Khidran (now with bow in hand) start moving in half circle with the same distance to the door, trying to catch a glimpse at what is going on inside without revealing his/their presence. He moves slowly and carefully not disturb anyone with sound or movement, though still trying to position himself for the upcoming battle.

OOC:  Kalmir should have been able to hear the thug's whispers.

No one is really watching Khidran, so he moves as he wishes and gets a pretty-much open shot into the shop and the leader of the cloaked figures.

The zombie - if that is what it is - is intent on Kalmir, though.

Waiting until Khidran has maneuvered himself, Authiel then does the same, getting closer to the door but still trying to stay out of the way of the thugs and zombie.  Her eyes are wide open, and her fear is obvious by the slight trembling of her shoulders after the sound of the hard slap and woman's cry.  Fighting she understood, but hitting an innocent woman she did not.

=====================================

FROM DM:

The thug at the door is intently looking at Kalmir and Damion, and the zombie is single-minded in his following Kalmir a bit, so Authiel's movements go unnoticed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:53, Wed 23 May 2007.

Damion winks at Kalmir the whispers to the thug,"_{take your best shot.}"
He then waited to roll with the punch that was surely coming.

OOC:

I really want to see what Kalmir is doing or how he is going to react to both what is going on with the thug and Damion as well as the zombie, so I will give him another day or so to post.  If he has not done so by then, I will move on.

OOC:

I just heard in the DMs' Lounge that DM Kindred, who plays Kalmir, will be away for a while, so I will NPC the big fella.

NPCed by DM Mike:

Spooked by the thought that a zombie had its sights on him, the barbarian grumbles to Damion Do what you think it best, but Kalmir is going to kill that dead thing so it stays dead!

Taking a threatening step closer to the zombie, Kalmir lets out a shout that is almost like the bark of a big dog.

The zombie raises his battered sword to defend, but not attack.

Bah!

Kalmir slams down on the zombie with his greataxe.

The blade slices deep into the zombie's left shoulder and almost severs the thing's arm.

The force of the blow makes the hood of the zombie fall off its head and the sight of the writhing worms flowing like blood in and out o the thing's empty eye sockets is enough to make you want to vomit.

Some of the worms seem to leap off the thing's boney face as if they were seeking out living flesh to feast upon.


This message was last edited by the GM at 02:25, Wed 23 May 2007.

The thug seems a bit shaken at the sight of the worm-infested zombie, but his wits come to him and he says softly to Damion Well, let's try this...

He waves his spiked club at Damion and comes close...almost too close to hitting him.

The thug stands there, seemingly ready to attack again, and he pokes his chin out.

Inside the shop, the leader says in a threatening tone If something is going on out there, take care of it, Gruen!

=============================

OOC:

Okay, the PCs can act!

Damion barely moves out of the way of the club then balls up his gauntleted hand and rails the thug in the face. He hopes that his enchanted gauntlets don't do too much damage to the man.

OOC:

Damion: give me a To Hit roll, using your Dex modifier instead of any you may get for Strength for the roll.

If you have 1 or more ranks in Bluff, you can make a Bluff skill check instead.

10. You couldn't have asked for a worse combo from me :)

Damion hits the thug lightly with his weapon, but not so light that the blow does not sting a good deal.

_{Hey, watch it, bub!}

The thug lets out a wail like his eyes had jkust been cut out, and he falls to the ground, his hands up over his face.

The zombie attacks Kalmir, and the commotion outside brings the attention of the green-cloaked leader to the doorway.

He is not very tall, standing only about five and half feet tall, and he has a slight build.  He draws a long hammer as he walks to the door and in one hand he has a glowing holy symbol of Cyric out.

=============================

OOC: I will post the zombie's attack after all the PCs have posted.

The leader goes next round.

I will also post for Iodaem.

Khidran fired at the green-cloaked leader as soon as he raised his weapon, perhaps too fast because the arrow didn’t take the straight line it was supposed to. He didn’t like the look of the burning symbol or the Zombie, 'luckily he was part of larger group now', he thought to himself.

