IC II

[The_Wanderer]

Feargus
Feargus spots the shadow priest near the door and breathes out heavily between his teeth.

I think he should have 60' movement with haste so he'll try to close with the priest and strike twice.

[PresGas]

Sumer

In the midst of the battle Sumer looks suspiciously at the space where the "priest" was. Not liking the blows dealt to Gardo, she opts to see if the creature is just unseeable or has literally departed from wherever the party is.

She opts to cantrip conjure a minor mist of ink in the direction of where the priest was. Not likely to give any invisibility penalties per se, but if we see the mist move, we know it is at least still in the room.

Taking note of seeing the priest, Sumer changes tactics for one more Burning Hands attack.

FYI - She will be out of "Big" offensive spells at this time. Good thing I have my offensive cantrip; like throwing darts!

[shaidar]

Newton will continue to protect Ribar while he chants.

So, Newton will focus on any shadows that look like they are going to bother Ribar, if there are no immediate threats he will attack the closest shadow. He'll only go for the shadow-priest if there are no other target, the fighters are doing a good job and I think keeping Ribar's chant boosting the warriors is probably more effective than Newton having a go at the priest.

[VonAlric]

Gardo

As his limbs refuse to move and he sees his opponent disappear, Gardo's mind ramps up and instinct kicks in. The gasp of others behind him and seeing Feargus turn around in his peripheral vision gives him the knowledge his fighting spirit wants: his prey is behind him.

With a tremendous strain, Gardo begins to turn around and starts another of his soliloquies. "Oh no. No, no, no. You won't stop me like that. You think a little scratch like that is enough to stop Gardo? Do you think that I am bothered by this? My brothers used to tie me up in ropes and try and beat me down and I kicked their butts every time! Your little tricks are not going to stop me."

By now, Gardo is facing the priest. "Now, you are behind me. What are you trying to do, run away?? You realize that if you stayed near me, I would destroy you?? It doesn't matter where you go, I will hunt you down and end you. Notai! Now!!" Gardo launches himself towards the figure, hell bent on its destruction.


Notai

Seeing Gardo get hit and seize up, Notai makes an adjustment to begin moving towards him. As the priest disappears from view, she pauses seeing that he may not be in immediate danger anymore. As the light of the faerie fire spell lets her know the priest is behind them, she doesn't turn immediately as she sees Gardo, through some sort of insanity, resist whatever the priest's attack had done and begin his speech. Her mouth twitches with a quick smirk, knowing Gardo is going to never let anyone hear the end of his actions, if they make it out alive. As he calls her name, she spins, practically leaps to the priest and stabs at it twice with the spear before dodging to one side and letting the others have at it.

Yep, Gardo is pushing his Luck here. No more dodging anything else this priest has for him.

[thirdkingdom]

Round Three

Gardo is the first to reach the shadow priest, and he swings. He things he hits with both attacks, but the creature's almost incorporeal form fades from existence in an instant, and the blow passes through it. His second attack lands true, though. Ribar continues his chanting, covered by Newton, who deals a mighty blow to a shadow but fails to destroy it. Zellar accounts for another shadow.

As Feargus darts forward, the shadow priest lashes out a Gardo with both clawed hands, missing with both. Displeased, it hisses, and the air becomes disturbed as the shadows clinging to the room begin to whip around and around, creating a mini-cyclone of tenebral tatters. They move with such force that it becomes difficult to walk or swing a blade, swirling throughout the chapel. And then Feargus strikes, twice, and the blows shred the creatures' frame. Wisps of shadow, once its body, join the maelstrom for an instant before all is quiet again.

The remaining shadows are easily destroyed by Notai and one more burning hands spell from Sumer, and the room falls quiet.

Shadows: 9, 15-7, 13-17 New shadow hp: 10-6, 13-6
Shadow priest: 30+3-7, and that's enough to destroy the shadow priest . . .

Actually, these three gain the +1 to attack and damage that weren't included before because they went before the Holy Chant. Both Gardo's attacks hit.
Gardo: https://orokos.com/roll/807108: 2#1d20+8 16 24 2#1d8+5 7 7. The shadow priest is going to negate the second of those two attacks.
Newton: https://orokos.com/roll/807107: 6#1d20+8 17 10 18 22 28 14 6#1d6+5 7 9 11 11... Second attack of the first combo hits, but not enough to destroy the shadow.
Zellar: https://orokos.com/roll/807106: 6#1d20+6 18 14 11 16 18 26 6#2d4+1 5 8 8 5... Damn, Zellar keeps hitting with her first two attacks but can't land that third cleave!

Movement happens, then magic, then melee:

Shadow priest: Attacks Gardo twice https://orokos.com/roll/807110: 2#1d20+7 17 19 2#2d4-1 3 5 2#2d20+1 11 10 Gardo's got a crazy high AC, and both of those miss. Uses final special ability, Umbral Storm. Shadows whip around in a 30' radius, making movement difficult (1/2 move) and imposing a -2 penalty to hit. Characters casting a spell must roll equal to or under their Con on 4d6 to avoid having the spell disrupted.

