf corpse onto a pile before them, then flashes her a gap-toothed grin. "If Nishrek entombs its own god, why do you take such pleasure in spilling blood?" A spurt of red liquid leaves the gap in his smile and splatters across her face. "How many of our kind have you killed? How much orc-blood stains your hands?"

The dwarf on her back suddenly feels much heavier. And larger. Without even looking, she knows that it's now the body of an orc. Part of her wonders whose face it bears.

"What's this? What's going on?"

A small group of Amnish soldiers comes down the street, Major Bardolan at their head. "Halt and drop your weapons!" It's Bardolan's voice, but his mouth doesn't move, and his eyes shine black. He and the soldiers with him draw their weapons. "Murder most foul! Kill the she-orc!"

Mulahey is nowhere to be seen, but Aiwe can hear his breath and voice in her ear. "If your fate is your own, why do you do His work?"

Dieter lunges and drives his sword through the spine of the enemy before him. As the body slumps, he realizes he's slain one of the innocent miners... Then the madness leaves him entirely, and the zombie on his blade crumbles to the floor (Z3 dies and stays dead). As he's recovering from the shocking moment, Mulahey strides past and nearly backhands him with that wicked morningstar (now retrieved from the floor), but thankfully the young fighter has enough wits about him to duck away from the swing.

With the passageway lit by burning zombies and Stella's flame arrow, Mulahey continues down the passageway towards the bulk of the party. A powerful spell builds on his blood-spattered lips, and suddenly impenetrable blackness takes the sight of Dieter, Sheemish, and Calliope (Failed saves against Blindness). The spell nearly overcomes Stella too, but the stars in her eyes shine brighter than the priest's darkness. With Aiwe's mind in another world, and her other companions stumbling about blind, Stella stands alone against Mulahey and his remaining undead.

Nearly alone. One of the shambling zombies sprouts an arrow from its forehead (Z5 takes 12 dmg and dies), and Imoen steps up next to Stella. The pink-haired girl's face is streaked with dirt and blood, and her eyes shine with a mixture of fright and determination; she won't abandon her friends. And beyond Mulahey, Stella sees Runeson shake his head, clearing away the remnants of whatever madness had gripped him (Runeson is no longer charmed by Mulahey, and so can act normally).

Mulahey raises a hand to Stella and conjures another poison dart. She dodges it!

Round 3 Player Phase!!!

Darkness and Pain. Again. Just like before.

Except this time there was something different. Something that Aiwe and Dieter had said. And something Ug had taught him that he had almost forgotten down here.

There was darkness and pain, but last time he was alone throughout it. this time he had friends You can take sight and light and wholeness and confidence and purpose away. But not friends.

Stitch Sheemish taps and pulses through his gauntlets. Guide me! A distinct pulse is felt ahead and Sheemish trusts and takes aim in the blackness. Please hit true the blacksmith wishes to himself. He unleashes two charged beacons of lightning, invisible in his current state. He can only hope he didn’t hit a friend.

I quickly shake my head to remove any lasting effects caused by the spell. My eyes narrow as I scan the burning zombie-lit room for my target, Mulahey.
In a fit of rage at my mind being invaded I swing wildly at Mulahey and the remaining zombie.
"Graaaaah! Get out of my head! You don't belong there!"

HP:23/28
AC:18

Mulahey takes damage - 4, zombie takes damage - 9

Round 3 Summary

The flickering flames from discarded zombie limbs paint Mulahey like some living avatar of his crazed god. Plated in his dark armor, and with loyal Jof at his side, he advances on Stella.

Stella's stardust arrow pierces through his pauldron, but Mulahey just crumbles the arrow to ash in his gauntlet, then swings his morningstar with sudden fury. The druidess barely gets her buckler up in time to block, but it provides only the most meager protection against this foe; the vibration sent through her arm is nearly enough tear the limb from its socket (Stella takes 5 dmg).

Before Mulahey can press the advantage and finish Stella off, a small golden Stitch flits past his helmet, followed by the sound of Sheemish's guantlets charging up. Just in time, Mulahey whirls and grabs Jof in one hand and hurls the zombie at the artificer (Mulahey uses his Protective Thrall reaction to change the target of Sheemish's crit to Jof). Sheemish's lightning blasts the unfortunate Jof to pieces (The crit for sure kills Jof), and the backlash causes the artificer to turn his leg at a bad angle (Sheemish takes 5 dmg).

Mulahey doesn't have a chance to recover from the near-disaster, as Runeson hammers him twice in the back (Mulahey takes both of Runeson's hits, as the zombie's no longer a valid target). The evil priest stumbles down to one knee and lets out a cry of anger and pain. Insidious power accompanies the cry, bursting out of him like black water from a geyser. Fortunately, the nearest heroes keep the presence of mind to duck away from the unholy sound and are not adversely affected (Sheemish, Calliope, and Runeson pass their Dex saves and take no dmg). Still, it gives Mulahey the moment he needs to find his feet.

"This isn't a fight you'll win! I will have your heads on pikes, and Cyric will favor me for my deeds in his name!" He drags his morningstar across the stone floor, striking up a line of sparks, then whips the weapon around and slams it into Stella's side. "And you will be the first, girl!" the half-orc spits. Calliope and Dieter find their sight returned just in time to see the half-elf's body slide to the floor, blood seeping from several massive spike wounds (Stella takes 11 dmg and is dying).

Sheemish is still blind as Mulahey whirls to face the rest of the party. Aiwe finds her mind clear once more.

Round 4 Player Phase!!!!

Stitch thrums excitedly indicating Sheemish’s hit was spot on but then gave and angry whirr as the lightning collided with the zombie instead. Still blind and deaf, Sheemish waits for the next chirp from stitch to fire again. The chirp doesn’t come. With a static burst Sheemish’s armor goes slack and heavy, all energy depleted. He collapses to a knee as he gets hit by some unseen force. Frustrated and scared he lets out a scream and fumbles wildly at his armor.

Hp 3/28
Ac 17