[Private to DM Mike:
Free action: knowledge religion - to see if I remember anything about Cyric and the burning symbol; Move action: fire longbow; standard action reload bow.
10:02, Today: Khidran Naleth rolled 5 using 1d8+2. Damage.
10:02, Today: Khidran Naleth rolled 13 using 1d20+4. Attack.
09:50, Today: Khidran Naleth rolled 10 using 1d20+5. Knowledge Religion.]

=============================

FROM DM:

Khidran's arrow thunks into the wall near the doorway of the shop, breaking near the head.

[Private to Khidran Naleth: You know what most people know about Cyric in general: that he is an evil god, that he was once a human who ascended to godhood during the Time of Troubles, that he is openly worshipped by only a few, but that he has many cults and hidden temples in cities and towns all across Faerun, and that he is a god of murder, lies, and strife.  ]
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:48, Sun 03 June 2007.

Damion quickly looked up from the screaming thug and saw the green cloaked man coming out of the building. Once he noticed the holy symbol Damion reached out to his Mistress and requested the power to silence the others priests words.

[Private to DM Mike: Casting SILENCE centered on the priest, Will save VS DC 16 to negate.]

--------------------------

FROM DM:

A shimmering wave leaves Damion's hands and lands on the green-cloaked leader.

Damion knows his spell had no hold on the leader, since he is still making sounds, as are the people near him.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:58, Sun 03 June 2007.

Kalmir screams his defiance at the undead creature standing before him and his anger grabbed hold opf him as he swung his axe with all his might.

[private to gm: raging 8 rounds
11:39, Today: Kalmir Colbeysson rolled 26 using 1d12+17. damage (+9str +8 PA).
11:38, Today: Kalmir Colbeysson rolled 20 using 1d20+8. power attack +4-4. ]

OOC: Replies in posts above.

=============================

Kalmir's attack shatters the zombie, and it falls to the ground in three piles of bones, flesh, and worms.

Hundreds of green worms ooze out of the zombie, spilling out onto the street.

As if guided by the thumping of your hearts or some inner fire you possess, the worms start to crawl up your feet and legs!

In horror you look down, and each of you have 4 or more of the worms squirming up your legs!

Kalmir also has to contend with two that hit him from the zombie while it still stood.

One of those is near his mouth while the other is crawling near his left shoulder.

----------------------------

OOC:

Kalmir has 6 worms on him.  Damion has 5.  The other PCs have 4 each on them.

The leader and those in the store are not close enough to the worms for them to have reached them...yet.

Oh, and the thug on the ground has 5 on him, two going right for his face!

OOC: NPCed by DM Mike:

The young quiet rogue slinks back as the worms wriggle up his boots and he takes his flachion's flat end and squishes two of them. The other two continue to writhe up toward his groin.

Dear gods, let these things die...let them die now...

The thug "hit" by Damion gets up, frantically tearing at the worms on his face.  He manages to grip one and squish it, but the other starts to bore into the flesh of his cheek.

AAAAHHHHG!  Get it off, get it off!

He stamps and thrashes, almost hitting both Kalmir and Damion with this flailing arms.

As the zombie falls, the leader's holy symbol flares up, then the glow fades completely.

He lets the symbol dangle and he mouth closes tight in a grimace as he sees the zombie fall and the worms come gushing out.

damn waste of a good spell and even better material components...

He raises up both hands and shout loudly Look, get the hell out of here, let us conduct our business, and we'll be on our way.

As if expecting your negative reaction, he lets his holy symbol dangle in his risen hand.

He pulls out a black rod with several small emeralds set in its handle.

You can not see inside the shop, so you do not know what is going on in there, but neither does the leader at this point.

================================

OOC:

The PCs are up.

Due to the distraction of the worms, any skill check, spellcasting, or combat action will require you first to make a Will save, DC 14.  Make it, and you can act normally.  Fail it, and your rolls are at -4 for the round.

Trying to get the worms off without a combat action is allowed and there is no Will save for that.  Success is automatic and you can get one off a round.

Trying to get more than one off or using a combat action to attack the worms or to cast a spell to get them off DOES require a Will check first as above.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:34, Tue 12 June 2007.

Kalmir ignores the worms and charges the spell caster while singing a battle chant to Tempus.