Feargus is already there, however, and makes his attacks: Final roll is extra striking damage:: 2#1d20+12 19 26 2#1d8+6 11 11 2#1d6 4 3 Damn, both hit.
Notai switches up her attack: https://orokos.com/roll/807112: 4#1d20+6 15 18 10 7 4#1d6+5 9 8 10 9
First two attacks hit, slaying a shadow.

[shaidar]

Newton breathes a sigh of relief and glances out a window to see if the temple has returned to their world.

[beniliusbob]

Zellar

"I could not have imagined such darkness in such a tiny corner of the world!"

Zellar will use her healing magic to address the wounds sustained by her allies.

For damage sustained, I've noted Zellar 2, Notai 3, Ribar 3, and Gardo 10. I'll use lay on hands to heal Gardo 10 points, Notai 3 points, and Ribar 1 point. Zellar also has a cure light wounds spell which she will then cast on Ribar to top him up.

[shaidar]

Ribar "Thank you for your offer of healing Zellar, but I have spells to call upon to heal my wounds, and heal others if more is required . Now, we must consider how to remove the taint of chaos from this place and return it to the glory of Manifest"

Ribar will cast CLW on himself and has another if needed by someone. Newton has another healing spell if needed as well.

[The_Wanderer]

Feargus
Feargus continues past the remains of the priest and cautiously takes a look outside to see if there are shadows remaining or even approaching.

[thirdkingdom]

Newton breathes a sigh of relief and glances out a window to see if the temple has returned to their world.

He still sees the same scenery out of the window; a dim, otherworldly featureless plain.

Feargus
Feargus continues past the remains of the priest and cautiously takes a look outside to see if there are shadows remaining or even approaching.

Looking out the door they entered, Feargus sees it is still bright and sunny out. He sees no sign of shadows stirring in the village.

CLW x 2 by Ribar, 1 x Newton. Let me know if any more is needed:: 3#1d6+1 3 5 5

[shaidar]

Newton

"Let us leave this unnatural place, perhaps if we destroy the doorway from the safety of the village the connection to this strange place will be broken"

[PresGas]

Sumer

Sumer looks at the party to make sure people are okay, then the battle area to make sure the enemy is defeated, then out the window to the other world, finally out the door to the party's world. This all makes her look a bit like a sleek raven examining the scene before her.

"I was told there would be enough excitement, sites, and curiosities to fulfill my appetite in joining up with you. You certainly did not disappoint!!" She chuckles.

She considers the doorway and the building. "Perhaps destroying the doorway could work. I have used up most of my destructive power. How do you propose we do it?"

[shaidar]

Newton shrugs "I was assuming we manage it by brute force somehow. Once we are back in the village a method might become more obvious. Although, now the priest is dead the connection may unravel on its own, another reason not to tarry here for too long."

[VonAlric]

Gardo

Panting after the exertion, Gardo looks to Feargus. "Good timing there. You saw that creature knew I was too much for it and tried to make his form all wispy and stuff so I couldn't truly hit it. When it tried to hit me, it must have still been in some sort of shadow thingy which is why it missed me. That forced him to try and use his last trick against me. That means he took his eyes off of you and you were able to finish him off for me. We make a good team there. You should stick with me, these chaos spawn don't stand a chance."

As Zellar comes up and touches him, Gardo continues on. "Hey, hey, hey, don't worry. There's plenty of Gardo to go around for all of.... oh. You're just healing me up. Umm.... thank you." His face turns a little red with embarassment.

As they leave the building, he looks to Newton. "Fire usually worked for me when my boss wanted to make sure things didn't bother him again. Notai, let's get back out there so Wulfka doesn't worry her head off about us. She's probably a little miffed she couldn't be in here to prove herself anyway."

[thirdkingdom]

At a quick glance the adventurers aren't sure how useful fire would be. Unlike most of the buildings in the settlement the temple to Manifest is built largely of stone and brick. The roof structure could probably be set alight, and it looks as if there may be a room or two off the main room as yet unexplored, which may prove more flammable.

[shaidar]

Newton

"I've got a lot of oil on the horses, so we could destroy the inside and likely the roof, but I don't think that'll effect the stone much, but we could see what we are left with"

[beniliusbob]

Zellar

"Hold on, my friends. Before we burn this place down, perhaps there is more we can learn from it. We should gain what knowledge we can of these dark arts in case we encounter them again."

Zellar will perform a more thorough inspection of the church, keeping her holy symbol in her hand to stave off any malign influence. In particular she will check the ruined altar and look for any adjacent rooms or secret doors.

[beniliusbob]

If we were playing a version of the game published by Wizards of the Coast, perhaps the adventure would end here... but how can we burn this down without looking for the LOOT?!?

[shaidar]

Newton

"You are wise, there maybe something we can learn from this place. Some of us should stay near the entrance and be alert for signs that whatever magic is holding this building to this other place is about to fail and trap us. Ribar, you should search with Zellar, I will wait inside the doorway and watch for danger"

[The_Wanderer]

Feargus joins the others in their search of the church, hoping the striking spell stays in affect long enough.