[private to gm: Raging 7 Rounds
00:37, Today: Kalmir Colbeysson rolled 13 using 1d20+10. charge.
00:36, Today: Kalmir Colbeysson rolled 12 using 1d20+3. will save.
18:13, Today: Secret Roll: Kalmir Colbeysson rolled 22 using 1d12+12. damage.

Mike, I forgot to add +2 to my will save from raging. My save would then be 14 on the button. Hence my strike should be 17 not 13.

=======================

FROM DM:

His face red with rage, the big barbarian of the Northlands charges forth, un-nerving the leader a great deal.

The cloaked man stands stock still and in shock as Kalmir drives his blade deep into his sallow-colored flesh.

Blood spews forth from the nasty wound and the man gasps loudly, dropping the dark symbol of Cyric.

Blood drenches the snow near the shop's door and the unholy symbol sinks deep into the bloody snow.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:12, Tue 12 June 2007.

Khidran looks with astonishment when he watches the Zombie turn into bone, flesh and worms. He feels terrified as the worms starts climbing up his legs, inside he calm himself ’first the leader then the worms’ sadly the worms seems too much of a distraction and he misses by far with his bow.

[Private to DM Mike:
Move action: fire longbow; standard action reload bow.
13:18, Today: Khidran Naleth rolled 7 using 1d20+4. Attack.
13:17, Today: Khidran Naleth rolled 18 using 1d20+3. Will Save (DC 14).]



================================

FROM DM:

Despite his fear, Khidran steels himself enough to get off a shot with his bow.  However the arrow goes high and lodges into the second story of Tannen's shop.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:16, Tue 12 June 2007.

Not one for creepy crawlies Damion issues forth a shrill schoolgirl-like shriek as he slaps away at the nasty little worms crawling for his face.

[Private to DM Mike: Missed my Will save so I only squished one. Did I get my silent spell off last round?]

===========================

FROM DM:

Terror welling up inside him, his heart beating hard, Damion manages to kill off one of the green worms slithering up his legs.

The others are getting close to his belt-line...

[Private to Damion Forrester: Yes, but the leader made his save.  I tried to "explain" that in the game thread description so as not to go into OOC or Gamespeak mode.  ]
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:21, Tue 12 June 2007.

"_{Get off, get off, get off!}" Iodaem mumbled as he frantically tried to brush off the foul worms that were getting a bit too close to his groin now. . .

[Private to DM Mike: Will Save:  Natural 1.  :p  Does that mean that I'll get one off, or none?]
This message was last edited by the player at 13:37, Tue 05 June 2007.

Replies in posts above.

==========================

Iodaem's hands shake so badly that he can only grab one of the worms and squeeze the life from it.

As it dies, it makes this high little wheezing noise and it produces a stink like rotten cabbage.

The worms continue to crawl ever-higher on your bodies, making it up to your mid-sections.

You swear little teeth are nipping into your flesh as they slither and crawl ever closer, ever closer to your vitals...

The thug Damion worked with screams bloody murder and races down the street, slipping on some snow and falling face-down into it.

AAIIIEEEE!  They're biting into me!  HELP!

Most people run away from him, but one brave man, broad-chested and wearing what may be the armor of a city watchman under his thick wool cloak, moves to help him.  The man's face goes pale as he digs into the snow and yanks off one of the worms. A string of bloody skin from the thug comes with the worm, and the thug shouts out even louder.

AAAAIIIIGGGGHHH!
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:32, Tue 12 June 2007.

Injured as he is, the leader of the Cloaked Ones manages to reach out and touch Kalmir with his black rod.

A chilling spark, colder than the ice and snow around him, shoots through the barbarian, and Kalmir feels weaker, less able to ward off the threats of combat.

---------------------

Kalmir:  You take no hit point damage, but you lose 2 points of Strength and 1 point of Constitution.

--------------------

The party is up again.

You have the leader to deal with and the worms to contend with (those who made their save can kill off 1d2+1 of the worms if they take NO other action except free actions and the free 5' move.

Those who lost the save can kill off ONE of the worms and take no other action other than free actions and the  free 5' move.